Stardust survivor who smelt smoke told to ‘sit down’

The inquests into the deaths of the 48 young people who died in the 1981 Stardust fire continued today with more testimony from survivors.

Teresa Kenny told the court how she noticed the smell of smoke around five to 10 minutes before the fire was first spotted, at approximately 1.40am in the early hours of 14 February.

She told the court that her sister then went up to a bouncer to alert him to the smell, but was told to “sit down”.

She said she did not know if her sister had been told to sit back down in a “friendly” or “non-friendly” way.

She also said she did not see the doorman investigate the smell.

In court, Ms Kenny compared the smell to that of burning cardboard.

The jury was also told she was 17 at the time and had been a regular at the club, for a “good year”.

She agreed that she never had any trouble getting in.

She said the fire was “small” when she first saw it, but then told of how it got big shortly afterwards.

She also described hearing people inside the club shouting and banging on exit door number four, after she got out of the main entrance.

“You could hear them banging on the handle, nothing was happening,” she said.

She added that people on the outside were trying to pull the doors open. She told the court that people were also pulling on exit number five to try get it open.

She said she did not see anyone get out exit four and five while she was there.

The inquests continue.