Ken Bates is well known for battling to save every penny he possibly can, so it was no surprise that he went all the way in his dispute with the WYP over the amount they charge for policing matches at Elland Road. And now he can look forward to a timely boost to club funds, after winning case against the force in the high court.
This morning Mr Justice Eady announced that he agreed with the club’s view that the force could not charge for matchday policing on land that was not owned or controlled by the club, as this falls within the scope of normal police obligations to maintain public order. Under section 25 of the Police Act 1996, such policing could not be separately charged as Special Police Services.
The judge said "it seems wrong to discount the majority of well-behaved fans who come to Elland Road, whether Club supporters or visitors, all of whom retain their status as members of the public. In that capacity, they too are entitled to expect police protection." Which is nice, as over the years we’ve got rather used to people in authority branding the whole lot of us as hooligans.
As a result, WYP must now repay the club the costs of wider policing from the past three years. The amount involved has not been made public, but it seems likely to run to several thousand pounds, and we can but hope this money will be made available to Neil Warnock right away.
In a statement on the cub’s official website Sean Harvey said "We have never objected to paying for the cost of policing on land owned, leased or controlled by the Club. However West Yorkshire Police's stance, to seek to charge us for policing the public highway and for areas away from the ground is a step too far. We have been paying under protest for the last 3 seasons on this basis and are pleased to have received this clarification in a dispute which was only capable of being resolved in front of a judge.”
He also said “Leeds United continue to have a very good relationship with West Yorkshire Police”, though that might be questionable now that the police have to repay all that money out of a budget that was already stretched. Today they said the judgement would have a "significant impact" on police and the taxpayer.
Their statement continued “By way of illustration, a category C football match [the highest risk category] for the coming season will cost the force about £80,000 of which we will seek to recover only £62,000 from Leeds United.If the High Court's judgement limits that further, the shortfall would have to be met by drawing up to 180 officers away from neighbourhood policing and patrol teams across West Yorkshire on a Saturday afternoon, just to police a football match”.
The judge did acknowledge there was no single drain on West Yorkshire Police's diminishing resources greater than that of policing the club's matches, and the force rather ominously said "We welcome the fact that the judge recognised the invidious position the force faces and the possibility of the force being unable to support the club's existing match arrangements in the present economic climate."
That last comment raises the possibility that for some high profile matches the police might say that they can’t afford to deploy the number of officers they would need to maintain order throughout the city, so they might try to prevent some games taking place. We might not have heard the last of this one yet!