Womens scooter blown up in security scare

[walking arsenal]

LONDON (Reuters) - Heidi Brown was told she could park her new scooter outside the vehicle registration office while she waited to get license plates.



To her horror, it was blown up by the army after someone reported that it might be a bomb.


Police in Ipswich, eastern England, confirmed on Thursday that a moped had been blown up in a controlled explosion after local business people "raised concerns" that it could be a bomb.


"The moped was chained to the perimeter fence outside the building. We weren't able to identify whose vehicle it was because there were no license plates on it," said a spokeswoman for Suffolk police.


She said the surrounding office buildings were evacuated and three roads were closed off.


The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported the scooter belonged to Brown, a 22-year-old care worker, who said she had been told she could leave it there awaiting inspection.




Only in england,eh?

 

[shermacman]

Just wait till we have National Socialist Health Care. It will work just like the Department of Transportation. You take Granny in for a check up, leave her in the hall while you fill out three thousand forms. And the NSA shows up, granny can't identify herself, so out she goes into the parking and they blow her up.

 

[ZeroX]

Talk about paranoid. Who would even think of someone making a bomb out of a tiny little moped?

 

[wasrjoe]

Just wait till we have National Socialist Health Care. It will work just like the Department of Transportation. You take Granny in for a check up, leave her in the hall while you fill out three thousand forms. And the NSA shows up, granny can't identify herself, so out she goes into the parking and they blow her up.

Not if your granny is properly taught "How Not to be Seen".

 

[Jim K]

Knowing a bit about the Brits, the woman will whistle for any compensation; she will probably be told it was the Queen's wishes and "subjects" have no recourse.

Jim

 

[WT]

The IRA has a tendency to set off bombs in London.

The Viet Cong were very adept with bicycle bombs. They stuffed the frames with explosives.

In Afghanistan a US Army patrol was ambushed with a bicycle bomb.

I am sure this technique can be transferred to a moped.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Only in england,eh?

I can see in happening in New York, too.

 

[Darkmind]

Talk about paranoid. Who would even think of someone making a bomb out of a tiny little moped?

More people than you would ever think of. That being said, don't they have dogs and equipment to check this stuff before hauling it off and blowing it up like a bunch of five year olds without parental supervision?

 

[hkOrion]

c'mon...

you know those guys showed up and were just bored.

"Well, what do you want to do now, go get some coffee?"

"Nah, let's blow up this moped. It'll be cool. Then we can go get some coffee".

"Sounds good."

I want to be a bomb guy in England. Hey lookee, this man double parked his Jaguar ... BOOM!

 

[Zach S]

To her horror, it was blown up by the army after someone reported that it might be a bomb.

So, if a building might be on fire, do they burn it down anyway?

 

[agricola]

The IRA used to, and could well again, enjoy blowing up vehicles of all kinds, especially outside government buildings. Please bear in mind:

i) the moped had no licence plate, which means without getting real close to it and examining the VIN plate, you cannot tell whose it is (indeed, as this was an import it would not have been registered);

ii) its parked outside a Government building at a time when we are at war with Islamic insurgents, and the peace process in NI is at its lowest ebb since the last ceasefire was broken, which was broken by the IRA murdering two people and blowing up Canary Wharf;

iii) the vehicle was left unattended for the weekend - which is not clear from that article - and was "discovered" early Monday morning, before the DVLA office was open.

iv) Bomb disposal experts have sniffer robots and dogs, but they dont poke around the things - our Irish friends had a habit of setting traps to take advantage of just that behaviour.

Sadly, since your country has no experience of terrorism of this kind, this makes no sense to you. However, to anyone who was in London those many times, or Warrington, or Omagh when the IRA blew people up, or in Brixton, Brick Lane or Soho when Copeland blew people up, it is obvious why this was done.

 

[mete]

In Treviso Italy they have a Unabomber who, for a few years been putting bombs in churches .The latest bomb was in an electric votive candle.Plug it in and it explodes !

 

[The_Antibubba]

Iev?

Maybe they were afraid it was an Improvised Explosive Vespa.

 

[RevDisk]

I worked with the British Army EOD folks. Rather sharp folks, especially their SAS bomb guys. Crazy, of course. But most bomb guys are considered "off" to begin with.

I do find it odd that they'd move the moped out to a remote area, and blow it up there. It's a better option than exploding it in place, granted. I can understand the paranoia, to an extent. The lady could have let the building people know about her moped, or put some identifying information on the moped.

 

[io333]

Uhhh....



Let's see.


What might a regular person do?


... "Hey, did anyone leave a moped parked outside without a license plate?"


Gee, I guess that's a stupid thought. Nevermind.

 

[Mk VII]

you don't move the moped, if it's got a mercury tilt switch or a radio command device with a line of sight to somebody in a nearby window.
The IRA have used bicycle bombs before now, in Coventry in 1939.