Massive police presence helps calm the nerves

ARRIVING at Liverpool Street Tube station at 8.50am it was impossible not to remember that a year ago at that exact time three bombs exploded on the London Underground within 50 seconds of each other.

Yesterday morning the police presence was not only visible — it was massive. Its aim was mainly to reassure the public and with me, it achieved exactly that.

I first started to get nervous about travelling on the Tube on Wednesday evening and this wasn’t helped by stories of people booking the day off on Friday because they simply did not want to travel.

Given the choice I would not have travelled on the Tube yesterday, but I had to get to work.

I normally head to the top of the train but instead opted for a middle carriage. Most of the explosions took place at the rear or the top of the trains and both seemed very empty yesterday morning.

Usually people have their heads down, reading a book or newspaper. Now people’s heads were turned towards the doors, looking at who was getting on and off.

The first major stop on my journey was King’s Cross where the third bomb exploded. There was again massive police presence on the platform and a policeman boarded our carriage, staying on until Edgeware Road where the second bomb had exploded.

The morning papers were full of stories of how sniffer dogs had searched King’s Cross station and how transport police were on high alert for a repeat of the bus and Tube bombings.

As soon as the train left Edgeware Road I felt a wave of relief and decided my worry was for nothing.