A narrow escape…

London’s businesses experienced an afternoon of disruption yesterday but the situation could have been much worse. The bare facts are that attempts were made to explode four devices simultaneously, three on the London Underground network and one on a bus. The detonators of the devices apparently went off but failed to trigger the main explosives. Speculation points to the bombs being built by the same technician(s) who made a similar error with each one; either failing to build the detonator-to-explosives link correctly or using an incorrect mixture of explosives in the device. Had this failure not taken place London would have been facing its second major incident in two weeks. For a timeline of events see http://www.continuitycentral.com/news01999.htm

There were some notable differences in the general response to this incident as it developed, compared to 7th July:

* The mainstream media was much more circumspect in its speculation – reporting the incident very factually and making it very clear what were confirmed and unconfirmed details.

* Official briefings were conducted much more quickly and clear advice was given both to people and businesses at an earlier stage than during the July 7th attacks.

In business continuity terms, the main difficulties caused by yesterday’s incident were related to:

* Transportation - much of the Tube network was shut down or severely disrupted and many roads in the area were closed. This made it very difficult for staff to travel around London, and indeed they were advised not to do so by the Metropolitan Police. This caused general disruption and stress for staff and businesses; and caused some supply chain and logistical difficulties as well.

* Denial of access - exclusion zones were implemented in affected areas resulting in some businesses being told not to allow staff to leave buildings, and some business premises being evacuated.

SunGard Availability Services reported that 15 clients placed the company on alert (standby) as a result of the incidents and one invocation of business continuity facilities was made.

•Date: 22nd July 2005 • Region: UK • Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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