Survivors recall a day of terror in London (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Survivors recall a day of terror in London

AS news of the terrorist atrocities in London was announced last Thursday, Standard reporter Jenni Silver waited at Kemble Station to speak to returning commuters caught up in the devastation.

AS the first commuters arrived back in the Cotswolds last Thursday the strain of the days events was clear to see.

The first London train arrived at Kemble Station late on in the afternoon after further delays caused by a bomb scare in Swindon.

Tired passengers piled out of carriages and rushed towards their cars keen to get home after the day's events.

Many were dressed in smart work suits and brand new trainers, bought on the long trek from their workplaces to Paddington Station.

The Standard spoke to a few passengers who shared their experiences of being in London as the terror attacks took place.

Marge Clouts from Longborough saw the Tavistock Square bomb going off as she travelled in a taxi towards the number 30 bus.

She described the moment she saw the bomb go off just ten yards from her: "It was a bang like I've never heard a bang.

"There was dust, like an umbrella in the sky, yellow and thick.

"Perhaps the most startling thing was to see the top of the bus, all at the same time, blow sharply to the right and stay there."

With her driver yelling at her to get out and run, she left the black London cab and ran into the park where she helped survivors.

Until police moved her on, she mopped up blood and comforted people. She said: "You put your arms around them and held them. You didn't need to talk. It was just human contact."

She now believes a memorial should be erected alongside the Ghandi statue, Holocaust memorial and Hiroshima cherry tree already in the park. She said: "There should be a memorial to the emergency services.

Imagine digging through the tube-tunnels - the rats, the dead bodies, the horrors of it.

"I would even be prepared to help organise the memorial."

Dr Pam Meecham, a lecturer in Museum Studies at University of London, was also close to the bus bomb.

She works just off Russell Square and heard the bomb go off during a meeting.

"We didn't think we would get home, she said. "We were prepared to stay in London. They cut off the whole area. We knew there had been disruptions, we heard it was a power surge and students had phoned to say they would be late. We suspected it had been a bomb and then we heard it go off in Tavistock Square."

"The building shook, no one wanted to go outside and see what had happened because we didn't know what sort of bomb it was."

Dr Meecham was meant to meet her husband from work but he was unable to drive into the capital to collect her. As she sat at Kemble waiting to be collected she reflected on her experience of the day's events.

She said: "We stayed in the building for three or four hours, the traffic was stopped so it was very quiet. There were no scenes of panic, people just quietly waited."

Paul O'Connor, a BT worker from Circencester, missed the bus bomb by minutes.

He said: " I only heard about it when I got off the train. I took a bus to St Pauls and had to get off at the British Museum.I feel quite fortunate, if I had been 15 minutes earlier I would have been very close to where the bomb went off."

Also leaving the train at Kemble were a number of City workers who had their days disrupted by the earlier blasts on the tube.

Paul Hutton, an IT consultant from Malmesbury was on the tube as the explosions happened. He described how he arrived at Moorgate tube station at 9am and was ushered out of the Station where he was told there had been a power surge.

Mr Hutton only became aware of the horror that was unfolding when he arrived at work and was told to keep the windows closed and blinds drawn.

Renata Rees, a civil servant, was also on the tube as the first three bombs went of at 8.50am. Mrs Rees, from Oakridge Lynch, stayed in London on Wednesday night and was travelling in from Hammersmith.

She said she walked from Knightsbridge to Westminster, having started off on the District Line, then the Piccadily Line and then a bus.

"It was really weird," she said. "People weren't panicking but they knew something serious was wrong. The interesting thing was the annoucemnt on the tube said it was power failure.

"It was only when I got into the real world and overheard some policemen that I heard about the terrorist attack."

Earlier on in the day the Standard spoke to two women returning from Reading.

Julie McGucking and Sally Earnshaw, from Avening, had been on their way to the Hampton Court Flower Show but had be stopped from going into London.

The were then stranded at Reading when Swindon Station was closed for several hours following a security alert. Both women only had a vague idea of what had happened.

Mrs McGuckin said: "We decided it was best to come home but then there were no trains going anywhere, thank God for the cheap day returns because we couldn't travel until 8.48am."