The British public: ‘Of Marginal Utility’

by Charlie Edwards | Feb 7, 2009 | Conflict and security, UK

At the end of last year the UK Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee created a sub-committee to look at CONTEST , the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy which is based on four strands of work: Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare. For some reason (I’ll try and find out) the sub-committee will only look at the last three Ps. Prevent, the most difficult of the Ps is left out. I’ve been sifting through the transcript of the sub-committee’s first oral evidence session – much of what is said won’t be a suprise to most people – though some may be intrigued as to what the three or four questions were at the end of the session which meant the committee could no longer be held in public.

The most interesting exchange is towards the end of the session. Patrick Mercer (who is the Chairman of this sub-committee) asks Tim O’Toole,  the Managing Director of the London Underground, how many carry sheets/ stretchers are on each train and if the public knows that they exist:

Chairman: I am specifically referring to the trains because again, talking to the victims, many of them, as you know, had to get out and walk on to the tracks carrying casualties and they had nothing with which to carry them, yet it would appear that there were carry sheets which were available, yet nobody was told where they were, in what quantities, how to get them or how to use them. The first question: do these things exist or not?
Mr O’Toole: They do exist. They do not exist in a number that would have been able to address that situation because there just is not room for them, and the intention is that the real purpose is to deal with the one-off and the idea is that the driver or a member of station staff who responds to a situation would access it.
Chairman: Where are they kept?
Mr O’Toole: They are kept under the seat compartments.
Chairman: How many of them?
Mr O’Toole: Two on every train, I am informed.
Chairman: Two on every train rather than every carriage?
Mr O’Toole: Yes.
Chairman: Why are the public not told where they are?
Mr O’Toole: Because the public does not have access to them, the driver has to access them.
Chairman: Have you considered putting such devices in each carriage?
Mr O’Toole: Well, we consider all of these ideas as they come along, but again our emergency team had a review of how exactly would this work, would it be effective, how would people deal with that, and determined that it would be of marginal utility.

So, just to be clear, the Transport of London (TfL) emergency team decided that it would be of only marginal utility for members of the public travelling on the tube to know where emergency equipment is kept. It’s a shame that institutions/ organisations feel it necessary to wrestle responsibility away from the public – as a result society is becoming increasingly brittle – as individuals are left feeling less empowered and unable to do anything in an emergency. A Resilient Nation needs to reverse this trend sooner rather than later.