Events to mark 40 years since the Bradford City stadium fire

It's 40 years since the Bradford City Stadium fire, which killed 56 people and injured hundreds more.

The Bantams had just been promoted three weeks before, and the 11th May was their last game of the season, against Lincoln City.

There will be a memorial service on Sunday to mark the 40th anniversary of the fire in Centenary Square.

The fire, believed to have been started by a discarded cigarette, was first noticed at 3:40 pm through live commentary. In less than four minutes, the fire had engulfed the whole stand.

Daryl Brennon attended the game, he said: "It seemed to last forever though, because we were stood as you couldn't do anything, you could see people jumping over seats and never getting up."

He also said: "When I went home, because you didn't have mobile phones in them days, my wife said, it had just been on the news but there's no fatalities, there must have been, because we actually seen people dropping and never getting up. It was just horrendous really."

Peter Jackson was the captain of the 1984/95 team, he told us: "When the ref obviously stopped the game, at first there was just a puff of smoke, and then there were crowds bleeding onto the pitch, but two or three, became ten, 30 and hundreds but it happened so, so quickly."

Following the tragedy, strict new safety standards were introduced in football grounds across the country.

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