Stockwell Tube - what happened ?
Bob Crow General Secretary RMT Union
Press release 22nd July 2005
“Their concerns will have been fuelled by the revelation that an innocent Tube driver today found himself with a police gun at his head during the incident in Stockwell station in which a suspect was shot dead.
“No apology could ever be enough ever take away the trauma that that driver has suffered and there should be a full inquiry into the handling of the incident,”
Naturally press / media reports have been confused and confusing. "Official" statements have been minimal.
I saw the story that the train driver escaped from the train and ran into the tunnel and was there held up against the wall, by a highly trained plain clothes "policeman" who drawing on his extensive training, took a split millisecond decision not to pump him full of lead.
I think this driver , has like other eye witnesses, a tale to tell. Who gave the orders to delay the train ? Why ? Who gave orders to shut / open doors. Why ? Why did the driver leg it ?
11 comments:
I am completly against killing people, but I think that terrorism is a reaction of imperialism and racism.
I don't wish myself living in Europe. I've escaped the poverty here in Brazil so that I don't have to emigrate to Europe or USA, who are trying to keep the Wealth for themself and influence everywhere.
It's sad.
If I see europeans or north americans here in Brazil I threat them very well, except they are very arrogant...
So, what I like to say with that: the world order has to change, if we want to live peacefully.
Marcio from Brazil.
What's your source for the last section of your post?
Times Online 22/7
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1704443,00.html
Mr Whitby said he was sitting on the Tube train reading his paper as it was stationary with its doors open in Stockwell station.
Amanda Penn "We pulled into Stockwell, I was on the train from Brixton, on the Victoria Line, and as we pulled into the station we saw everyone running alongside the train and out of the station. People were banging on the windows.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1534654,00.html
Jason Dines quoted
"People were screaming for them to open the doors but they wouldn't. Then suddenly they did and all hell broke loose and people were running everywhere.
"But then an announcement came over the PA ordering everyone to get back on the trains. Eventually they did and the doors were closed.
There are others much the same on the BBC
Indy today 25th July
The Northern line train sitting on the northbound platform at Stockwell station shortly after 10am yesterday was relatively empty by the standards of London commuting.
All seats were occupied but no one was standing. After the events of the last two weeks, people were understandably tense.
The train, bound for High Barnet, was being held on the platform. The Tube system had earlier been disrupted by a series of false alarms and the delay to their train was not making things any easier for passengers, but at least the doors were open.
No one, however, could have been prepared for the scene that emerged through one set of those open doors moments later.
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Some one (?) delayed it, then after the shooting the doors were shut, someone (?) did that, shortly after the doors re-opened the driver legged it into the tunnel.
Does that help ?
Perhaps when the guy had 'jumped the barrier' in the ticket hall the station manager had been asked to keep all trains exactly where they were so as to prevent any possible explosion within a tunnel. Perhaps, but who knows?
I saw the story that the train driver escaped from the train and ran into the tunnel and was there held up against the wall, by a highly trained plain clothes "policeman" who drawing on his extensive training, took a split millisecond decision not to pump him full of lead.
Sorry, I was referring to that paragraph. I'd be really interested to see the source of that. Thanks
Anon - hope this helps
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1669482005
Tube driver had gun pointed at head Scostman on Line 22/7 8.58 PA report
The driver of the London Underground train involved in the latest
terrorist scare was chased by armed police and had a gun held to his head as
he tried to escape the scene of today's shooting, union officials have claimed.
The driver started running along an underground tunnel as passengers were fleeing
from Stockwell Tube station following the shooting of a suspect.
He was followed by police who briefly held a gun to his head, according to
officials from the train drivers' union Aslef.
Aslef have nothing on their site, but RMT do as noted.
Also on London Indymedia presumably from the same PA source by wording
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2005/07/319301.html
The Corriere della Sera had a eye-witness account saying that a group of girls in prey of hysteria on the train became suspicious of the young Brazilian and pulled the Emergency Break.
Now what about this BBC report of 7am on Friday, 22 July 2005 which states:
At Oval Tube station [on July 21st 2005] about 20 or 30 passengers were evacuated from a train after seeing "white smoke". The RMT union's security meeting was told the suspect [Ramzi Mohammed?] used a handgun to try and detonate explosives contained in a backpack, BBC London Transport correspondent Andrew Winstanley said. There were reports that bystanders tried to tackle a man as he fled the station.
I can find no other references to this 'handgun incident' of 21st July.
Was the hangun incident of the 22nd July used as cover?
The Train Driver/Gun to the Head incident is described in the Jean Charles de Menezes Inquest transcript of 16th October 2007, avaliable here (Page 170)
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