Tuesday, August 31, 2010

J7-Number 30 Bus, Tavistock Square

J7 Incident Analysis: Number 30 Bus, Tavistock Square

 

9.47am Tavistock Square, Number 30 Bus Explosion

At 9.47am on 7 July 2005, almost an hour after the events underground, an incident occurred on a number 30 bus outside the offices of the British Medical Association in Upper Woburn Place/Tavistock Square. The number 30 bus explosion is perhaps the single most important of all the incidents that occurred on 7 July 2005, simply because it was the only one to occur above ground. Without the number 30 bus explosion there would have been no 'iconic' images to demonstrate an attack on London. By virtue of its prominence as the only incident to occur above ground it is central to the maintenance of the official conspiracy theory about what happened and warrants detailed investigation and critical analysis, insofar as such analysis is possible given the paucity of evidential material that ex! ists in the public domain.
On the day of 7 July 2005, rolling TV news coverage of the number 30 bus incident consisted of nothing more than still photographs of the bus, short clips of looped traffic camera footage and, eventually, a short clip of low-quality mobile phone footage that appeared to show the immediate aftermath of the bus explosion. Over time, precious little other material has emerged into the public domain and much of the media that existed has since disappeared. That such a tiny amount of photographic and video material was produced after an event of such huge proportions, from an incident in the heart of the UK's media capital, should itself be of some concern.
This article presents a summary and analysis of the events that occurred in Tavistock Square on 7 July 2005.
number 30 bus explosion map - tavistock square

 

Index of Sections

Introduction

"No, as I said earlier on... there is absolutely nothing to suggest this was a suicide bomb. There is nothing to suggest that. We can't rule it out. It may have been that. But it may also have been a bomb that was left on a seat. It may also be a bomb that went off in transit. These things are still open to the investigation. And I think the continuous reference to suicide bombing is unhelpful, because it's completely unproven."
"If London could survive the Blitz, it can survive four miserable bombers like this....I'm not saying there are four bombers.... four miserable events like this."
number 30 bus: outright terror bold and brilliantMy conscience, however, was pricking me and, of course, my partner was also doing exactly the same thing. At my partner’s insistence, I called the police line anonymously, and requested that there might be a connection between the bomb outside our offices and our involvement in the Olympic bid, as the upper level of the bus was at exactly the same level as our boardroom where the bomb went off. I did not leave my name and I did not comment any further. As far as that goes, I feel that perhaps I could have assisted a little bit further in mentioning more of my involvement but, because we were told not to speak, I was fearing for my job.
- Piccadilly Line survivor / 30 Bus witness Beverli Rhodes
Source: 7 July Review Committee hearing, 23 March 2006 [PDF]

The official version of events

The entire 38 page Home Office report, the Report of the Official Account of the London Bombings on 7th July 2005 [PDF], has just this to say about the only above ground incident on 7/7:
At 9.47am, there was a fourth explosion on the upper deck of a no 30 bus in Tavistock Square (page 2)
09.19: Hussain is seen on Grays Inn Road. Around this time, a man fitting Hussain’s description was seen on the no 91 bus travelling from King’s Cross to Euston Station, looking nervous and pushing past people. It was almost certainly at Euston that Hussain switched to the no 30 bus travelling eastwards from Marble Arch. The bus was crowded following the closures on the underground. Hussain sat on the upper deck, towards the back. Forensic evidence suggests the bomb was next to him in the aisle or between his feet on the floor. A man fitting Hussain’s description was seen on the lower deck earlier, fiddling repeatedly with his rucksack.
09.47: The bomb goes off, killing 14 people, including Hussain, and injuring over 110. It remains unclear why the bomb did not go off at 08.50am alongside the others. It may be that Hussain was intending to go north from King’s Cross but was frustrated by delays on the Northern Line. Another possibility, as he seems to have bought a new battery, is that he was unable to ! detonate his device with the original battery. But we have no! further evidence on this at this stage.
"A man fitting Hussain’s description was seen" is used twice in Home Office description of what happened to the number 30 bus. Was it Hussain, or was it not? If it was just someone fitting his description, there is barely any point in mentioning it. The use of the terms, "almost certainly", "suggests", "seems", and "possibility" are so far from being anywhere near conclusive that the report's description of events would be almost farcical if they did not relate to such a serious event.
Further, the man referred to as "seen on the lower deck earlier, fiddling repeatedly with his rucksack" categorically was not Hasib Hussain. The eye witness on whose report this statement is based, and who epitomises the full gamut of increasingly well-documented problems with the validity of eye witness testimonies, is covered in detail later ! in this article under the section heading Eye Witness: Richard Jones.
The general non-specific nature of the Home Office report and the incredible lack of detail might perhaps lead to wondering about the nature of the evidence on which it is based, and the validity of the evidence. The statement "But we have no further evidence on this at this stage," was an incredible statement given that the report was the result of 10 months of what Metropolian Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, had termed "the largest criminal inquiry in English history". To date, no further information or detail about the bus incident has been made available by the police or government.
As part of J7's ongoing attempts to obtain the release of evidence into the public domain, we were unbelievably referred by a police representative to seek out additiona! l information on the BBC web site, as if there were some para! llel bet ween original source material released by the police and BBC news reports. The BBC version of what happened on the number 30 bus is as follows:
bbc number 30 bus explosion summary
Note how the BBC mention that "the bomb" was "placed on a seat or the floor at the back of the upper deck." The official Home Office narrative suggests that all explosions occurred on the floors of the trains and this fact was later confirmed in an open court as part of a related prosecution attempt. If the device was to be left on the seat or floor of the bus, there would have been no need for whomever was carrying the device to have died in the incident. Furthermore, given that the Official Account of the London bombings states of the cars at Luton, "One car contained explosive devices of a different and smaller kind from those in the rucksacks" it would be reasonable to assume that whomever left those explosive devices of a different and smaller kind had intended to return to them, else there would be little point carry! ing them around. According to an article in the Independent, Police hunt 'mercenary' terror gang recruited by al-Qa'ida, there may be some truth in this:
Police and intelligence agents are investigating the theory that a gang of white "mercenary terrorists" was hired by al-Qa'ida to carry out last week's devastating attacks on London. || There was also alarm at the sophisticated nature of the explosives. || The Met said they now had new evidence which clearly indicated that the blasts on the Tube trains had happened "almost simultaneously".
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick said this indicated that the terrorists would have used timing devices to trigger the bombs. Mr Paddick said, "We are not looking for any specific individuals at this stage. We are pursuing a whole series of investigative lines."
Source: The Independent
The idea of explosions being almost simultaneous would, historically at least, suggest the use of timers to trigger detonators, rather than the official story's notion of synchronised watches and manual detonation. Indeed, DAC Paddick infers the use of timing devices as detonators. The implications of this are signicant as the use of timers implicitly suggests that the devices would detonate unattended, once again leading to the conclusion that "suicide bombs" were not the method of delivery.

30 bus explosion - the first sign of terrorism?

That the number 30 bus was the first sign of terrorism on 7/7 is a strange idea given how iconic the few images that exist of the event have become, but it was proclaimed as the first sign of terrorism by one of the! few people that should have had clear oversight of what was going on underground, the then Managing Director of the London Underground, American Tim O'Toole:
tim o'toole - managing director of the london underground"Following initial reports, we had one team concentrating on getting emergency resources to the sites and getting further reports, and we split another part of  management to think about what we would be doing later, four hours and 24 hours later, because at that time of course, shortly after the bomb exploded on the bus we knew we were dealing with crime scenes."
Tim O'Toole
Managing Director, London Underground
Source: Rail Manager Online, 18th July 2005
Given that underground workers and emergency services staff attended some of the underground incidents within minutes of them occurring, that the incidents occurred only a short distance into each tunnel and that, as TfL themselves have advised, that train drivers were in radio contact with the network control centre, it seems odd that it would have taken over an hour for the managing director of London Underground to have sufficient detail on the incidents underground to have known that they were dealing with bomb blasts and crime scenes. Additionally, if nobody knew they were dealing with crime scenes underground until after the bus explosion, an hour after the underground incidents, and suspect! ing in the first instance an accident rather than an act of terrorism, it is possible there would have been no effort to preserve the integrity of any evidence at each of the incident locations.
Months later it was again confirmed that nobody suspected anything other than the reported power surges until the number 30 bus explosion:
PC Ashley Walker, 26, was actually looking at the bus when it blew apart in front of him. He said that up until then they had been uncertain what was happening on the underground."But when we saw the bus bomb go off we realised it was a terrorist attack," he said.
Source: 24Dash.com
Before long, Transport for London drew much criticism for the 'power surge' story:
TfL ‘did not mislead’ on surge report
15 July 2005
Reports that initial "power surge" claims during the London bombings were deliberate misinformation have been dismissed as "absolute bollocks" by the press office for Transport for London.
The Sun reported on Friday that the power surge rumour was "false information deliberately designed to reduce panic" and The Guardian's home affairs editor, Alan Travis, quoted a London Transport source on the same day as saying: "When I heard the words power surge I knew it was a communications ploy."
But Stephen Webb, deputy head of news at Transport for London, said said the initial information coming into the office was simply that the current had been knocked out at one of the network control centres: "something that might have come from a massive power surge".
And he said that this information was passed on to early callers, including the Evening Standard.
He said that no professional would deliverately put out a false information and added: ""As the minutes ticked on it became clear what had caused it was an explosion, but there was so much going on, so much information coming in...Once we were aware of the [true] situation it was time to inform staff and decide where to send PR officers before we could get a clear statement out."
As with Tim O'Toole, the bus incident appears to be the point at which it seems beyond question that a terrorist attack occurred. Is it really possible that the managing director of the London Underground, as well as police officers taking part in the recovery operation were not aware that the events on the underground were anything other than power surges for nearly a whole hour after they ! occurred?
But then they weren't th! e only o nes. Two experienced train operators in the driver's cab of the Picadilly line train - both train drivers, one of whom was driving the affected train - believed they were dealing with a mechanical or electrical fault in the first carriage of train 311/331. If those experienced train operators who bravely assisted in the aftermath of what happened were unaware that anything other t an a mechanical or electrical fault occurred -- at the incident location reported to have had a final death toll double that of other incidents that morning. -- why would anyone else think otherwise?
However, if unnamed and anonymous sources are to be trusted, other London Underground employees were aware that something other than a 'power surge' might have occurred.
But questions were asked last night about the origin of the power surge claim, which helped to prevent panic.
"When I heard the words power surge I knew it was a communications ploy," said one London Underground source. "The three stations [Liverpool Street, King's Cross and Edgware Road] were on different power networks. Under the plans, we didn't want to panic everybody. The last thing you want is people rushing on to the streets."
The origin of the explanation was unclear, and it was quickly denied by the National Grid.
Source: The Guardian

Which way was the bus travelling?

The direction in which the bus was travelling may! seem like a trivial detail but, like all details in what Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair termed, "the largest criminal inquiry in English history", is crucial for an understanding of what actually happened on 7/7. The official Home Office reports describes, "the no 30 bus travelling eastwards from Marble Arch." The suggestion here is that the 30 bus was travelling towards Hackney Wick. However, the original story reported on the day, and in the days that followed 7 July 2005, was that the bus was travelling in the opposite direction to that specified in the official Home Office report. There still exists plenty of evidence in the public domain that evinces the notion that the bus was travelling not from Marble Arch to Hackney Wick but from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch. The quotes below all have the 30 bus travelling in the opposite direction to that which the Home Office report later claimed:
Nobody was clear about what had happened underground, ex! cept tha t it was something major. George Psaradakis, a Stagecoach bus driver, was driving his Number 30 Hackney Wick to Marble Arch service into this mêlée. He was put on a diversion away from the crowded Euston Road. It was his first day back after time off sick with heart trouble.
Witnesses described a charnel house scene of scattered bodies and blood-spattered buildings in Tavistock Square in Bloomsbury, also the site of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, a Hiroshima cherry tree, and a Holocaust memorial. At 9.47am, the No 30 bus from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch was stuck in traffic as it passed along the eastern edge of the tree-lined square when an explosion tore off its roof and much of the upper deck.
But to bomb one of our buses, as happened to the number 30, which runs from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch, as it rolled past Tavistock Square at 9.47am last Thursday, seemed more of a personal affront.
Source: The Guardian
At least 13 people died when the explosion ripped the roof off the vehicle which was travelling from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch at 0947 BST.
Source: BBC News
Mr Psarabakis (sic.), of Greek origin, was driving from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch when his bus was diverted following the Tube explosions.
To the east, George Psaradakis is preparing to drive a No 30 bus from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch. The journey through rush-hour traffic will be stressful, and the 49-year-old had a heart attack a year ago, but it's his job.
Source: Independent on Sunday (cached version)
The bus, travelling from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch in Central London with more than 20 passengers, had been diverted because of the earlier attack on a Tube train between King's Cross and Russell Square.
Source: The Mirror
The bus below, taking passengers from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch in central London should ! not have been going through Tavistock Square. It had been diverted from its normal route due to the disruption at King's Cross. As a result, progress was tortuous and the passengers were getting frustrated.
Another of the deadly attacks occurred on a number 30 bus in Tavistock Square which had been travelling from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch.
Another interesting testimony, by far one of the most interesting and intriguing accounts of the number 30 bus explosion, was written by Philip Fisher in an article that was published on 8th July 2005. In his article Fisher describes what unfolded before him as he! turned into Tavistock Square on his way to work on the mornin! g of 7/ 7:
London Bombing: A Personal Account
AccountingWEB.com - July 08, 2005
Philip Fisher describes the events he experienced following the bombings in London on Thursday morning (7 July).
A bomb soon puts life into perspective.
After a half-hour delay in getting my train this morning, I arrived at King's Cross Thameslink and was turfed out into the street, as the train was emptied and the Tube station closed.
As I made my way along Euston Road, it became apparent that something major was going on, as both King's Cross and Euston stations were clearly closed and confused multitudes were thronging the streets.
I turned into Woburn Place at the same time as a number 30 bus, which would normally have headed straight towards Baker Street. The driver turned away one lucky lady at a bus-stop and he had got 50 yards ahead of me when I heard a bang, looked up and saw b! lack smoke coming from the road. Seconds later, glass was flying at me and I turned around and bent over in a shower of it. Luckily I was unhurt and for the next 15 minutes, sheltered in the nearest building, courtesy of the British Medical Association.
I travelled the last 150 or so yards to work on the basis that this would be the safest place to shelter, if there was no transport to get me home. I was allowed in and over the next hour, watched more and more evacuation taking place until Russell Square was completely empty except for the emergency services.
We were trapped from around 10 o'clock until three and reached the farcical situation at lunchtime where all of the food in the office was shared out, amounting to little more than a few bags of crisps, some biscuits and drinks.
As PR Partner, I quickly became a media personality, speaking to three newspapers and a co! uple of radio stations. As soon as I finish this account, I'! m expect ing a call from some Canadian media.
As far as we know, all of our staff are safe and sound. We can't be sure though. While it is unlikely that a bus which should have been going away from our office would contain our people, a peak-time Tube train travelling between King's Cross and Russell Square is quite another matter.
I may have been close to the action but my managing partner, Mike Tovey, was even closer. He was in his car two vehicles behind the exploding bus and even at lunchtime, looked a little bemused.
It is amazing how generous friends can be in times of adversity. A dozen people have contacted me to check that I am OK from as far afield as Germany and the United States. This means an awful lot.
The main questions that the media have asked, other than the personal ones, relate to the impact that this anarchy will have on Lon! don. We have been there before and, provided that tomorrow is quiet, the stoical English will display that famous stiff upper lip and just get on with life. However, we must remember that several dozen people will not have that chance.
Reprinted from our sister site: AccountingWEB UK. Our thoughts and heartfelt support go out to our colleagues in the UK in the wake of these tragic events.
Source:  Accounting Web
Notice how Philip Fisher observes that the number 30 bus, "would normally have headed straight towards Baker Street." Continuing along the Euston Road towards Baker Street means that the bus was travelling from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch not, as suggested by the of! ficial story, from Marble Arch to Hackney Wick. The Home Offic! e report states:
"It was almost certainly at Euston that Hussain switched to the no 30 bus travelling eastwards from Marble Arch."
"Almost certainly" is indefinite and somewhat speculative for the Home Office report that was meant to be a "definitive account" of events, particularly when that report was designed to stand in place of a full public inquiry.
If the number 30 bus was travelling in the direction originally reported, and the direction confirmed by numerous other accounts and eye-witnesses ignored by the Home Office report, it would not have passed through Euston station and it would not have been possible for Hasib Hussain to have boarded the bus there. This means another aspect of the Home Office report, the notion that Hasib Hussain boarded the 30 bus at Euston, can legitimately be challenged as another highly questionable assertio! n made by the government.

The bus driver: George Psaradakis

"The driver of the bus is an important police witness and is not being identified. For similar reasons, he will be giving no further media interviews in relation to this incident."
As with many aspects of the bus explosion, the story of the bus driver, variously reported as George Psaradakis or George Psarabakis, is another curious facet of 7/7. Photographic evidence shows George at the scene in Tavistock Square in the aftermath of the explosion. His own story of events details how he assisted injured people from his bus. His accounts also include interaction! s with the police, both uniformed and plain clothes, at the s! cene, ye t another version of events has it that Mr Psaradakis staggered 7 miles west across London in his blood spattered clothes before arriving in Acton.
There is also some confusion as to how long Psaradakis had worked for the Stagecoach bus company:
Psaradakis, who has been with the company for three years, said his bus route was changed after the bombings of three trains on London's Underground transit system.
Source: CNN
Mr Psarabakis, who has worked at the bus company Stagecoach’s Hackney depot for eight years, said that he would soon return to work. “Myself and the other drivers in London have an important job and we are going to continue to do that as best we can. We are going to continue our normal lives. We are not going to be intimidated.”
Source: The Times
There is also the small issue of press release from Psaradakis' employers stating that the bus driver would not be named owing to his being a high profile witness to events. As the media coverage of Mr Psaradakis that ensued shows, quite the opposite happened. Another odd facet of Mr Psarad! akis' story is that he was appointed at the last-minute to be the driver of the number 30 bus, having been scheduled to drive another route on the morning of 7 July 2005. It was also reported that 7th July 2005 was Psaradakis' first day back at work after an extended absence due to heart problems.
number 30 bus explosionGeorge Psarabakis, 50, who was meant to be on another bus route but swapped with a colleague at the last minute to the No 30, thought that he had hit the pavement when the bomb went off.
“I heard a bang and thought I had hit something on the kerb, then turned around and realised the whole of the back of the bus was gone. Then I looked behind me and thought everyo! ne must be dead.”
Source! : The Times
On the same day that the Stagecoach press release was issued stating that the bus driver would not be identified, countless stories appeared about George Psaradakis, the last-minute replacement driver of the number 30 bus. This apparent change of tactic raises many questions, not least of which relates to the fact that Mr Psaradakis is the only driver of any of the vehicles affected on 7/7 who has ever spoken to the media about his experiences that day. In fact, all but one of the train driver's names are unknown and none of them have ever been interviewed about their experiences. The one driver name other than Psaradakis that is known about, came to light when a colleague travelling in the driver's cab of the Piccadilly Line train left a comment o! n a July 7th related blog. See the King's Cross / Russell Square page for full details.
"Three of my officers were travelling behind the bus when the bomb exploded and were the first officers on the scene.”
Source: Ian Johnston, Chief Constable, British Transport Police
Letter to the British Medical Assocation
Lots of people from King’s Cross had just walked off and left the scene. I know that is the same from Tavistock Square, because we know from reports that the bus driver walked off and ended up in hospital.
"There were many injured people and at first I thought, 'how am I alive when everyone is dying around me?'" Psaradakis was quoted as saying by the British news agency Press Association. "The police then had to take me away because they were concerned there might be further explosions."
Source: USA Today
According to the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police (BTP) a BTP vehicle was immediately behind the bus when it exploded and we know from various accounts of the events in Tavistock Square that Mr Psaradakis assisted injured passengers from his bus, that he was in the care of police at the scene, and we also know that there w! ere police "100 metres away" setting up a cordon. Yet, somehow, despite staying to help the injured, which included interacting with the police while he was there, Psaradakis, the "important police witness", was allowed to wander away from the crime scene, in entirely the opposite direction to his home before turning up in a hospital some seven miles away from Tavistock Square. It is worth considering whether a man who had just returned to work after time off for heart trouble, who had just been driving a bus that exploded in transit, could possibly have assisted passengers off the bus and then travelled seven miles on foot in less than one hour.
After police cleared the area, fearing further explosions, Mr Psarabakis began walking west along s! treets crowded with commuters stranded outside Tube stations! and una ble to get to work.
Although he lives in Stoke Newington, in North London, he continued his journey west for seven miles and sought help only once he reached the Central Middlesex Hospital in Acton, West London, at about 10.50am. He was still wearing his blood-spattered uniform.
Source: The Times
That such a important witness in the events that occurred in Tavistock Square was allowed to wander off from the scene of any crime beggars belief, especially in light of the fact that Psaradakis is reported to have had multiple contacts with various police figures at the scene, even more so when factoring in the following report about the degree of 'protection' at a 'secret location' that Psaradakis was later afforded:
LONDON BOMBINGS!
Greek bus driver taken into hiding by police as key witness
The Greek driver of the bus blown up in one of the London attacks last Thursday is under police protection at a secret location the Athens News Agency reported yesterday. Giorgos Psaradakis, 47, survived the blast with minor injuries. The bus’s CCTV system was not working on the morning of the attacks so the Metropolitan Police consider Psaradakis a key witness to events leading to the explosion, which killed 13 people. Meanwhile, a service for the victims of the London bombings is to be held at 10.30 a.m. tomorrow at Saint Paul’s Anglican Church at 27 Filellinon Street, off Syntagma Square.
As well as believing that the explosion on his bus was the b! us hitting something on the pavement, other reports stated, "At first Psaradakis thought a tyre had blown. He looked up to see the entire top half of the bus missing." Quite how an explosion sufficient to devastate a bus and remove the roof entirely could be mistaken for hitting something on the kerb, or a tyre blow-out remains a point of wonderment.
The following quote, from an article published on September 7th 2005, tells the story of Psaradakis' hour-long walk to west London and notes that Psaradakis hadn't yet met any of the people that he helped recover from the bus three months later:
Psaradakis was pictured staggering away from the bus 30 seconds after the blast. In shock after helping stricken passengers, he disappeared.
An hour later, he turned up, spattered with blood, 11k! m away at a west London hospital, still in shock and shaking.The Greek-born driver said he would love to meet his passengers who also survived the blast.
Source: IOL
There is also the strange story of a Psaradakis' involvement with what he calls a 'plain clothes policemen' who, after attending to and comforting Psaradakis, later appeared on a stretcher wearing an oxygen mask, as if he was injured.
Explosion aftermath
But as Mr Psaradakis tried to help, he admitted he was in a state of panic.
A policeman led him to a nearby building where survivors were being treated.
"I was shaking and crying - I was overwhelmed. Everyone treated each other like a sister or brother.
"A plain clothes policeman held me to stop me shaking. I learned later that he was injured.
"I saw him on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face. He looked at me and gave me a thumbs up sign."
Source: BBC News
The strange case of the plain clothes policeman who tended to Psaradakis before later turning up on a stretcher as if he was injured remains unresolved.
It was further claimed by Psaradakis' uncle that a woman had died in George's arms while he was assisting in the aftermath of the bus explosion, another event that would reduce the amount of time available for Psaradakis' long walk across London:
The semi-official Athens News Agency earlier reported the driver had told his family that one of the vic! tims died in his hands. "He told me that two passengers were ! killed, and that a girl died in his hands," Yiannis Psaradakis, George's uncle told the agency.
The 47-year-old Greek driver, whose family lives in the town of Canea on the island of Crete, was unhurt. "George said he had a saint on his side," Psaradakis' mother said. The driver's relatives did not say how Psaradakis managed to evade the blast.
By the time of the 7/7 memorial held on 1st November 2005, which the Queen attended in London while Prince Charles and Camilla visited Ground Zero in New York, Mr Psaradakis' health had deteriorated considerably and he was reported as being too ill to attend:
The driver of the bus, George Psaradakis, had been due to carry the Tavis! tock Square candle but he is suffering severe post-traumatic stress and understood to be too ill to attend.
Source: The Guardian
The candle for Tavistock Square, where a bomb ripped through the No 30 double-decker bus, was due to be carried by the driver George Psaradakis, but he was unable to attend.
Yet the online diary of Paul Dadge, the ex-firefighter who, alonsgside the woman in a white face-mask, Davinia Turrell, became one of the iconic images of 7/7, claims Mr Psaradakis did indeed attend the 1/11 memorial event:
After the service we made our way! into a marquee outside St Paul's at sat down for a tea and a! sandwic h. I looked up to see George Psaradakis sat next to me with his wife. He was the driver of the Number 30 bus that exploded, he was supposed to have been too ill to attend due to a heart condition however here he was ! I wasn't suprised he had fought against ill health to attend, he has always appeared as a pillar of strength throughout the months after the attacks.
Two years after the events of 7/7, when director of the Homefront movie, Thomas Ikimi - the cousin of bus victim Anthony Fatayi-Williams - released his film, he made a point of highlighting his frustration at not being allowed to have any contact with the driver of the number 30 bus:
This is the driver of the bus number 30, one of the last people to have seen Anthony [Fatayi-Williams] alive. I was not permitted to contact or speak to him, on or off camera. That was painful, especially when he spoke in the media to others about what happened; people who had nothing to do with the event.
I don't believe George was ever told about me by his company, Stagecoach. After three months of trying to speak to Transport for London representatives, jumping through their hoops, and even letting them screen my questions, I gave up.
This goes against George Psaradakis' own wishes to meet with survivors from t! he bus incident:
Mr Psaradakis said he would one day love to meet the passengers who survived.
He said: “I would really be pleased, because each passenger that steps into my bus is under my care and it develops some kind of affinity between me and them.
“They seem kind of my relatives, so what happened to them really it deeply hurt me.
“Obviously, I can’t meet the ones that perished, but I would be very pleased to meet some of the survivors.”
With so many diverse and conflicting accounts of Psaradakis' story, it is impossible to know what the truth of the matter is.

The number 30 bus, diversions, meetings and ambulance-buses

News reports about the number 30 bus often carry information about how the 30 was diverted from its usual route. The implication is that the number 30 bus was the only bus to be diverted. However, this is far from the case. Many buses were commandeered and used to transport injured underground passengers to various hospitals. In most cases where buses were used to transport the injured to hospital, they were transported to geographically remote hospitals rather than the one they happened to be nearest. Additionally, it appears buses were used, despite the obvious impracticalities of so doing, as 'treatment centres':
Nick Thatcher : Royal London Hospital : 1130 BST
The Royal London Hospital have been receiving casualties all morning. This is a major hospital in East London. There's an air ambulance landing on the roof behind me. There are buses behind me which have come from the Kings Cross area in central London. On board are walking wounded who have been ferried here.
Mark Easton : Kings Cross : 1155 BST
There are 4 double decker buses being used as treatment centres for the less seriously injured.
number 30 bus route - marble arch - hackney wick
kingstar van
Who is the man alongside the Kingstar Van?
If we accept the amended bus route from the originally reported Hackney to Marble Arch to the revised version of Marble Arch to Hackney Wick, the number 30 bus route would be as follows. Of course, if the bus was going the other way, this route is reversed:
  • Marble Arch
  • Oxford Street Selfridges
  • Portman Square
  • Baker Street Station
  • Regent's Park Station
  • Great Portland street Station
  • Warren Street Station
  • Euston Station
  • Euston Road British Library
  • King's Cross Station
  • Pentonville Road
  • Angel Islington
  • Islington Green
  • Islington Town Hall
  • Highbury and Islington
  • Balls Pond Road
  • Dalston Junction
  • Hackney Central
  • Hackney Wick
The popular misconception that the number 30 bus was the only bus to have been diverted on 7 July 2005 is, however, just that -- a misconception -- and as with many other commonly held misconceptions about the events of the day, is entirely false, as evinced by various sources, including the Greater London Authority's 7 July Review Committee findings:
3.39 .... At 10.22 am, four busloads of casualties were taken (by bus drivers who had taken the impressive individual initiative of offering their services) to The Royal London Hospital. They were directed to the Royal London Hospital, despite a call to the control centre seven minutes earlier requesting that walking wounded be sent to Bart’s instead.
3.42 .... At 10.02 am, a request was made for five ambulances and a bus.
5.7 .... At King’s Cros! s, some survivors were held in the ticket hall of the station before being taken to hospital by bus, but there was precious little in the way of advice, first aid, or support for those waiting there. At Tavistock Square, again local businesses were used to hold the injured whilst they awaited ambulances to take them to hospital. But many others simply left the scene and walked home.
People with less serious injuries were put on a number of buses and were transported to hospital, without further drain on the already strained resources of the blue light services However, this fast way of transporting people to hospitals was brought to an abrupt halt by the bus bomb at Tavistock Square at 9:47. After that attack, Transport for London order! ed all their buses back to the bus stations.
Paul White, the chief executive of Bart's and the London NHS trust earlier said three double-decker buses loaded with casualties had brought the injured to the hospital.

He told BBC Radio 4: "There have been some fatalities, one here but no others that we have had brought in. We had three double-decker buses arrive with casualties. This is probably the most major [incident] we have had in recent years but we are coping well, we are not overwhelmed."

BBC Radio 5 reporter Stephen Chittenden earlier told listeners: "On the bottom of three of the buses were people with blackened faces looking very, very distressed. The last bus was full."
Source: The Guardian
Convoy of four buses ferries up to 183 patients to the hospital. Eight critically injured, including one in cardiac arrest. Six people operated on. One person later died. 123 discharged within hours. Victims suffer injuries to limbs, and smoke inhalation
As shown above, at least four buses were diverted away from their usual routes and services and used! instead to transport injured people to hospital, yet the number 30 bus is the only one that is ever specifically reported as diverted. Given that the other diverted buses were being used to transport people from one or more of the underground incidents to hospital, it could be possible that this is what the number 30 bus was also doing. The following quote explicitly states that this was indeed the case.
It is puzzling that in an event that was apparently carefully planned and designed to go like clockwork, only three bombs went off in the Underground (the British word for what we call the subway), while the fourth exploded on the upper deck of one of London’s famous double-decker buses, nearly an hour after the others. That was untidy. There is a terrible irony that survivors of the first blasts boarded that bus to get to the hospital for treatment, but I doubt that it was part of the plan.
Source: Metro West Daily News
The stories of some survivors of the bus incident include underground passengers who had been affected and/or evacuated as a result of the incidents underground and these are covered in the Survivors & Eye Witnesses section. Suffice to note for now that, as well as ferrying the injured to hospital, buses were carrying evacuated tube travellers:
By 9:42am, Jamie Gordon had left his friend's flat and decided to call his office ahead to let them know he was on his way. It now seems certain he hopped on board the No 30 bus, packed with evacuated tube travellers. At 9:47am, a massive explosion echoed through Bloomsbury.
As well as! the number 30 bus, two other buses were present in Tavistock Square at the time of the explosion, buses whose usual route also does not include passing through Tavistock Square. These were a number 205 bus immediately ahead of the number 30, and a number 390 ahead of the 205. Interestingly, a widely quoted eye witness, Belinda Seabrook, who claimed to be "20 metres, away "on a bus in front" (which photographic evidence has since shown to be a 205) is reported as saying, "It was a massive explosion and there were papers and half a bus flying through the air, I think it was the number 205."
205 bus tavistock square
Click picture for larger image
Pictured left a number 205 bus showing Whitechapel on the destination blind. Note also that during the course of the day the bus destination blinds change from the original Whitechapel destination boards shown in the first image to the NOT IN SERVICE shown in the second image.
205 Bus Route
  • Mile End Station
  • Whitechapel Station, Royal London Hospital
  • Aldgate Station / High Street
  • Liverpool Street Station
  • Moorgate
  • Islington, Angel
  • Kings Cross Station
  • Euston Station
  • Euston Road
  • Warren Street Station
  • Baker Street Station
  • Marylebone Station
  • Paddington Station
205 bus, tavistock square on 7/7
number 390 bus, tavistock square, 7/7
Click picture for larger image
Further ahead of the no. 30 bus, in front of the 205 pictured above, was a number 390 bus which also doesn't usually pass through Tavistock Square on its regular route.
Number 390 Bus Route
  • Archway Station
  • Tufnell Park Station
  • Kings Cross Station
  • Euston Station, Euston Road
  • Tottenham Court Road Station
  • Oxford Circus
  • Marble Arch
  • Notting Hill Gate
The 205 bus has a particularly interesting route as it takes in the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, very near to the incidents at Aldgate, Aldgate East, and Liverpool Street stations. It also passes by King's Cross station, near Russell Square, as well as Paddington Station, all sites at which other incidents were reported as occurring on 7/7. So, no matter which way the 205 was travelling, it is highly possible that it was another of the buses ferrying evacuated and injured passengers from at least one of the affected underground locations to a hospital.

Buses used for transporting the injured to the Royal London Hospital

The Trust played a leading role in treating and caring for patients injured in the bomb blasts that struck London on 7 July; the Royal London was the main receiving hospital for casualties. When the Londonwide major incident plan was activated at 9.30 am that day the Helicopter Emergency Service (HEMS) was despatched along with mobile medical response teams. As well as patients arriving by ambulance and helicopter, over 80 were ferried in a convoy of three double decker buses, commandeered by emergency services staff at the site of the King’s Cross explosion. In total 208 people were treated at the Royal London, with 27 admitted with serious injuries. Two people were also treated in the Minor Injuries Unit at Barts.
This was the story of the people who, in London on July 7, ran the other way - towards the explosions. Or they were springing into action in hospitals, putting the emergency plans into gear, getting ready for the onslaught. People like Craig Cassidy who, at Aldgate, ran down into a smoky dark hell and wouldn't leave when the police told him there could be more explosions. And Dr Gareth Davies, directing things at ground level, who didn't have nearly enough ambulances to cope, so he dashed across the road to the bus depot to commandeer a number 10, a 67 and a 115. And Toni Lynch and Elaine Cole, nurses at the Royal London, ready and totally prepared in spite of the huge number of wounded pati
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