FOI 26-133 - Resources Available in Glasgow 17th May 2025
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-133 - Resources Available in Glasgow 17th May 2025
- Request Date
- 09 Mar 2026
- Response Date
- 07 Apr 2026
- Information Requested
- What resources had to be made available by the SAS to support public safety at Glasgow Cross and surrounding areas on the 17th of May 2025 due to the gathering of football fans?
- How much did it cost to make these resources available, either in terms of financial value or in terms of reduction of other services.
- Did the Scottish Ambulance Service call a major incident on that day?
- Given there were over 15,000 people in the Glasgow Cross area that afternoon and no managed access to the area, would the SAS have been able to access any of the residential flats in the immediate area of Glasgow Cross had there been a medical emergency and a resident phoned 999?
- Response
Q1 - With any known or anticipated event or gathering, a planning process is undertaken to consider how the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) will respond to potential casualties. The gathering on 17 May 2025 was managed following a request from Police Scotland for SAS support as part of their operation.
The Scottish Ambulance Service is a dynamic organisation, and ambulance resources remain deployable across geographical areas based on real‑time demand, clinical priority, and operational need, rather than being fixed to a single location.
On the date requested, there were no additional operational A&E ambulances were specifically rostered or allocated solely to respond to the gathering at Glasgow Cross. The Scottish Ambulance Service did deploy a management and coordination presence to support the operation put in place by Police Scotland. These staff worked in collaboration with Police Scotland to ensure effective communication, situational awareness and coordination during the event.
Q2 - The costs associated with the involvement of management staff, or any direct impact on other services, are not separately captured or quantified in relation to this gathering. As a result, the Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold recorded information that would allow us to provide meaningful financial calculations. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held.
Q3 - No, the Scottish Ambulance Service did not declare a major incident on 17th May 2025.
Q4 - Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, the Scottish Ambulance Service is only able to provide recorded information held at the time of the request and cannot speculate or provide commentary on hypothetical scenarios.
SAS does not hold recorded information that definitively confirms how access would have occurred in a specific hypothetical emergency affecting a particular residential property on that day. However, in general terms, SAS would respond to any 999 call and would work in coordination with Police Scotland, in line with the pre‑arranged plan for the event, to facilitate access where possible. It is recognised that factors such as crowd density and access restrictions may have impacted response times, but this cannot be quantified or confirmed from recorded information.
