Just seen on the BBC Website

[domesticextremist]

Jul 5, 2012 14:30:31 GMT Batdragon (AKA Batty) said:

Jul 5, 2012 14:11:03 GMT Ellen said:

Seems like they went way OTT with the whole situation! Crazy

Not really, In fact I think that the Police and the other services acted very quicly and efficiently. What would you of said if it had been ignored and was an actual threat, or if they just let it go without fully investigating what had happened.

If you were on public transport and you saw someone putting liquid into a box, which started to smoke would you be ok with it, or would you question it? Ok If the box was one of warlords box mods and it was recognisable as a vaping device then because you have the knowledge about it you would not bat an eyelid about it. But if you did not have a clue about these type of things it would look very strange and suspicious.

I say good on the emergancy services for doing what we pay them to do (in this instance)

Sorry - I can't agree with you.

I'm sick and tired of this War on Terror hysteria (happily stoked
by the media and police) especially as it is mostly used as a pretext
to deprive us of our liberties.

As someone who lived through and survived the IRA mainland bombing
campaigns I can remember that we didn't need all of this nonesense.

The way to beat terrorists is with good intelligence, not public panic.

Besides - what possible point would there be blowing up a budget coach
service?

[kurotoshiro]

The unfortanate thing here is that we're probably not going to see any make a careful distinction between:

"M6 Toll Terror Caused By Electronic Cigarette"

and

"M6 Toll Terror Caused By Ignorance About Electronic Cigarettes"

[commonsense]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-18719962

A police source told BBC Radio WM a passenger was seen pouring a liquid into a box, which then started smoking.

The 48 passengers on the Megabus Preston to London service were led off the coach and forced to sit apart in a cordon on the opposite carriageway.

Police said a report of vapour escaping from a bag which led to the security alert was caused by "a health improvement aid for smokers".

[chrisjw]

Good on many counts................Firstly, the services were on the ball, because it could well have been a terrorist threat & they acted swiftly & potentially may have saved lives.....Fortunately, for all on board the coach, it was a false alarm....Secondly, the media have now made people more aware now of the benefits of e-cigarettes as opposed to smoking analogues.....Thirdly, apparently, 2 fireman have subsequently kicked the fags & taken up vaping......( I made that bit up )...................The only downside to the whole affair that I can see, is that it'll give the powers to be the ammunition to ban it in public places

[ckc]

If i'd been on that coach and thought it was a bomb,then found out it was an e-cig i'd be pretty relieved ! How many people would have been watching that ? They now know they are legal to use.

[Batdragon (AKA Batty)]

Jul 5, 2012 14:51:40 GMT domesticextremist said:

Sorry - I can't agree with you.

I'm sick and tired of this War on Terror hysteria (happily stoked
by the media and police) especially as it is mostly used as a pretext
to deprive us of our liberties.

As someone who lived through and survived the IRA mainland bombing
campaigns I can remember that we didn't need all of this nonesense.

The way to beat terrorists is with good intelligence, not public panic.

Besides - what possible point would there be blowing up a budget coach
service?

I too have lived through the IRA and have lost many friends to them. I have also lost friends to other terrorist activities. The media I agree with you they make things sound so terrifying and always put a spin on things to sell their paper/channel or whatever. You say about what would the gain be from blowing up a budget bus, well take the buss part out of it and then think of the problems caused buy bringing to a hault the M6 Toll Motorway. Big hits all round as it is primarily used by the transport industry for the lorries, so that would have an impact on that.

I dont know if you remember about 10 years ago there were bombs found on the M4 they had been placed on the bridges and flyovers. though the death toll if they had of gone off would of been minimal the disruption would of been huge.

When there is known active threats from organisations who do not care if they are killed in the process of carrying out their task, what would you have the emergancy services do? Just go in and clean up the mess afterwards or actually do something about preventing it in the first place. Everyone has to be so careful about not hurting anyone or causing offence and being accountable for every little thing done and if not done why it was not, that they now have set procedures to follow to make sure that no ones civil liberties are breached that it makes a joke of what they should be alowed to do. I am not for living in a police state, though what is to be done when the information is there that indicates that something is happening, should it be ignored due to the possibility that it is nothing or are they to act upon that information. You yourself said that the way to fight terrorism is good intelegence, so what is to be classed as good intelegence or not? The got a call which was not a hoax, about a suspicious activity, an activity that could of caused the loss of many lives. They recieved, assessed, reacted, and folloed protocall in which no one was hurt and everyone got on with life. It will be faital to become complacent about your safety.

Tell me what would you do if you saw someone putting liquid into a box and what looked like smoke comes out of it and the person is trying to hide it? would you think nothing of it? would you just ignor it? would you say something to that person? would you report it to the apropriare authority? who would that be on a bus?

On the point of vaping being the cause, apart from what one of the papers say (someone said that someone said that someone with the knowledge made a statement), There is no proof or statement by the official chanels of what it was. for all we actually know, the person had a deoderant that went off creating a clous of what looked like smoke or vapour.

By the way domesticextremist, this is not a go at you or your comment I am just voicing my opinion of the whole event, and how in other countries it would of all been delt with a lot more harshly than it was here.

[ckc]

Police statement

www.staffordshire.police.uk/news/news_releases/120705_21_m6_toll_incident2/

[itsmeitis]

more on this here CS ...

allaboute-cigarettes.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=lounge&action=display&thread=8373&page=1

[Jemima]

Has anyone contacted the local police in Tamworth ... just to be on the safe side lol

[domesticextremist]

Jul 5, 2012 15:27:19 GMT Batdragon (AKA Batty) said:

Jul 5, 2012 14:51:40 GMT domesticextremist said:

Sorry - I can't agree with you.

I'm sick and tired of this War on Terror hysteria (happily stoked
by the media and police) especially as it is mostly used as a pretext
to deprive us of our liberties.

As someone who lived through and survived the IRA mainland bombing
campaigns I can remember that we didn't need all of this nonesense.

The way to beat terrorists is with good intelligence, not public panic.

Besides - what possible point would there be blowing up a budget coach
service?

I too have lived through the IRA and have lost many friends to them. I have also lost friends to other terrorist activities. The media I agree with you they make things sound so terrifying and always put a spin on things to sell their paper/channel or whatever.

Well, I'm by no means a terorism denier - it's a horrific and
ultimately counterproductive way to try nand make a political
point.
Hover, the impact it has whilst acute in an individual attack is on
the average vanishingly small.
For instance, statistically over the last 10 years (i.e including 7/7),
you have more risk of drowning in the bath than being killed by a
terrorist in the UK.

You say about what would the gain be from blowing up a budget bus, well take the buss part out of it and then think of the problems caused buy bringing to a hault the M6 Toll Motorway. Big hits all round as it is primarily used by the transport industry for the lorries, so that would have an impact on that.

But the M^ was closed anyway - for nothing.

I dont know if you remember about 10 years ago there were bombs found on the M4 they had been placed on the bridges and flyovers. though the death toll if they had of gone off would of been minimal the disruption would of been huge.

Agreed but that was a bit different to a 'bomb on a coach'.
I don't remember the details, but I expect they were found not by
accident, but as a result of careful intelligence work.

When there is known active threats from organisations who do not care if they are killed in the process of carrying out their task, what would you have the emergancy services do? Just go in and clean up the mess afterwards or actually do something about preventing it in the first place.

But they didn't prevent anything. Had it been a bomb, it would
have gone off before they arrived.

Everyone has to be so careful about not hurting anyone or causing offence and being accountable for every little thing done and if not done why it was not, that they now have set procedures to follow to make sure that no ones civil liberties are breached that it makes a joke of what they should be alowed to do. I am not for living in a police state, though what is to be done when the information is there that indicates that something is happening, should it be ignored due to the possibility that it is nothing or are they to act upon that information. You yourself said that the way to fight terrorism is good intelegence, so what is to be classed as good intelegence or not?

Panicked calls from members of the public (whom the media have wilfully terrified)
are bad intelligence. Coming bck to the IRA, we were encouraged to look for
suspicious packages, but there were also sanctions for faked bomb threats (of
which there were plenty) - for obvious reasons, as it diverts resources from fighting
real terrorists and causes massive economic disruption.

The got a call which was not a hoax, about a suspicious activity, an activity that could of caused the loss of many lives. They recieved, assessed, reacted, and folloed protocall in which no one was hurt and everyone got on with life. It will be faital to become complacent about your safety.

Tell me what would you do if you saw someone putting liquid into a box and what looked like smoke comes out of it and the person is trying to hide it? would you think nothing of it? would you just ignor it? would you say something to that person? would you report it to the apropriare authority? who would that be on a bus?

Reports vary - some say they saw smoke coming from a bag.
Surely the sensible thing to do would be to ask the passenger
what was going on and take it from there.

On the point of vaping being the cause, apart from what one of the papers say (someone said that someone said that someone with the knowledge made a statement), There is no proof or statement by the official chanels of what it was. for all we actually know, the person had a deoderant that went off creating a clous of what looked like smoke or vapour.

By the way domesticextremist, this is not a go at you or your comment I am just voicing my opinion of the whole event, and how in other countries it would of all been delt with a lot more harshly than it was here.

No, it's OK. I am just of the opinion the the terrorist rhetoric is vastly overplayed,
and most of the measures we see put in place are ineffective at keeping us safer,
but very effective at taking away our liberty.

Of course there are huge vested interests who are making a packet out of
continuing this largely phoney war.

Given the statistical risk, I'd rather live with the danger and keep my freedom.

[deesigner]

This really made me chuckle, nicked it off someone on Facebook

www.itv.com/news/central/update/2012-07-05/m6-toll-closure-due-to-electronic-cigarette/

[f1mandi]

<<As someone who lived through and survived the IRA mainland bombing campaigns I can remember that we didn't need all of this nonesense. >>

As someone who has lived through them here in NI, well said.

[Ellen]

I can see both sides of the debate, wasn't trying to offend anyone.
I'm just not sure why it wasn't resolved more quickly. As a previous poster said
why not just ask the passenger what it was?
It has brought vaping into the news though. For good or bad

[f1mandi]

<<Guess someone will have been vaping on that coach then!>>

Arrgghh. I'm travelling from Stranraer to Silverstone on a coach tomorrow morning. Guess this means I won't be able to sneak a puff or two down the front of my t-shirt.

Mandi

[Batdragon (AKA Batty)]

Jul 5, 2012 16:23:39 GMT f1mandi said:

<<Guess someone will have been vaping on that coach then!>>

Arrgghh. I'm travelling from Stranraer to Silverstone on a coach tomorrow morning. Guess this means I won't be able to sneak a puff or two down the front of my t-shirt.

Mandi

Ok I will say the obvious here, It will depend on your clevage there Mandi

Sorry but you set yourself up for that one