A damning assessment of stadium safety in Scottish football has led to a crackdown by the Scottish Government and local authorities, says a report.
The HM Inspectorate of Constabulary findings say a “robust” inspection regime at football grounds is now in place after failings were highlighted by a report in March.
There was widespread concern after fans were crushed at Celtic Park at an Old Firm match last season.
There were ticketing problems at a Kilmarnock v Rangers match earlier this month, and the roof of a pavilion for the disabled collapsed when Rangers fans jumped on top of it while celebrating a goal.
Yesterday’s report praised the Government and local authorities for putting a proper inspection regime in place.
It said: “The Scottish Government is providing leadership to address the improvements.”
The Independent Review of Football Policing in Scotland made 18 recommendations, with 16 of these falling to Police Scotland.
Yesterday’s report said police had achieved 12 of the recommendations and made “progress” with the other four.
It added: “All 22 local authorities that have senior professional football clubs have safety certificates for their stadia in place.”
Council body COSLA said the report is a “clear signal of the good, solid progress councils have made in terms of consolidating safety”.
The recommendations followed a probe highlighting serious failings in football stadium safety, revealed in the Daily Record in March.
The probe said safety certificates had been altered to raise capacity and clubs had deliberately sold more tickets than their grounds could hold.
