Stadium ‘bomb’ boss says sorry
A SECURITY firm boss yesterday admitted his botched training drill was responsible for a terror alert at Manchester United that could cost the club £4million.
Fans had to evacuate the 76,000-capacity Old Trafford stadium when one of Christopher Reid’s dummy bombs was found in a toilet in a VIP area and later destroyed in a controlled explosion. As it emerged the club could be sued by fans in a class action, the former counterterrorism adviser to the Met Police apologised profusely for Sunday’s blunder.
‘I am absolutely devastated that a lapse in my working protocols has resulted in many people being disappointed, frightened and inconvenienced,’ said the 62-year-old. ‘Nothing I can say will rectify that. This mistake is entirely mine and I have to take full responsibility for leaving the training item behind.’ He insisted, however, that someone at the club should have spotted the device in the intervening four days.
Mr Reid, who advised on the 2012 London Olympics and last year’s Rugby World Cup, said his firm – Security Search Management and Solutions – would probably now go under.
The device, which was labelled ‘training aid’ and included his phone number, was planted along with 13 others during a session for five sniffer dog handlers on Wednesday.
Mr Reid could face legal action from United because he signed a document stating all the homemade devices had been recovered following the drill. The fake bomb was left on a hook behind the door of a men’s toilet cubicle and had been missed in a pre-match sweep.
Mr Reid said that after the exercise, he had checked a number of items into his bag, having previously recorded their position on a ‘trapping sheet’. But the eight-inch long mock-up of a pipe bomb with a mobile phone strapped to it was not recovered, forcing the match against Bournemouth to be abandoned.
Fans, some of whom had travelled from as far as Sierra Leone and Azerbaijan, went home disappointed. Lawyer Mark Stephens said: ‘I imagine there’s going to be a class action here on behalf of all the fans who have been disturbed. There is also the question of distress caused. We are certainly talking millions.’
As well as the estimated £3million in lost ticket sales, the club is also facing a large bill in operating costs to stage the game again tonight.