24 June 2008
Your Ref:
Our Ref:
0460/2008
Alastair Manderson
Force Disclosure Unit
E mail:- [email address]
Police Headquarters
173 Pitt Street
GLASGOW
G2 4JS
Tel: 0141 435 1204
Fax: 0141 435 1218
Dear Mr Manderson
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NUMBER 0460/2008
I refer to your request for information dated 25 May 2008, which was received by Strathclyde
Police on that date. Your request has now been considered and on 24 June 2008, a decision
was made to grant your request in full. As such, the information you have requested is
detailed below.
I would like you to provide me with details of how many police hours were spent policing
football matches between the Rangers Football Club and the Celtic Football Club at
Ibrox/Parkhead and also the National Stadium. Since 2002.
During the period stipulated 48, 192 hours police hours have been spent at policing Celtic v
Rangers matches at Celtic Park. Both Ibrox Stadium and Hampden Park are situated within
the same police division and a combined total of approx 57, 120 police hours were spent
policing these fixtures at these venues over the period that you have stipulated.
I also wish to be provided with how many brave officers were injured as a result of this
fixture.
In accordance with Sections 12(1) (Excessive cost of compliance) and 16(4) (Refusal of
request) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the Act), this letter represents a
Refusal Notice.
By way of explanation, when a police officer suffers an injury on duty, irrespective of the
cause, the matter is reported to the Force Safety Officer. Prior to 2005 this process was carried
out through the submission of a paper form and records for this period remain as paper based
files. To extract the information you request for this period would require the physical
examination of individual paper records to establish if the injury to the person concerned was
attributable to duties in connection with a Celtic v Rangers fixture.
For the period between 2002 and 2005 this would require the examination of several thousand
individual records. As I am sure you can appreciate the cost in undertaking this task would
vastly exceed the £600 prescribed by the Scottish Ministers under the Act.
By way of assistance however, since 2005 the system of reporting an injury has been
computerised. Conducting a ‘keyword’, search on this system that for the period 1st January
2005 to date shows that four officers have reported injuries in connection with duties at Celtic
v Rangers fixtures. Two officers were injured as a result of missiles being thrown, one as a
result of a fall and another as a result of moving a weight.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Strathclyde Police.
Should you require any further assistance concerning this matter please contact me directly on
0141 435 1204 quoting the reference number given.
I hope this information is helpful, however, if you are not satisfied with the way in which
your request has been dealt with, you are entitled in the first instance to request a review of
the decision made by the Force. Should you wish to request such a review, please write to
Mrs Sheena Brennan, Disclosure Manager at the above address within 40 working days of
receiving this letter.
Once informed of the Review Panel’s decision, if you are still not satisfied, then you are
entitled to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision. Contact details are;
Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St
Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, telephone 01334 464610.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Strathclyde Police.
Should you require any further assistance concerning this matter please contact me directly on
0141 435 1204 quoting the reference number given.
Yours sincerely
John Cameron
Sergeant
