From the Schadenfreude Files...

[draco664]

Car breaks down in the middle of London's 'sensitive' area. Owner calls the AA, but decided to leave it unattended while he does a bit of sightseeing.

He returns to find it having suffered a controlled explosion.

He then gets a ticket.

[Greenday]

Holy crap are the London PD bored to tears. Can't think of why else they'd do this other than they just felt like blowing stuff up. Definitely couldn't be because they thought it was dangerous.

[HYHYBT]

Do they at LEAST have warning signs in the area that they will do this to any unattended cars?

[Andara Bledin]

Isn't that about like leaving your unattended car outside the White House or the Pentagon?

I think controlled detonation might have been a bit much, but with the Olympics coming up, you should really know better than to leave an unattended vehicle (or package, for that matter) anywhere remotely close to any sort of national landmark like that.

^-.-^

[Zod]

Bit of an overreaction : but car bombs were a favourite of the Irish terrorists, so it's not unreasonable to assume that a car with foreign plates parked in a no parking zone in Westminster is dodgy.

Didn't some Muslim terrorists try something similar in Times Square last year?

The parking ticket was just petty though.

[Andara Bledin]

The parking ticket was just petty though.

Honestly, I'm kind of surprised he didn't get a bill for the detonation; I'm pretty sure they would have charged him for it over here.

^-.-^

[Zod]

Had he not been dead, I've had bet on the traffic warden turning out to be Jeremy Beadle.

( For the non-British amongst us http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beadle%27s_About )

[Ginger Tea]

which reminds me of a joke
Jeremy Beadle's got a small cock, but on the other hand ...










for those not in the know, he had one small hand, but spent most of the time hiding it behind the other so I developed an obsession with looking at his hands to see if it was true or not.

[Rageaholic]

If he did have a bomb, wouldn't the "controlled explosion" have only set it off (or potentially worsened the damage).

And to think this was all based on an assumption.

[SkullKing]

I thought the controlled explosion was done precisely to detonate the bomb, when cops, were near and could make sure there w
ere no bystanders near.

that way the bomb detonates with minimal threat for life.

[draco664]

If he did have a bomb, wouldn't the "controlled explosion" have only set it off (or potentially worsened the damage).

It's not the physical damage that's the problem, it's the injuries/deaths. A controlled explosion is one where all bystanders are relocated to a safe distance, and the object in question is remotely detonated. Demolitions experts can arrange things to direct the force of a blast to minimise property damage, but it's the human factor that is most important.

And to think this was all based on an assumption.

Nah, for my money, it was all based on the fact that with the Olympics coming up, all this money is being spent on security, and they needed to justify it...

[Andara Bledin]

Nah, for my money, it was all based on the fact that with the Olympics coming up, all this money is being spent on security, and they needed to justify it...

Of course, if it had been a bomb and they had let it go 'cause some schlub who didn't even stick around called it in as broken down, most of the same people decrying their detonation of the clunker would have been decrying their failure to act.

^-.-^

[lordlundar]

If he did have a bomb, wouldn't the "controlled explosion" have only set it off (or potentially worsened the damage).

Most explosives don't work like that. A controlled detonation is a small, extremely fast detonation designed to separate common bomb components (detonator, trigger, charge, payload) BEFORE they can function. A bomb is effectively dismantled for example if the trigger cannot send the electrical charge to the detonator. A controlled detonation does that separation so fast that even if the trigger goes off as a result of the shock, the wires are no longer there to transmit.

It's similar to how a nuclear weapon operates. Until it's armed, it's borderline impossible to detonate one and if it does detonate, it's simply an explosive with a radioactive payload that may or may not spread.

[HYHYBT]

Of course, if it had been a bomb and they had let it go 'cause some schlub who didn't even stick around called it in as broken down, most of the same people decrying their detonation of the clunker would have been decrying their failure to act.

^-.-^

Unless there are signs warning you to stay with your vehicle, what normal person really thinks "if I leave my car, the police will blow it up?" People leave broken-down cars all the time and that doesn't happen. Yes, this was a particularly bad place to do so, but that doesn't mean it's totally unreasonable for the guy not to think anything bad would happen.

[Andara Bledin]

Another thing to note is that this was during Jubilee, so there was probably a bit of extra paranoia from that added in to the upcoming Olympics paranoia.

I couldn't find anything about restricted parking for the Jubilee, but I did find some temporary signs that had been put up during the wedding last year. I can't say if they were as interested in keeping the streets clear of potential car-bombs this time as that, but it's quite likely.

^-.-^