Under Martyn’s Law, stadiums and sports grounds that can reasonably expect 800 or more people on site at the same time, staff included, are enhanced duty premises. For almost every professional ground in the UK, that means documented public protection measures, a designated senior individual and a written case for how entry arrangements reduce the ground’s vulnerability to attack¹.

Matchday entry screening is where those duties are tested hardest. At Martyn’s Law stadiums, a bag check has to protect the concourse without moving the risk into the crowd queuing outside the turnstiles.

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025, and its duties apply from the commencement date confirmed through Parliament³. Our earlier article, Martyn’s Law and the Reality of Venue Bag Screening, covered bag screening across venue types. This guide applies Martyn’s Law to stadiums specifically: the tier test, the enhanced duty, the sports ground safety regime and screening that holds up at peak arrival.

Why stadiums sit in the enhanced tier

Martyn’s Law applies to stadiums because use as a sports ground is a specified use in Schedule 1 to the Act. Premises are in scope when they include at least one building, are used wholly or mainly for a Schedule 1 use, can reasonably be expected to hold 200 or more people at once from time to time, and are not excluded by Schedule 2. At 800 or more, they move into the enhanced tier¹.

The test Martyn’s Law sets for stadiums is the reasonable peak, not average attendance or a theoretical maximum. Spectators, stewards, caterers, contractors, media and volunteers all count, and the statutory guidance accepts safe capacity figures, historic attendance and ticketing data as evidence⁴. A league ground with paying crowds will usually clear 800 on an ordinary matchday.

Smaller grounds sit closer to the line. One worked example in the Martyn’s Law guidance describes a stadium that normally expects around 500 people but hosts a single testimonial expected to draw 1,000; as a one-off, it stays in the standard tier. If such fixtures recur, or can reasonably be expected to, the tier changes⁵.

Matchdays are not separate qualifying events

Martyn’s Law also covers qualifying events: publicly accessible events with controlled entry and 800 or more expected attendees. A qualifying event cannot be held at premises that are already enhanced duty premises, so a league fixture at an enhanced tier stadium is not a separate event under the Act. The duty attaches to the ground and its responsible person, usually the stadium operator³.

The same applies when Martyn’s Law stadiums host concerts, boxing or other non-sporting events. The guidance’s worked examples indicate that the premises operator remains the responsible person even when a third party runs the event, and that others with some control over the site must co-operate so far as is reasonably practicable⁵.

Stadium campuses and mixed use

Club museums, megastores, hospitality suites, conference facilities and leased gyms often share a stadium site. Under Martyn’s Law, stadiums can contain separate premises within them, and secondary uses such as non-matchday conference hire do not take a ground out of scope when its main use is as a sports ground⁵.

What the enhanced duty requires

Martyn’s Law places the enhanced duty on stadiums in addition to the requirements that apply to every qualifying premises. Once the Act is in force, the responsible person must meet five obligations¹.

Entry screening falls into two of the four measure categories Martyn’s Law sets for stadiums: bag checks are a physical safety and security measure, and the layout of lanes, queues and secondary search areas is a movement measure. The Act does not prescribe bag screening or any equipment. It requires appropriate, reasonably practicable measures with the reasoning written down, so an inspector is likely to ask why searches are configured as they are and how the operator knows they work at peak arrival¹.

Responsibility cannot be outsourced

Many stadiums contract out stewarding and security, but Martyn’s Law does not let them contract out accountability. The Home Office is explicit that tasks can be delegated to a service provider while legal responsibility stays with the responsible person, so contracts should allocate screening tasks, information sharing and co-operation clearly³.

Enforcement

The SIA regulates Martyn’s Law for stadiums and all other qualifying premises, and has set out a supportive, advice-first approach. For serious or persistent non-compliance it can issue compliance notices, monetary penalties and restriction notices, with maximum penalties for enhanced duty premises reaching the greater of £18 million or 5% of worldwide revenue. Inspections without a warrant require at least 72 hours’ written notice².

Martyn’s Law and the sports ground safety regime

Designated grounds already hold a general safety certificate under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 and work with the local authority, its Safety Advisory Group and the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA), whose approach to safety has long included security against terrorism. What Martyn’s Law changes for these stadiums is the legal footing: counter-terrorism arrangements become a statutory duty regulated by the SIA, with documented reasoning behind each measure⁶.

The practical risk is two entrance plans that disagree. A stadium’s Martyn’s Law document should describe the same gates, search arrangements and escalation routes as the safety certificate conditions, stewarding plan and ground regulations. Screening equipment at the turnstiles must also respect the entry and exit capacities and egress routes the certificate relies on, because a search lane that narrows an exit route trades one risk for another.

The matchday arrival curve

Gates may open 90 minutes before kick-off, yet a large share of supporters reach the turnstiles in the final half hour. Weather, transport, hospitality and the profile of the fixture all shift the curve, which is why Martyn’s Law screening plans for stadiums have to be built on peak flow rather than averages.

Throughput is a security issue, not only an operational one. When screening cannot keep pace, crowds build beyond the outer perimeter, the area sports ground planning calls Zone Ex and the Act calls the immediate vicinity¹. Martyn’s Law expects stadiums to reduce the risk of harm there too, and a backed-up queue also pressures stewards to wave bags through as kick-off nears.

A worked capacity example

The figures below are illustrative assumptions for a Martyn’s Law assessment at a stadium, not benchmarks; each ground should substitute its own ticketing, turnstile and arrival data.

• A crowd of 30,000, with around one in four supporters bringing a bag: 7,500 bags.
• Around 60% of those bags arriving in the final 45 minutes: 4,500 bags, a peak rate of 6,000 bags per hour.
• A lane rated at up to 1,400 bags per hour needs just over four lanes at its rated maximum; planning at a sustained 75% of rated throughput, to allow for alarm resolution, staff rotation and uneven queues, raises that to six.

The value of the exercise lies in what it exposes: which gates carry the peak, how much headroom remains if a lane fails, and how far a clearer bag policy could cut demand. Manual searching sets a lower ceiling, varying between stewards and slowing under pressure; it is the right tool for resolving alarms, but scaling it to a full matchday peak is a gap many stadiums will need to close in their Martyn’s Law planning.

Designing a matchday bag screening procedure

A defensible procedure is one a new steward can follow on their first matchday and the senior individual can explain to an SIA inspector. For Martyn’s Law stadiums, eight elements give it that shape.

• Scope. Define which entrances are screened and when: general admission, hospitality, media, players’ and staff entrances, and contractor access including pre-match deliveries. Secondary entrances are where consistency most often breaks down.
• Bag policy. Align prohibited items and bag size limits with the ground regulations and publish them through ticketing and club channels, so the screening point enforces a known policy rather than introducing one.
• Alarm resolution. Set who resolves a flagged bag and where. A secondary search area beside the lane keeps one alert from stopping the queue.
• Escalation. Link the screening point to the control room, safety officer and police liaison, and define the trigger for moving to evacuation, invacuation or lockdown.
• Degraded operation. Decide in advance what happens if a lane fails, a gate is overwhelmed or kick-off is delayed, so the call never falls to an individual steward under pressure.
• Accessibility. Plan for medical equipment, mobility aids, assistance dogs, carers and private searches.
• Training and rehearsal. Train stewards on the procedure, not only the equipment, and test it at lower-risk fixtures such as pre-season friendlies.
• Review. Record throughput, alarm rates and incidents after each fixture and feed them into the documented assessment.

X-ray screening and radiation safety

X-ray bag screening brings a second regulatory framework alongside Martyn’s Law for stadiums. In Great Britain, the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17) apply, enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE); Northern Ireland has equivalent regulations enforced by HSENI.

Work with X-ray baggage screening normally requires HSE registration, held by the employer whose staff operate the equipment, which at a Martyn’s Law stadium may be a security contractor rather than the club. That employer must also appoint and consult a Radiation Protection Adviser, carry out a radiation risk assessment, set local rules and train operators, and new installations need a critical examination before first use⁷.

At equipment level, cabinet X-ray systems are designed and tested against IEC 61010-2-091. Stadiums preparing screening under Martyn’s Law should ask suppliers for evidence of conformity and leakage data for the adviser’s risk assessment, and agree how units moved between gates or stored between fixtures will be handled.

Where high-throughput screening fits

LV STREAM was designed for the kind of high-footfall entrances Martyn’s Law stadiums manage on matchdays. It combines dual-view X-ray imaging with A-EYE automatic threat detection and supports throughput of up to 1,400 bags per hour, so stewards respond to a specific flagged bag rather than judging every bag unaided, and fewer bags need a full manual search.

Neither the Home Office nor the SIA endorses products³, and no system makes a ground compliant with Martyn’s Law on its own. For stadiums, LV STREAM supports the physical security and movement measures within a documented screening procedure, alongside trained staff, CCTV, stewarding and public protection procedures. To discuss lane configuration for a specific ground, contact ukinfo@linevsystems.com.

Key dates and preparation steps

Martyn’s Law duties apply to stadiums from the commencement date confirmed through Parliament, and the current position is published on GOV.UK⁴.

• 3 April 2025. Royal Assent.
• 15 April 2026. Home Office statutory guidance published under section 27⁴.
• Commencement (date set through Parliament). duties apply from this date.

Whether a ground is preparing for Martyn’s Law or reviewing arrangements already in place, the work for stadiums follows a clear sequence:

• Confirm the tier with a recorded method, and name the responsible person and senior individual.
• Map control across the site, including leased areas, contractors and event promoters, and align contracts with it.
• Model screening throughput gate by gate against peak arrival data.
• Align the screening procedure with the safety certificate, stewarding plan and ground regulations.
• Allow lead time for IRR17 registration, adviser appointment and operator training if X-ray screening is planned.
• Draft the document for the SIA, linking each procedure and measure to the Act’s objectives.

Sources

• Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, legislation.gov.uk.
• Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: Explanatory Notes, Schedules, legislation.gov.uk.
• Martyn’s Law Factsheet, Home Office.
• The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: statutory guidance and supplementary documents, GOV.UK.
• Martyn’s Law: What does the latest guidance on terrorism protection mean for UK sports organisations?, Farrer & Co.
• Martyn’s Law: where are we and what should you do next?, Clarke Willmott.
• IRR17 (5): Notification of certain work, Ionactive.