An independent report into Liverpool's disastrous Hope & Glory Festival has found that the event organisers were responsible for its collapse.
Commissioned by Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson and carried out by The Event Safety Shop and concluded that organiser tinyCOW was responsible for the failure of the event in St George’s Quarter, which was cancelled by promoter Lee O'Hanlon on the morning of its second day on August 6.
The report considered the event management plan “not being fit for purpose” and found that the site build was delayed due to a lack of direction and communication by the company. It added that opportunities were missed by Liverpool City Council’s Safety Advisory Group and the associated Joint Agency Group to identify shortcomings in advance.
"On the basis of the information provided, our opinion is that the event was poorly planned and suffered from failures of management and operational control," read the report. "Serious risks to public safety resulted. Whilst cancellation of the Sunday event was no doubt a disappointment to many, it was an appropriate course of action.
"We conclude that the discomfort, confusion, anger and disappointment caused to ticket-holders at the Hope & Glory Festival were a direct result of the organiser’s planning and operational failures."
The report added: "The legal duty to produce a safe event remains that of the organiser. However, Liverpool City Council should review the functioning of the Safety Advisory and Joint Agency Groups along with premises-licence and land-use agreements for large events, to ensure that sufficient time and resources are available to effectively scrutinise complex event plans."
It flagged up a catalogue of failures including:
- No signage was installed, staff weren’t briefed and there was confusion around the queueing system, with some customers being given incorrect tickets
- There was no designated area for lost children or vulnerable adults
- There was no emergency evacuation plan in place
- Acts on the main stage ran behind schedule and there were very long queues at the bars and toilets
- Members of the public felt there was significant risk to public safety
- The event manager left the site, was uncontactable and wasn’t seen again until the end of the day
It also found that background screening checks into tinyCOW through professional bodies or trade associations would not have stopped their application from being progressed.
Mayor Joe Anderson said: “We are a city renowned for staging large scale, successful events, and as a result of our reputation, we have more and more interest from the private sector in staging events here.
“We can’t accept anything that jeopardises our hard-won reputation. This is why I commissioned an independent report to spell out exactly why this privately organised event failed, and look at what the public sector could do to mitigate this happening again.
“It’s clear in retrospect that the failure of the event was down to the mismanagement of the organisers and our staff did tremendous work on the first day sorting out a wide range of issues and enabling the event to continue.
“This report was all about learning lessons, and although our procedures have served us well for the past ten years, the context and environment for staging events has changed in recent years, so we need to be honest with ourselves and reflect on the processes and procedures that are in place and react to the recommendations put forward.
“As a result of this report, we will work with our partners to put in place enhanced planning procedures for event which will find the right balance between scrutinising documents and not making the process too bureaucratic for organisers.
“If the company hadn’t gone into liquidation, I would have asked Merseyside Police to investigate the financial liabilities of the Hope and Glory Festivals Ltd. As far as I’m concerned, they have a moral obligation to reimburse disappointed ticket-holders who are out of pocket and I will be making this point to the liquidators.”
“This report was all about learning lessons, and although our procedures have served us well for the past 10 years, the context and environment for staging events has changed in recent years, so we need to be honest with ourselves and reflect on the processes and procedures that are in place and react to the recommendations put forward.
“As a result of this report, we will work with our partners to put in place enhanced planning procedures for event which will find the right balance between scrutinising documents and not making the process too bureaucratic for organisers.
“If the company hadn’t gone into liquidation, I would have asked Merseyside Police to investigate the financial liabilities of the Hope and Glory Festivals Ltd. As far as I’m concerned, they have a moral obligation to reimburse disappointed ticket-holders who are out of pocket and I will be making this point to the liquidators.”
Hope & Glory Festivals Ltd (H&GF) went into liquidation in August with debts of almost £890,000. Its estimated assets available for preferential creditors totalled just £63,600.
