... to put out an electronic cigarette

BBC News - Fake cigarette caused M6 police Megabus coach swoop (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-18728303)

(I'm guessing at much of this)
48 passengers
1 bus driver
8 Armed police officers
2 police dog handlers
12 incident response officers
1 area commander
16 troops
12 firefighters
10 Hazardous Substance specialists (for decontamination)
5 bomb disposal experts
12 ambulance technicians / paramedics
10,000 commuters trapped on the M6 toll road

Well I for one would much rather see all those resources deployed then the horrific results of a bomb. If all turns out well then it's been a good practice so not a waste of resources. The BBC had an excellent programme about the one in London. Can't find the link at the moment but will post it if I do.

oh how I laughed when I heard the news earlier of this 'incident'. I thought it was probably someone pouring hot water from a flask into a pot noodle. How wrong I was.....it was a terrorist cigarette smoker!

Seems like a massive over reaction to me but that seems to be the way of things these day. Little Johnny falls off his bike and there's 12 fire engines, 4 police cars, two road ambulances and a helicopter. Still, when the police 20% cuts take effect there'll only be 3 police cars.

:ugh::ugh:

I wonder if those stuck in cars will get a free journey on the toll next time!

It wasn't so much the reaction, but why did it take 5 hours? It's a serious question, by the way. An hour or two to bring all those services together perhaps - then what? How long for b.disposal to determine it was a fag, and not a bomb? Then..?

Anyone familiar with the basic emergency service logistics regarding these type of incidents?

Talking of which - why are motorways closed for longer periods than they used to be (or seemed to be) for incidents (I don't mean multiple pile ups) ? Again, a serious question, but I digress...

I thought it was the police realising the M6 toll was daylight robbery.

This by the way
Well I for one would much rather see all those resources deployed then the horrific results of a bomb. If all turns out well then it's been a good practice so not a waste of resources. The BBC had an excellent programme about the one in London. Can't find the link at the moment but will post it if I do.
is arrant nonsense.

The police will of course spin the terrorist side of things to cover up this monumental over reaction, as Flying Serpent says so many simple innocent explanations. All that was really needed was for a police car to drive slowly past the moving coach, if the passengers were all calm and happy then no action needed.

Found it. Here you are: 7/7 One Day in London (http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/q9nmj/77-one-day-in-london)

is arrant nonsense. Watch the tv programme and then tell that to the people affected by the London bombs. We can all have a PhD in Hindsight. Any threat must be taken seriously. We can all relax after the event is proved to be minor but not until it has been.

A Phd in hindsight is no substitute for an O level in commonsense.

It wasn't simply the M6 Toll that was affected, although when you read about the reason it makes you wonder as to where the Divisional brain cell was located at the the time.

The M6 was also affected by the diverting traffic and an accident at Jnc 7 in the roadworks area. The traffic simply stopped moving...well sort of.

Enter the duty cretins, those in cars who felt the hard shoulder was a suitable alternative to queueing....and..enter Big Dazza " slammin dem geers", alas, not the one between the ears that engage the cogs to rotate the micron of brain cell.

For most normal people, the flashing X on the overhead gantry means precisely that. Not Dazza in convoy..straight though ...and then Dazzas extended family decides to change lanes, from middle to inside, then, oops, wants to go back again.

It took me a very long time to travel 3 miles before I escaped at Jnc 10...having witnessed several examples of depleted genes at work to confirm various anthropologists theories.

Neurotic blue lights feeding neurotic red tops.

"I am smoking a fag"!! :}

Typical over reaction that is the norm these days as everyone has to justify there own existence. A little application of something called 'common sense' wouldn't have gone amiss.
Motorway shut for hours because someone used a commercially available, advertised in the national press, fake cigarette!!!
Our daughter lives in AKL so we watch most things from NZ, like Motorway Patrol. It's so different from the UK. A truck on fire on the hard shoulder, they just shut a lane and keep traffic moving. The ex pat Brit cops think it's great, would never happen in the UK they say!!

They're very lucky they weren't taken out with a Rapier.

A contact of mine on another forum is the driver of the London tube train that was bombed. Obviously, the events of that terrible day have had a very deep and lasting effect on him.

However, the one thing that really got to him was that the emergency services didn't arrive on scene for a very long time, due to fears of another bomb, I presume.

Although he wasn't badly injured himself, he was left alone in the dark to deal with seventeen very seriously injured and burned victims, which he saw as a personal responsibility as "captain of his ship".

At least this time the emergency services reacted promptly.

what I don't understand is......smoke on bus, so bus may be on fire
Why the heck didn't the driver get all the passengers off?
It seems the driver kept them all ON the bus where the presumed risk was!!!!

If only someone had had a .45 or a 9mm on board, none of this nonsense would have happened.

Seems the terrorists have won.

Q. Under what authority are the police allowed to order you not to talk with your fellow passengers? Surely this can only be done once they have arrested you.

The terrorists have won as was said above.:sad:

As soon as nobody on the bus jumped him, restrained him and beat the daylights out of him, the terrorists had won. Do you think a busload of American passengers would have let the matter get so out of hand?

What was the point in bringing ALL traffic on the M6 Toll to a standstill?

As can be seen from overhead footage, cars on the opposite carriageway would not have been any farther from the abandoned coach than the passengers (who were actually instructed by police to sit on the opposite carriageway - what has happened to "motorway rules"?).

Complete cock up.

A Phd in hindsight is no substitute for an O level in commonsense.

indeed.

you'd think some common sense would be applied:

Pax 1: 'there's vapour coming from your bag'
Pax 2: ' Oh! my electronic cigarette!'
Pax 1: 'are you allowed to use them on the bus?'
Pax 2: 'as far as i know'

* No account for regional accents included, exempting waay-eye man! ecky-thump or other stereotypes so as not to offend and thus be considered racist.


so smoke from an electronic fag promotes a complete shut down of a major motorway in the north of england (or south for the real northerners;)) bomb squad and major incident operation, because after all we do have the olympics...

makes you wonder what is going to happen when tourist walks down the street with a camera near the olympics..

'foreign looking man carrying an electronic device'.

code red.. all ports and airports into shut down, martial law.. panic buying of food, petrol and hosepipes, house prices affected..




NB: i note that the police escorted the bus away from the scene after the 'incident'.. i just hope the driver set his tacho to 'rest' before the incident kicked off, or they used a relief driver, as no doubt the police could actually get one arrest out of the farce.. the bus driver for going over his tacho time with passengers on board..

of course that would mean his job would be terminated and life destroyed.. job done !

Lifted from the police inspector blog (Inspector Gadget):

Which statement is correct?

1. “Incompetent police ‘over-react’ at incident and cause traffic chaos on M6″

2. “Inadequate police response ‘risks lives’ in potential terror attack on M6″

Hint: Both answers are correct.

Todays events cast a new light on this incident. Maybe not such an overreaction after all?

BBC News - Seven men are arrested in anti-terror raids (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18734585)

Sorry, don't see the connection.

Car impounded for no tax and insurance. Weapons found later.

Connection? Please explain

May we have the names of those detained?

Would they be proper english surnames or more difficult to pronounce?

Would they be proper english surnames or more difficult to pronounce?

I believe there was a Mainwaring, a Marjoribanks, a Farquhar and a Colquoun among those detained.

Or am I missing your point? ;)

Any future terrorists are now aware ( if they weren't before ) how easy it would be to create a dummy diversion and tie up all response units, whilst they wreak carnage elsewhere.

And WTF were the :mad: idiot pigs thinking, forcing passengers to sit cross legged and silent, whilst they run round like headless chickens ?

Really encourages people to " report any suspicious activity ".............:rolleyes:

M6 toll road terror alert and traffic chaos sparked by FAKE CIGARETTE on Megabus | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2169070/M6-toll-road-terror-alert-traffic-chaos-sparked-FAKE-CIGARETTE-Megabus.html)

"After finally disembarking, they were ordered into a 'contamination' zone where they were ordered to sit apart – silently and cross-legged – before the all-clear was eventually given. "

Were there no toddlers or babies? That would have made the people separation difficult........