Panic on Oxford Street

SIR – I was caught up in the “attack that never was” while shopping at Selfridges on Black Friday (report, November 25).

Suddenly large numbers of shoppers, some of them screaming, started running towards the rear exits of the store. Assuming that some kind of terrorist attack was in progress, I joined them.

Once outside I started walking briskly away from Selfridges and Oxford Street. On several occasions my progress was impeded by stationary pedestrians looking at their mobile phones to find out what was happening. It seems that some people would rather risk their lives than put their phones away for a few minutes.

On a more positive note, those people who were not looking at their phones seemed to have a genuine concern for each other’s safety. Dr Tim Cantor

West Malling, Kent

SIR – Some of the media headlines on Saturday made it appear that the non-emergency in Oxford Street, which occurred in an area even more packed with shoppers than usual, was something about which people should be feeling foolish.

In truth, the area could well have been a prime target for a terrorist attack. It was not a hoax, but something which was believed to be a genuine emergency. The most notable feature, to my mind, was the swift and efficient response by the emergency services. We should be very grateful to those men and women for their bravery. They did not realise that their lives were not in danger when they responded. Pat Beale

Plymouth, Devon