[Ivo]

Last Tuesday, the Students' Union at my University had an incident in which everyone had to be evacuated because someone had suggested in some capacity or another that a bomb had been prepared for detonation!

This sounds ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

Only, it then got worse, because on Thursday every building on all three sites in Bath had to be simultaneously evacuated (using the fire alarm system) because a similar event had occurred! We had to wait 50 minutes to go back in inside.

And then, on Monday, yet another incident...

I am led to believe that other Universities have suffered to, such as Cambridge, suggesting there is some kind of syndicate activity behind all of this nonsense. And there is nothing to suggest that the series has come to an end either.

Ultimately, it has been confirmed that all incidents so far have been hoaxes, which is just as well. But at this rate, we will have to deal with one that isn't - and I don't think the University is ready for that, even with all this recent experience.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? To say this episode is (or has been) annoying me is an understatement...

[NY Yankee]

Maybe the guy was trying to get out of taking an exam.

[Nym]

2nded...

Buy to be honest if a university did have to deal with this, I've done the full health and safety briefing for a building that stores some very dangerous and expensive equipment.

(Sackville St and Feranti; Chemical Production Labs, Nuclear AMRC Welding Site, and HVDC Testing Lab)

And I know that there are measures in place that generally cover terrorism, it being Manchester and everything you'd expect it to be well prepared, and the design of the refurbishment makes security generally easier. I suspect our on site security staff (not G4S!) are trained in the basics on how to deal with the crowding problems before the Police and RLC arrive to deal with the device.

But I also suspect that if the Gatehouse were to receive a bomb threat the first thing they'd say (That I suspect Bath didn't) is
"Where is it then?"

[LE Greys]

There was a tall tale about an 'unexplained detonation' in the science block of one of my old schools. It reportedly involved some IRA-sympathising pupils who disappeared afterwards, never to be seen again. AFAIK, there is absolutely no substance to the story, but I heard it several times.

Fortunately, Aberdeen has not so far been subjected to this, whether by this group or by Scottish separatists (although some posters have appeared).

[NY Yankee]

Not to get off topic, but can't the UK simply just let Northern Ireland secede and avoid these terrorist attacks?

[MattE2010]

Originally Posted by NY Yankee

Not to get off topic, but can't the UK simply just let Northern Ireland secede and avoid these terrorist attacks?

(I'm in NI a lot and have family over there. I am a Unionist.)

The reason it doesn't happen is because it would solve nothing. You'll only satisfy a minority of the population. The land is quite heavily pro-Union, certainly it has a Protestant majority. If it was to break away it would only mean the Loyalist terrorist groups would only pick up where the IRA and other Republican groups left off, though I doubt their activities would focus on the same areas as the IRA did. It is better for the people for it to remain British, it is just a noisy minority who wish it to leave. I doubt if you went to Northern Ireland today outside of Catholic areas in cities you'd drum up much support for your plans. TBH I think the terror threat only makes people in NI more determined to maintain the Union.

[NY Yankee]

The media gave the impression that Northern Ireland was this oppressed region that wanted to secede. Based on what you're telling me, it's only a vocal minority who feel that way. It's like the UK version of Occupy Wall Street.

[Ivo]

Some parts of NI (most obviously certain typically rundown areas of Belfast) are pro-Republic. But, as Matt says, most of NI is not, and this much is obvious when visiting NI - it has come a long way of late, to the point that it's almost too peaceful now! Indeed, incidents are far rarer than they were during The Troubles. Groups like the IRA have mostly ceased their activities, and we are left with a far safer situation than we had before the Good Friday agreement in 1998.

To give an example, suspicious packages were once a common occurrence on the Enterprise route between Belfast and Dublin. On the other hand, I am led to believe that last year saw just one incident, and then it related to the Queen visiting Dublin. It just had to affect my train

Which is a point actually. That incident occurred on May 17th, 2011. The one that brought the problems here to most students' attention was the second one of the three - on May 17th, 2012

£5 says I get affected on May 17th, 2013.

[Temple Meads]

Originally Posted by Ivo

£5 says I get affected on May 17th, 2013.

Ooooh tempting

That's a Devon Evening Ranger!

[AdamW]

Originally Posted by Temple Meads

Ooooh tempting

That's a Devon Evening Ranger!

With a single on the 8:57 Plymouth - Newquay HST on Saturday morning too (Well, if you've got a railcard that is)

Reading in our student paper the other day, apparently we also had a bomb hoax over the Easter holidays involving my halls of residence, whilst it was being used as a corporate hotel.

[Oswyntail]

Originally Posted by NY Yankee

Not to get off topic, but can't the UK simply just let Northern Ireland secede and avoid these terrorist attacks?

As has been written, most of the Irish activity in this area has ceased. This does not mean, however, that we are free of bomb threats. I understand that the two main groups responsible are Islamists and Animal Rights activists. If the press is anything to go by (well, it might be!), attacks on Universities and other research establishments will tend to be the latter.
But most alerts are hoaxes - golly, the perpetrators must be ****ing themselves laughing at such japes.

[Heinz57]

There was an incident at one of the Derby University halls of residance.

I'm not sure exactly what went off but there was a bomb scare and they had to evactuate everyone from the halls. Police and the fire department were also in attendance.

I live at home, and wasn't in uni that day so don't know much about what happend. But it turned out to be a hoax. Some people say it was in relation to somebody messing with party poppers (not sure if this bit is true though!)

[Ivo]

One thing that concerns me is that I had a dream a few years ago that involved a bomb scare at my high school (a dream I thoroughly enjoyed ). Ever since then, I have known a really easy way to cause an explosion at the exact moment you wish for - without the person even needing to be present. And if you can get a device large enough [said device is a box], it could be quite severe.

I'm not sharing details of it in public - you never know who might be reading this. I will share the story by PM with anyone I feel I can trust (). I will say that it is rather unorthodox, and potentially quite amusing.

[Greenback]

Originally Posted by NY Yankee

Not to get off topic, but can't the UK simply just let Northern Ireland secede and avoid these terrorist attacks?

That is getting off topic as it is unlikely that Irish Republicans pose any real threat to Universities.

[Nym]

Indeed, any threat nowadays comes from the likes of people from sandy places, or the students themselves...