HGV Company And Hostage Situation In Tottenham Road, London

[Left Leanings]

Look at this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/04/27/tottenham-court-road-evacuated-bomb-threat_n_1458437.html?ref=tw

A company offering HGV courses, is being held hostage by a man, who has strapped a cannister of gas to himself, and is threatening to blow himself up. He says he doesn't care about his life or anything.

Specilaist Police are on the scene as the drama continues to unfold.

In the light of the recent suicide in Greece, where a worker set fire to himself, do we have a similar situation here?

The nearby offices of The Huffington Post have been evacuated also. Apparently, the man has snapped due to failing to get granted his HGV licence.

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

BBC hasn't got much more than eyewitness accounts saying somone is holding hostages, no other info.

[RedAnarchist]

Apparently he's been arrested, according to some sources. This incident is almost certainly due to the economic troubles of our time, but he'll be seen in the media as a mentally unstable individual with a grudge.

[ed miliband]

he clearly was a mentally unstable individual with a grudge though

my mum works in the office on the floor below

[RedAnarchist]

he clearly was a mentally unstable individual with a grudge though

Yes, but that's not the only cause of today's incident.

[ed miliband]

he failed a course and couldn't get a job driving a lorry so decided to attack other workers who work for a company providing training for potential lorry drivers - there's no comparison to the suicide(s) and attempted suicide(s) across the piigs

[Left Leanings]

he failed a course and couldn't get a job driving a lorry so decided to attack other workers who work for a company providing training for potential lorry drivers - there's no comparison to the suicide(s) and attempted suicide(s) across the piigs

Sorry. But there is a comparison.

Many of these companies offering training for HGV licence training, are like similar ones offering the PIA licence, for private security guards. Often unemployed workers, or men and women who have recently been ''fit for work' by these so-called incapacity assessemnts, are forced into these schemes, else they lose their Employment Support Allowance or Jobseekers Allowance.

These greedy bastard companies are taking government cash, to make workers jump through fucking hoops, to chase what little work there is out there, no matter how shitty that work may be.

How do I know? I used to attend voluntarily, one of the charities that places peeps into these private training companies. I seen people forced into this shit, with fuck all to show at the end of it.

He's wrong to blow up other workers, of cos. You will feel emotional about it, cos your mum works nearby. I understand that.

But here's a bloke had the piss ripped out of him, and it's proven too much.

Fuck capital. The sooner they fall, the better.

[Manic Impressive]

AFAIK HGV licence tests cost a shit load of money like thousands of pounds to take. The investment in getting your HGV pays off in the wages you can get doing the job. So this guy might have paid out a shit load of money only to fail. I don't think you can get HGV licences on the state. But could be wrong

Edit: it costs between £500 - £1000 a serious amount of money if you're unemployed

[rednordman]

Even on skynews they had a industry standards chief explain that the company is basically a bunch of scammers and that they change anywhere from £1000 to £3000 for a course. Despite the promises they give, very very rarely does it ever end up in a job.

[rednordman]

Not that's that is any excuse for what he did, but I have no idea myself how i would react if it was me in that sort of situation. Also, its very rare for sky news to do anything which exposes most businesses for what they actually are.

[ed miliband]

having read around the issue a little more i take back what i said

apologies

[ed miliband]

and actually it's totally heartbreaking to read he shouted "i have nothing left to live for" :(

[Proteus]

and actually it's totally heartbreaking to read he shouted "i have nothing left to live for" :(

When your out of work life is really shit. When you get a job life is really, really shit.

[Regicollis]

Typical for the "neutral" public service media in Denmark the TV news only reported that "A man had taken hostages in a London office building while shouting 'I have nothing left to live for'" - not a word about his motive, his situation or what they did in that office building.

I hate this kind of news "reporting" where you don't get any background information - it enlights nobody and just serve as informational clutter.

[Manic Impressive]

Massive Twist in the tale of this story :laugh:


Bomber man was BNP

On Friday Tottenham Court Road was closed off for several hours after a man stormed into offices above Starbucks having strapped on a number of gas canisters. Michael Green was searching for “Abby” over a row about an HGV licence but when Abby told Green that “Abby” wasn’t in she was allowed to go free. If it was not for her quick thinking the incident could have ended tragically.
http://www.bigsmoke.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/tdr-01-400x220.jpg (http://www.bigsmoke.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/tdr-01.jpg)
There followed a several hour siege by heavily armed police which, thankfully, had a bloodless conclusion. Central London was brought to a standstill as Green threw computers and other pieces of office equipment out of the window and police tried to work out whether there were hostages.
Green has now been charged with possession of a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/gas or electrical incapacitating device; false imprisonment; making a bomb hoax; causing criminal damage and recklessly endangering life.
He will appear in Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

http://www.bigsmoke.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/m-green-01-400x259.jpg (http://www.bigsmoke.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/m-green-01.jpg)Pictures from Sky and the Hertfordshire Mercury

Terror bomber
The media were quick to say that Green was not political and that this was not a terrorist incident based, it appeared, solely on the fact that he was white skinned and beardless.
However, Michael Green received just over a thousand votes in Stevenage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevenage_%28UK_Parliament_constituency%29) for the British National Party at the general election less than two years ago. Pictured in the Hertfordshire Mercury (http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/Hertfordshire/Stevenage-candidates-their-election-pledges.htm) we can see this is the same Michael Green as seen on Sky TV on Friday being led from the building.
This is the second time in recent history that a supporter of the far-right British National Party has attempted a serious bomb attack in London.
In 1999 BNP member David Copeland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Copeland) planted three nail-bombs, one in Brixton, one in Brick Lane and one in Soho, in which three people died and around one hundred fifty people were seriously injured. Once again the media were keen to state that Copeland was an isolated individual despite the clear political motivation behind the bomb placements and the fact that he was proven to have stewarded BNP meetings.
Green seems to have been motivated by his own personal failures which he seemed willing to blame others for. It was a great relief that his attempted suicide bombing ended without deaths or injuries but we should be cautious of allowing the “lone nutter” theory to, once again, be used when it comes to far-right extremists. The press would be treating this incident very differently had the bomber been hirsute, sporting a tan, and with a name less familiar than Michael.