Posted By Yossarian I think the key phrase is "within the short time span available". That's not health & safety, it's logistics.

Posted By Elfy I don't think it is sensible to stop the parade as it will entrench the public perception that H&S isn't always in their best interest. Perhaps a body such as the HSE or IOSH should step in and advise the club on the measures to take to help ensure a safe event. This would then turn the tables somewhat on the anti H&S brigade who would see the profession trying to help the general public rather than trying to interfere with their enjoyment.

Posted By Stuff4blokes ManU were denied their glorious parade in 2008 for the same reason: inadequate planning by those whose job it is to ensure public safety. The question of competence is raised. I sincerely hope that this will not occur again.

Posted By Jay Joshi This is to do with a public event and the health & safety implications of managing crowds etc and the resources required to do so. We do not have the full information from the authorities.

Posted By Dave Wilson David were you the other guy who was in Burton that day? Cost may have something to do with it as well as WWFC would have to pay for it all.

Posted By Rich Bannister Dave Wilson, that's not a particularly helpful response. The turn out for the Brewer's parade was particularly well turned out (so I'm told) for a team/town the size of Burton; but obviously not to the same extent that a Wolves' parade would be. Unfortunately, I couldn't be there as I live in Norwich now. Wolves stated that they do not have the necessary expertise to manage such an event. Obviously BAFC and East Staffs council do. David Hood. Nice to know there's another Brewer on the boards here.

Posted By andy.c. Stuff4blokes, you raise a good but slightly misguided point, the ManU parade was denied by the city council (before getting off the drawing board)after a very well organised,well risk assessed, well policed event ended in carnage when a TV screen broke. After that the city council made the decision that they would need to review all area's of sports control, with all bodies concerned and this could not be completed before the planned date, So no safety cert, no parade. (and Manchester has more experience then most in this sort of thing---unfortunately) The issue hear is time constraints, I'm sure if WWFC submit a request to hold the parade in June then all points could be ironed out, but what would be the point. Andy

Posted By Stuff4blokes AndyC, I stand by my comments that this is a failure to plan. Wolves are a strong club and there was a reasonable expectation a full 12 months ago that they would achieve promotion, with increasing probability as the weeks went by. Why no serious thought by the local authority and club as to how that could be celebrated? Similarly, the Manchester fiasco of a city full of very drunk football fans very angry at losing TV pictures was not only predictable but also a failure by the event managers. Why no contingency plan? Even more annoying was that this failure and its consequences resulted in a ban "for health and safety reasons" of a celebration that would have had fewer drunkenness issues and only happiness and delight by the celebtrating fans.

Posted By tia_tasha this is all a tad silly. WWFC should have had a sense they may go up, im sure that realsitically they will have a Safety Person employed by the club, so should he not have had a contingency plan allready wrote up for this? in this i mean he should have foreseen the need for a tour and what could be expected from it, if they had no expertese, why did they not hire someone in from an outside company to deal with this... as ever, its cheaper and easier to blame H&S...poor

Posted By srd Another update: The Express and Star have also used this story on their web site, which can be seen at: http://www.expressandsta...r-fire-for-parade-scrap/ Steve.

Posted By srd The story was also reported on the Shropshire Star newspaper website at: http://www.shropshiresta...blasted-on-parade-claim/ In response to the newspaper and website coverage I have sent a letter to the local media as follows:

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Dear Sirs, When defending the decision by Wolves to abandon plans for a victory parade to celebrate the club's promotion to the premiership, Wolves spokesman Matt Grayson referred to 'opportunistic press releases from third parties'. The press release he referred to was in fact issued by the Institute of Safety and Health (IOSH), Europe's leading body for health and safety professionals, founded in 1945 and with over 35,000 members worldwide, including 13,000 Chartered Safety and Health Practitioners. The Institute is a not-for-profit organisation that sets professional standards, supports and develops members and provides authoritative advice and guidance on health and safety issues. The reality is that the decision has nothing to do with health and safety. It’s a question of the time and effort required to plan it all (from crowd control to policing to routes etc) and, of course, the cost. Wolves claim they haven’t “got the expertise” to run a parade – so how do they hope to deal with 30,000 fans in the Premier League week in, week out then? Jez Moxey said that said the club did not possess the required expertise to manage such an event safely, and had held "lengthy discussions" with its safety advisory group, which included the police, council and emergency services. Surely a group such as this would have had the expertise they required? This is yet another example of ‘health and safety’ being used as a convenient excuse for an unpopular decision. Health and safety is about preventing death, injury and ill-health – it’s not about stopping what should be a happy celebration for a football club and its passionate supporters. Large events can be held safely, look at the recent London marathon, or indeed the Carver Wolverhampton City Marathon. It is a good job that the Wolves management are not in charge of the 2012 Olympics or it would never take place. Imagine athletes throwing around pointed metal spears inside a packed arena, how safe is that!

Posted By srd Perhaps this is where IOSH needs to step in, make contact with the club and offer general advice, then point them towards where they can get the expertise they are lacking, ie a suitable match from their Register of Health and Safety Consultants. How good would that look if IOSH helped to enable the event. Now that would be a triumph for the profession. Steve.