Luckily I drive though central London, but my girlfriend uses the bus at that time, but was no where near there though, and the school said she had arrived ok. But her sister was at King's Cross at the time and was evacced when it all kicked off. It was very worrying for us all as noone could get hold of her due to the mobile cutoffs. Also her boyfriend would have been on the tube at Liverpool Street, and noone could get him either. Fortunatly he had decided to drive yesterday or he would have been down there. Driving home in the afternoon was ok until I hit the last 2 miles from Camden to Holloway and this took over an hour. All the people I saw were in good spirits, possibly the British resolve, or just relief that it wasn't them that got hit.
The thing that worries me though is that lack of information. People were ordered out of tube stations but were not told why and thus tried elsewhere, clogging up the system further and putting themselves in more danger. Seconldy, I strongly feel that there should be advice notices all over the tube system telling you how to get out of a stationary train in an emergency, and also telling you that the live rail is switched off in such situations. Too many people were too scared to get off thinking they would be run over or electrocuted. Also there was no communication from the drivers to the passengers who survived. Ok, they were probably in shock, but surely some system should be in place? That way the driver could have mentioned the lack of juice in the rail. It is also worrying that just like overland trains, there is no emergency method to open doors and windows. People trying to break them with bare hands in their desperation to get air and get out. Luckily I always am prepared for most eventualities while on the bike, so I carry all sorts of stuff in my bag, even when not on the bike, so I could have got out and lead people along the track to safety, but how many people do carry such stuff? The Met would probably nick you for carrying stuff anyway...
There did seem to be a reduced police presence leading up in the last few days, so I guess it was kind of inevitable all things considered. If someone wanted to do it, then this was the perfect time. Lets hope that will be it for now. But i won't be holding my breath.
The thing that worries me though is that lack of information. People were ordered out of tube stations but were not told why and thus tried elsewhere, clogging up the system further and putting themselves in more danger. Seconldy, I strongly feel that there should be advice notices all over the tube system telling you how to get out of a stationary train in an emergency, and also telling you that the live rail is switched off in such situations. Too many people were too scared to get off thinking they would be run over or electrocuted. Also there was no communication from the drivers to the passengers who survived. Ok, they were probably in shock, but surely some system should be in place? That way the driver could have mentioned the lack of juice in the rail. It is also worrying that just like overland trains, there is no emergency method to open doors and windows. People trying to break them with bare hands in their desperation to get air and get out. Luckily I always am prepared for most eventualities while on the bike, so I carry all sorts of stuff in my bag, even when not on the bike, so I could have got out and lead people along the track to safety, but how many people do carry such stuff? The Met would probably nick you for carrying stuff anyway...
There did seem to be a reduced police presence leading up in the last few days, so I guess it was kind of inevitable all things considered. If someone wanted to do it, then this was the perfect time. Lets hope that will be it for now. But i won't be holding my breath.
