Bad Luck !

[tonyav]

This guy seemed to have suffered from severe bad luck.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/revealed-former-bradford-chairman-linked-to-at-least-eight-fires-before-valley-parade-disaster/ar-AAb2THS

[douglas9401]

On Radio 4 this morning, someone, I missed the name, stated it was a matter of record that the stand had been scheduled for demolition and so insurance payout would be 'pennies' as the insured item was worthless.

[tonyav]

I find this curious.

Heginbotham had learned two days before the fire it would cost £2m to bring the ground up to safety standards required by Bradford’s promotion from the old Third Division that season.

[tonyav]

Sir Oliver Popplewell still says it was an accident.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/bradford-fire-sir-oliver-popplewell-defends-original-inquiry-findings/ar-AAb5gF4

[Gromit]

Douglas9412,

Not sure it is true that the stand was to be demolished.



Points of interest in the Popplewell Inquiry Interim Report into the Bradford City Fire:

3.126

// The stand had been there for 75 years. By irony, it was the second to last game before the timber flooring would have been replaced by concrete. That work would have started on the following Monday. //

https://bradfordcityfire.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/popplewell-inquiry-interim-report-bradford-city-fire.pdf

The inquiry states that modifications were to be made to the stand with wooden flooring to be replaced by concrete flooring. They wouldn't do that if it were to be demolished.
Whether it was worthless, it would be interesting to know what the insurance payout was, because that would prove if any financial gain resulted from the fire.

[-Talbot-]

It was also bad luck for the ember (wherever it came from) to fall on to a pile of stacked rubbish underneath the stand.

[Gromit]

Just looked it up.

Insurance and grants after the fire totalled £988,000. Which is the equivalent to £7million today. So hardly worthless in insurance terms.

[douglas9401]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qjq65

From about 2:46:00, Gromit.

[Gromit]

Thanks Douglas

That is Justice Poppelwell, author of the Report into the fire. He is claiming that the stand was to be demolished 40 minutes after the game was due to finish.
That directly contradicts his own Interim Report which stated that improvement work to the stand was due to take place on the following Monday, 48 hours after the game (see 3.126 in the pdf above)

All very strange.

[tonyav]

Popplewell is 87 years old, maybe he is confused !.

[Gromit]

And the fact that the club benefited by nearly £1million then (£7million in todays money) rather undermines his insistance that a deliberate fire would not result in a large payout.

[tonyav]

One million would have been half the money to bringing the ground up to safety standards.

[Gromit]

// The rebuilding, (of the stand) which Tordoff (co-owner with Heginbotham) oversaw, was paid for largely with public money; West Yorkshire metropolitan county council gave the club £1.4m even while it was jointly being sued for negligence. Further grants came from the Football Trust, and the club's insurance – Tordoff said they received £200,000 more than they needed. //

[Gromit]

It is not the first time Justice Popplewell has had a slight memory malfunction.

In a Letter to The Tmes about Hillsborough families seeking justice he wrote:

// “The citizens of Bradford behaved with quiet dignity. They organised a sensible compensation scheme and moved on. Is there, perhaps, a lesson there for the Hillsborough campaigners?” //

What actually happened was his Report failed to find anyone at blame for the fire, so Susan Fletcher (the author of the new book's mother) filed a private prosecution of the local authority and the football club. Only when that was successful were the bereaved families given compensation.