Held against my will.

[Stirling2005]

Called at Heron House Stockport last week to get form to correct their mistake in benefits - £15.50 p.w.underpaid since March. Had to fight to get a form as they wanted me to phone in which on mobile is not free - original claim cost over £27.

 

While there fire alarm went off bod I was speaking to told me to leave the building immediately - jobcentre is on ground floor. Got to door, 'security' bod blocked door pushed me and others back bawled 'move to the back of the building' but no fire door was opened for us. They were opening windows and closing blinds. 30 or so of us were held against our will for some 8-10 minutes then finally the 'security' men told us to leave by the main door. On leaving it was immediately obvious the other 4 floors on the building were evacuating from several exits.

 

I returned 90 minutes later and was told these actions were for my protection as there had been a bomb scare!!. We were held in an area with just as many glass windows.

 

I have made formal complaint written to Fire Chief Home Secretary and town MP and made Jobcentre sign for letter, also asking for coopies of the CCTV images pointing out they are made for the public safety as well as their own.

 

Can anyone else comment on next move? This is a public building. Jobcentre plus staff were also prevented from leaving. Had a bomb gone off without doubt we would all have been killed

[ErikaPNP]

You should not have been held in an area where there were windows - highly dangerous in the event of a bomb scare. The security officers are not employed by JCP and as such your complaint should be against the security firm, as they were the ones who placed you in danger, not the Jobcentre staff.

 

Evacuation is not always necessary in the event of a bomb threat, and in some cases can actually place you in more danger. The safest thing to do is what you are told, by moving to the bomb meeting point within the building whilst awaiting further instruction on whether you should evacuate, but a bomb meeting point should NEVER be in an area where there are lots of windows.

[buzby]

It is not a public building (as defined), it is a building that permits access to JS clients to conduct their business, nothing else. You appear to have done all you reasonably can under the circumstances. A complaint to your MP will also help keep the pressure on - and you can do this online bia the MySociety website.

[Stirling2005]

Thanks for responses. Jobcentre Plus occupy the ground floor. The rest of the 5 storey place is also occupied by public access services eg the County Court. The main fabric is concrete and glass built on stilts car park underneath. At the very least i feel there should be more than one door into the ground floor area.Access ansd agress were by the same door and in all honesty I got the feeling the 'security' men were more interested in preventing other people evacuating the building at the time from trying to get into the ground floor to access a fire door as the main entrance to the lobby is also very narrow.

 

I am just glad to be alive but I found it to be a very intimidating and disturbing experience. I will follow the matter through as we live in heightened security times and no one should be compromised when using any building to which the public have access.

[ErikaPNP]

It does sound like a farcical fancy took place rather than what should have been a well thought out and practiced procedure. I can't get over the placing of people in a windowed area!

[ScarletPimpernel]

We do not know exactly what the cause of this incident was - a telephoned warning, a suspect IED found inside or outside the building, or even someone acting suspiciously who may have been carrying an IED, and this may account for what appears to have been a lack of leadership and poor management by those in charge of the area.

 

It rather sounds as if they waited until the police arrived and told them what to do. Incidentally, where there is a security incident the police have primacy rather than the fire brigade, although the incident commanders of all the services liaise on scene and at Silver and Gold command level.

 

There are occasions when it would be advisable not to evacuate buildings; a classic terrorist tactic is to warn of a device at one location, then detonate one in the are to which people have been evacuated, or to place an IED in a building and a VBIED (or HBIED) outside, detonating them one after another. It is probably wise to get those in the building to take cover to avoid flying glass in the event of a detonation, though many public buildings have blast film or blast curtains in place. However, public buildings need to have robust procedures in place, and telling people what is happening is fundamental to getting them to follow instructions.

[Stirling2005]

Today I have bene told it has all been passed to their London Lawyers and I am to communicate from now on through them so I take it they have grounds to be concerned.

 

There was no police presence/vehicles/personnel, all other floors were evacuating past the doors from the jobcentre at ground floor level - it was ludicrous. It remains to see what if any defence is offered. Blatantly no fire doors were in use and everyone had to leave through the same door by which they had entered yet on leaving the building all other floors were using all exits it seemed.

 

To compound the issue plenty of adjoining concrete and glass buildings were not told of the matter as indeed I called in at Regal House/Welfare Rights immediately i left the building. Had Heron House gone up/down the blast would have damaged several adjoining buildings and glass would potentially have spread over a huge area.

 

Let's hope measures will be put in place so no one is ever killed while going about legitimate business at one of these public access buildings.