Retail chief tells of panic
In for five hours
night alive with the sound of sirens, helicopters and flashing blue lights.
“There were queues of people being evacuated,” said Tanya. “Some people who had been in the offices closest to the incident were being questioned by the police.
“We didn’t know what we would see when we went out of the building, if there would be bodies on the street.
“To be honest we were all terrified. We had been locked in the room for five hours, not knowing what was happening outside.
“We tried to keep calm on lockdown but it was truly terrifying. Hearing that people had died — the attacker, the policeman and two people who had been hit by a car — is just horrible, really sad.
“We are all heading home now. This part of London is still locked down and there is no public transport so we will walk until we get taxis.”
Tanya says that after the trauma of today’s attacks, she has concerns about coming to work today.
She said: “Today has made me anxious and really sad. But we are in politics and if we gave up, nothing would ever change.
“Others would win.” A NORTHERN Ireland business leader has described the panic which unfolded in London yesterday.
Glyn Roberts from Retail NI was in Westminster meeting politicians at Portcullis house when the attacks happened.
Mr Roberts was briefing MPs on his lobby group’s re-branding; it was formerly known as the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association.
Mr Roberts spoke to the Belfast Telegraph as he sheltered inside Labour MP Debbie Abraham’s offices. He had been inside the building for several hours at the time.
He said: “You never think you will be caught up in something like this. There must be thousands of people in the estate across all the different offices.
“I had just finished speaking with the Shadow Sectary of State when police came in and told us to go right to the back of the room.
“It was quite panicked at that point, no one knew what had happened.”
At around 4pm, the group was evacuated to the Norman Shaw North building.
“We were told to stay inside and lock the door so we went into the corridor and were just sitting on the floor.
“Now we have moved to more comfortable surroundings in Debbie Abraham’s offices. Her staff are being very helpful and have given us chairs and put the TV on so we can know what’s going on.
“I’ve missed my flight home so I will have to stay in London another night, but in comparison to what has happened, when you hear that people have lost their lives and several more have been seriously injured, that pales into insignificance.”