A former barman at the Stardust nightclub has denied that his account of opening one of the emergency exit doors without any obstructions or impediment “simply cannot be the truth”.
David Bridgeman told lawyers representing the families of the deceased that he did not agree that up to 15 people were at exit four and had difficulty opening the door on the night of the blaze. He said he also could not recall chairs stacked in front of the exit when the fire broke out.
Nine bodies were subsequently found at this exit, the inquest jury sitting in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda hospital heard on Tuesday.
Mr Bridgeman, who was 17 at the time, told Sean Guerin SC, representing a number of the families who lost loved ones in the blaze, that he could not recall giving evidence at the 1981 tribunal of inquiry before Mr Justice Ronan Keane about moving chairs away from exit four after the fire broke out.
In his original statements to Gardaí in February 1981, Mr Bridgeman said exit doors four and five were unlocked and ready to open “at any time whether it was an emergency or not”.
However, in his evidence to the Keane tribunal in May of the same year, Mr Bridgeman said he and a doorman moved chairs away from exit four.
Asked at the tribunal if there were “almost certainly” two bottle skips at exit five, Mr Bridgeman said “yes”.
In direct evidence, he agreed with Mr Guerin that there “could have been” two bottle skips in front of exit five.
Asked by counsel about the discrepancy in his accounts, Mr Bridgeman, who worked as a part-time barman at the Stardust club, said he could not recall as it had happened “42 years ago”.
Questioned about the seats in front of exit four, the witness said: “I can’t remember, I said there was, but I can’t remember.
Exit four
Asked by Mr Guerin if he disagreed with the suggestion that there was a crowd of people gathered at exit four and there was difficulty opening it, Mr Bridgeman replied: “I can’t answer that because I don’t know.”
Mr Guerin put it to him that it had been “so frightening and extraordinary a thing” to be in a nightclub “with hundreds of people present and a fire raging and being unable to open an emergency exit door” that he “couldn’t possibly have forgotten it”.
Mr Bridgeman replied: “You’re saying my account is wrong… Is that what you're saying?”
“I am in fact suggesting it is wrong, your statements make no mentions of the obstructions at the door…. and no mention of the difficulty opening the door and that’s because your account is wrong,” Mr Guerin said.
“My account is wrong…You’re saying my account is wrong. I don’t personally think my account is wrong,” Mr Bridgeman said, adding that everybody had a different account of what they did that night.”
“I know what I did,” he said. “I don’t remember chairs … I can’t just say all of a sudden there were chairs there. I don’t remember them being there.”
“But you remembered them in May 1981 when you were giving evidence to the [Keane] tribunal. Why did you not tell the guards about them?” Mr Guerin asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t answer that. I don’t know,” Mr Bridgeman replied. “I remembered the chairs at the time, yes. I don’t remember them now is what I’m saying.”
When Mr Guerin queried if he had any recollection of checking the doors himself, Mr Bridgeman said he had to go out exit four “all the time” to change the kegs for the bar.
Pressed as to whether he had checked exit five, Mr Bridgeman said there were keys behind the bars to open the locks “on those two doors, so they would have been opened and left hanging over the doors”. “That’s my memory,” he added.
Asked by Mr Guerin if he had opened either of those doors on the night or whether he had seen anyone else open them, Mr Bridgeman said: “I can’t remember”, before adding: “I could have opened them, and then again I mightn’t.”
Chained doors
He agreed that the chain was across the door when he went out to change the keg.
Asked how he opened the door he said he lifted the chain “up and over” and then pushed the door and walked out. He said he did not have any recollection of also using the vertical bar to open the door.
Michael O’Higgins SC, who also represents a number of the families of the victims, put it to Mr Bridgeman that he had mentioned on a number of occasions in his evidence to the Keane Tribunal had used the long vertical bar on exit four which could be pulled down to open the door.
“The point I’m making is, because you were very familiar with the process, you could, as it were, beat the system by manoeuvring the vertical bar, but people who weren’t familiar with this system wouldn’t have been able to do that.”
“I would agree with that, yeah,” Mr Bridgman said.
He agreed with Mr O’Higgins that he was a teenager at the time and that whether the doors were locked or unlocked “wasn’t my responsibility”.
Asked by counsel if he remembered whether there was any difficulty opening the door, Mr Bridgeman said he did not remember.
When questioned why he had told gardaí he had kicked the door when he was trying to open it on the night of the fire, Mr Bridgeman said: “I probably panicked and said I was pushing and kicking the door, which I probably did. There was a fire. I wasn’t going out to change a keg. It was two totally different things.”
Mr O’Higgins outlined extracts of evidence from witnesses, including a man who recalled 15 people “going mad” punching and kicking the door and a woman who said it took “about five minutes” to get the door open before she lost her shoes in the rush outside. Asked if he recalled any of this, Mr Bridgeman said he did not.
Asked if he remembered any build up of people or the door suddenly breaking open, the former barman said he did not.
“Again, this isn’t intended to be a criticism of you...I’m hoping that by putting other people’s accounts to you that that might persuade you that their accounts are more likely to be more accurate than yours. Do you agree with that?,” Mr O’Higgins asked.
“No”, Mr Bridgeman replied. “I just know what I did, I don’t remember people standing there or kicking or doing anything like that. I don’t remember any of that.”
“I have to suggest to you that their account is much more accurate than your account,” Mr O’Higgins said, to which Mr Bridgeman replied: “If that’s what you want to believe that’s what you want to believe.”
'Deathtrap'
Des Fahy KC, representing a number of the families of the deceased, said at least 21 bodies were recovered around exits four and five and nine bodies were recovered at exit four.
He suggested to Mr Bridgeman that this was an indication that something had gone “seriously wrong” with people escaping from those exits. He put it to the witness that this was in conflict with his evidence that the doors were capable of being opened easily.
“How many people got out those doors, have you got those numbers for me?,” Mr Bridgeman replied.
“I’m not sure it’s entirely appropriate to have a headcount here,” Mr Fahy said.
Joe Brolly BL, appearing with Mr Bernard Condon SC on behalf of 10 of the families who those who died, put it to the witness that this was an opportunity to “tell the truth about what happened”.
He suggested to Mr Bridgeman that the truth was that the emergency exits were used as storage areas and were constantly being locked to prevent young people getting in. He said, as a result, when the fire happened, the Stardust was a “deathtrap”.
“I went through those doors on loads of occasions that night I’m sure to change kegs. I wouldn’t be moving chairs out of the way to get out that door. So no, I don’t recollect chairs being in front of me to get out that exit.”
“I would suggest to you that can’t be right,” counsel said.
Mr Brolly put it to the witness that he was “simply sticking to a story” and that what he was telling this jury “simply cannot be the truth”.
“What I recall is the truth of what I’m saying,” Mr Bridgeman said.
