POLICE assured a stadium safety group they would divert fans away from the terrace at Hillsborough if it became full, a former fire officer has told the trial of match commander David Duckenfield.

Ronald Grimshaw, who worked for South Yorkshire County Fire Service from 1964 until 1999, was a member of the Officer Working Party responsible for advising on the safety of Sheffield Wednesday's stadium in the mid-1980s, he told Preston Crown Court on Monday.

Duckenfield, 74, who denies the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans at the FA Cup semi-final on April 15 1989, and former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell, 69, who denies breaching a condition of the safety certificate and a health and safety offence, sat in the well of the court alongside their legal teams as the second week of their trial began.

Mr Grimshaw said nobody in the Officer Working Party, which included representatives from the council, police and fire service, had expected "anything like" the disaster to happen.

Richard Matthews QC, prosecuting, asked him whether South Yorkshire Police had ever mentioned anything about the correct density packing for the Leppings Lane terrace, where the fatal crush happened.

Mr Grimshaw said: "They had control of the gates on the entrance, they had also got CCTV looking at the area and police officers along the pitchside on the front.

"There was no count into the area, which was one of my concerns, but the way it had been looked after in the past, they assured us that if there was any danger of over-density in those areas then they would close the entrance off and divert spectators round the end of the stand."

Mr Grimshaw said fans were counted when they went through the turnstiles of the Leppings Lane end but there was not a specific count of fans who entered the tunnel leading to the central pens.

He agreed that no view was given to using the gates at the front of the terrace, in pitch perimeter fences, as exits in the event of an emergency.

Mr Grimshaw said: "With the fences being there, the policy at this time was that we didn't consider forward evacuation onto the pitch."

He added: "It was never envisaged, I'm sure, by anybody that there would be the numbers coming down that tunnel that happened on that day."

The court has heard more than 2,600 fans entered the stadium through exit gate C when it was opened just before the semi-final kicked off to relieve crushing outside the turnstiles.

Mr Grimshaw said members of the Officer Working Party knew the gates in the pitch perimeter fence of pens three and four were not as wide as the requirement set out in stadium safety manual the Green Guide.

The guide recommended gates should be a width of 1.1m, but the pen gates were 85cm and 83cm wide respectively.

Mr Grimshaw said: "The police used the gates and they indicated they were happy with the gates as they were.

"They never came back with any indication that they weren't wide enough.

"They were just never considered as a means of escape."

Mr Grimshaw said if he had been asked the day before the disaster whether the stadium could be safely operated, providing everyone did their jobs, he would have said yes.

Ninety-six men, women and children suffered fatal injuries in the crush at the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

Under the law at the time, there can be no prosecution for the 96th victim, Tony Bland, as he died more than a year and a day after the disaster.

Twelve of those who lost their lives were from Wirral and Ellesmere Port.

The trial will continue on Tuesday.