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Underground > Conversation >

Don't Panic! London Car Bomb.

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13:04 / 29.06.07

In light of this; Haymarket Car Bomb , can any centrally-placed 'Lithers confirm that the middle of town hasn't been closed off or anything?

No-one seems too bothered which is as it should be; just wanted to know that my evening in W1 won't be disrupted.

Cheers!

13:33 / 29.06.07

Well, some people sound a little bit bothered;

'This was foiled totally by chance,' ...

Security experts said it was the first time that a so-called vehicle-born improvised device (VBIED) would have been used in an attack in London.

'This is significant. These are the tactics of Iraq coming to the streets of Britain,' said the BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

13:39 / 29.06.07

It might be a good time not to be sitting reading on the tube*, especially if you happen to be in possession of a) a beard b) "Middle Eastern" appearance c) a rucksack or d) a Brazilian passport. Or any of the above, really.

*or indeed, leaving your car parked badly outside any sort of night spot.

13:44 / 29.06.07

hm. Point.

I meant that people immediate to me have been a bit more shruggy than hysterical, but I recognise that that may not be too representative.

In fact; thinking about it - I may be forced to revise my default position that portenteous, doomsaying threat levels (currently 'severe' - unchanged since August 2006) should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Tryphena Absent

13:52 / 29.06.07

Hyde Park is being cleared because of a suspect vehicle on Park Lane and apparently parts of the West End are still cordoned off. Just don't drive in London tonight.

14:03 / 29.06.07

Thanks, Anna

15:09 / 29.06.07

A co-worker has just told me part of Fleet street is currently closed, but he does work in the marketing department so he's probably lying.

15:14 / 29.06.07

Shaftsbury Avenue was closed earlier as was Picadilly circus tube station not sure on the situation right now, most of Soho was going on as normal today..

15:25 / 29.06.07

Park lane is also closed and a few roads around hyde park...

16:15 / 29.06.07

How does a vehicle become a suspect vehicle? I just read this is a news site and it says the police received information on the locations of the suspected items/spots. I have trouble imagining how does it go from car bomb into info for police. How that bridge is build.

I've just watched five minutes ago a Keith Olbermann report on every terrorist threat on the U.S. since 9/11 and how it played on every time some republican scandal was either outed or about to come out. I don't live in a country targeted by those factions, so I get curious if people take these seriously (as I think they should, without resorting to panic -- as much as that's possible in my imagination as an unexperienced person in these matters) or if people are pretty much blazé about it, either desensitized, or not buying, or "thoughening up".

(And take care, people)

17:31 / 29.06.07

Apparently the 'suspect vehicle' in the Hyde Park garage was one that was towed away last night (Private paking wardens are rife in london, ever keen to issue tickets and tow away cars - it's a very lucrative sector).

I did have one darkly amusing thought today - that snce the country is currently struck by a postal strike all the letter bombs will go undelivered...

18:13 / 29.06.07

I'm awaiting the first joke about the congestion charge.

Also, I know that making The 39 Steps into a four-person comedy play is a bit of a stretch, but, y'know, come on...

I'm actually muchly concerned about all these goings on, but the part of my brain that deals with it has actually burnt out over the last few years and doesn't now activate, very unfortunately, until the needle reaches "terrifying".

I did wonder, however, what was going on when the terror alert level at one of my workplaces moved from "Black Special" to "Heightened", and I see now that it was not simply political correctness.

Phex: Dorset Doom

19:11 / 29.06.07

How does a vehicle become a suspect vehicle?

In this case the vehicle drove into an alley at high speed, the driver got out and ran away and two bouncers at a club nearby went to investigate and saw the bomb inside. Not exactly ambiguous.

19:25 / 29.06.07

Yeah, that was pretty blunt.

21:17 / 29.06.07

I'm slightly puzzled by the absence of a mention, so far anyway, in the reports I've read, of a device by which the petrol, gas and nails could have been detonated, in either of the cars concerned.

Presumably the drivers weren't just hoping someone would walk by with a cigarette on the go?

21:32 / 29.06.07

Maybe it was a smoking ban protest designed to be activated by smokers exiled to the streets...

14:31 / 30.06.07

Glasgow Airport?

14:44 / 30.06.07

Badly-timed accident or something a bit sinister? What on Earth's going on?

14:48 / 30.06.07

No accident by the looks of things.

Jeep Cherokee with two guys inside, one of them on fire with something burning in the back, which then exploded after they got out of the car. They tried to drive the Jeep into the main terminal but got stuck halfway into the door.

The guy on fire got tackled by an eyewitness and kicked fuck out of apparently. Only in Glasgow.

Apparently it's not being treated as a National Security case, but purely a police matter?

Somebody tries to explode a carbomb in the main terminal of an Airport and it's purely a police matter? Hmmmmmmm.

14:49 / 30.06.07

Why weren't the Airports on alert after the London bombs yesterday?

14:51 / 30.06.07

Strathclyde Police say four people have been arrested and detained.

14:55 / 30.06.07

They rammed into the doors and then actively revved the wheels to get through until they caught fire.

They came out of the car and smashed Molotovs over it to make sure it went up.

14:56 / 30.06.07

The terr'rists that is.

Not Strathclyde Police.

14:58 / 30.06.07

I read the one in London is still vague enough that it could be even an anti-gay car bombing.

15:00 / 30.06.07

Well the more I hear about this, the less it sounds like a properly organised effort and more like a homebrew thing.

15:05 / 30.06.07

Sky News:

"He was really passive. The crowd were shouting at him but he just looked right ahead"

"And what were the crowd saying?"

"Well..... a few things I wouldn't like to repeat on air"

15:27 / 30.06.07

The Glasgow Airport even appears to have involved just two men - both of whom are now arrested...

15:33 / 30.06.07

Yeah. Initial report was that they'd arrested four, but they've since corrected to two.

They also thought there was more than one car involved to begin with.

15:48 / 30.06.07

Classic! News24...

"Ah wis goantae Columbia an it aw kicked off. It wis mental. The weans were aw runnin aboot mental.....beeep"

"We seem to have had a bad line to Harry which has just given up the ghost"

22:16 / 30.06.07

lolterrists

22:17 / 30.06.07

Central Lon-don was boringly policed and super slow this evening. It made for superannoy.

22:49 / 30.06.07

Glasgow roads were empty.

It was like driving at five in the morning.

23:07 / 30.06.07

Sky News was claiming the country is on critical, the highest level, alert meaning another attack is imminent in the UK. The police update said this level is only declared when they has evidence of a specific case.

The guy who was on fire had a suspicious device on his person when he arrived at hospital and the entire hospital was closed down and evacuated until the device was removed and is now being poked at somewhere bombproof. It must have been very bomblike to get them to close the Royal Alexandra Hospital on a saturday evening.

I also learned tonight, from a police officer, that Govan police station has a secret underground section. The police station is the most secure building in Scotland and is where all and any terrorist related stuff is dealt with. When the station was looking for a company to install new blinds in the building they emailed a few companies the layouts for the building to obtain quotes. When the blinds had been installed there were an awful lot left over, It was then realised that the layouts sent to all the companies included all the lower levels of the building that really, really, really wern't meant to be there.

23:11 / 30.06.07

Well the more I hear about this, the less it sounds like a properly organised effort and more like a homebrew thing.

Sounds to me more like the guy in the car realised that blowing himself up might not be the best idea he has ever had at the very last minute.

If he kept driving into the terminal it could have been a rather different story to the 'one civilian with sore leg' one that we have at the moment

23:17 / 30.06.07

Aye. Based on still-emerging sketchy details.

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