Remembering 7/7

It doesn't feel like 20 years since the 7/7 London bombings but it is now 2 decades since the worst terrorist incident on UK soil. Much of what happened still feels fresh in my mind. 

20 years ago I was working for the Lib Dems in our then HQ, Cowley Street, as a policy officer. The policy areas for which I was responsible included local government. On 6th July, the Local Government Association annual conference opened in Harrogate and I was invited to attend and speak at the Lib Dem group meeting in the afternoon of 7th July. My plan was to get the train from London Kings Cross at around 9am on the 7th and then attend the group meeting. Once the meeting was over I would head north again to go home in Gateshead.

And then things changed. The LGA Lib Dem group office asked me to attend another meeting at the conference, this time on 6th July. At first I was reluctant to attend, largely due to having no office budget for overnight accommodation. This problem was overcome when the Lib Dem LGA group agreed to cover the accommodation costs. So I headed north on the afternoon of 6th, attended the meeting in the evening and had a restful night.

On 7th, while in the main conference, rumours about an incident began to circulate. There was a talk of a power outage on the Tube. We were warned that people due to arrive in the morning from London would be delayed.

It was at the group meeting at lunchtime that people started to talk openly of a terrorist attack and before the meeting ended, it had been confirmed that there had been a bomb attach in London. News was scant so we believed it was only one bomb. It was not long before news of 3 other bomb attacks arrived.

Had I not gone up to the LGA conference on 6th, I would have been in the thick of it when the bombs went off on 7th. I wouldn't have been near any of the bombs as I would have travelled to Kings Cross on the Victoria Line which was untouched by the bombers. But it still would have been uncomfortably close. I would have emerged from Kings Cross tube station just after the bombs had gone off on the Underground.

We should not forget that 52 people died at the hands of terrorists and 770 were injured. They were remembered today at the Commemoration for the 20th Anniversary of the London Bombing. RIP.