'Chemical incident' in London City Airport

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
 
Firefighters and police wearing protective equipment carried out two complete sweeps of the airport building and declared the incident over.But they failed to find anything that might have caused it.= MASS PSYCOGENIC EVENT

However, a later Met Police statement said: "A subsequent search of the airport led to the discovery of what is believed to be a CS gas spray.= CHEMICALLY INDUCED INCIDENT

As far as I know personal possession of a CS gas spray by ordinary citizens is illegal and an offense under the firearms [ noxious liquid] act. It may be certain law enforcement officers are licenced to carry such equipment but I assume that circumstances where they are deployed are strictly prescribed. The use of the words
"accidental discharge " are perhaps an indication this was from a legitimate rather than an illegal source. :dk:

ps if this was such a pressurised vessel carried as personal hand luggage onto a plane the consequences of an accidental discharge of such material in the confined space of an aircraft doesn't bear thinking about. If this was indeed the case a jail sentence for the individual concerned would be appropriate.
 
Last edited:
Airports are intensively covered by CCTV, I would assume officers are now watching footage trying to identify the culprit.

If the discharge was from a legally held device, then it would be easy to trace as these canisters are signed-for and someone will be short of one....
 
...pepper spray discarded by a passenger was the cause.

This raises several questions.

1) Why was a passenger taking an offensive weapon into an airport in the first place?

2) Why did they discard it in such a reckless manner?

3) Have they owned up to their stupidity?


We can all have a laugh, but there is a time and a place, and an airport is not the sort of place for this sort of stupidity.

A few years back, a woman I worked with took her extended family on holiday to Spain. At the airport, customs asked her husband if he had anything to declare and he cheekily said, 'No, except a bomb'. They missed their flight and were detained for 13 hours under armed guard, ruining the start of their holiday.
 
This raises several questions.

1) Why was a passenger taking an offensive weapon into an airport in the first place?

2) Why did they discard it in such a reckless manner?

3) Have they owned up to their stupidity?


We can all have a laugh, but there is a time and a place, and an airport is not the sort of place for this sort of stupidity.

A few years back, a woman I worked with took her extended family on holiday to Spain. At the airport, customs asked her husband if he had anything to declare and he cheekily said, 'No, except a bomb'. They missed their flight and were detained for 13 hours under armed guard, ruining the start of their holiday.

Supposedly discarded by a passenger in a waste bin, presumably prior to boarding security checks?? One can only assume they came from a country where such stringent checks are not carried out? Which poses the question did they come to the airport by land transport or had they already been on a plane!:dk:
 
Last edited:
Additionally, I expect Western airports to be one of the most CCTV covered public spaces than anywhere else in the West.... surely it should not be too difficult to find out what exactly happened, and who did it?
 
This raises several questions.

A few years back, a woman I worked with took her extended family on holiday to Spain. At the airport, customs asked her husband if he had anything to declare and he cheekily said, 'No, except a bomb'. They missed their flight and were detained for 13 hours under armed guard, ruining the start of their holiday.

I had a similar experience. I was travelling to San Francisco from Heathrow with a colleague who made the same comment when asked by the guy at check in. He was not in the least bit amused. Fortunately he let my colleague off with a warning that he could have him arrested immediately and banned from flying from UK airports. My suitably chastened colleague grovelled sufficiently for the matter to be dropped. We didn't get an upgrade...:mad:
 
But why/how did it go off?

No idea. Possible set off by the weight of other objects on top of it. I imagine it would have had to empty most of it's contents to have the widespread effect it did. Could be malicious act by prankster or someone with a grudge against airport / security--- former sacked member of security or other staff with a grudge?? If they found the container it might be traceable? :dk:
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom