Cyclist gets turned away from green transport event because of his Brompton.

[rogerzilla]

Was the bomb in the frame of the bike?

I've only heard of one instance of a bomb being hidden inside a bicycle frame; apparently when detonated it fired the saddle skywards but the bike was still intact apart from this. Bombs in bags or baskets make sense, but a bike isn't necessary for that.

I'm not saying that the security team did anything wrong; I'm trying to work out how a bicycle could be used for such nefarious practices.

High explosive (i.e. one with a supersonic shock wave) would turn the frame to shrapnel. Your average homebrew psycho would probably only be able to obtain a low explosive such as gunpowder, which would be more likely to blow the seatpost out.

 

[Time Waster]

Funny thing about explosives, the knowledge isn't hard to get. A kid in my old school a few years before I got there apparently made tri nitro benzene out of things nicked from school. That', I case you didn't study organic chemistry at school, is a more unstable and difficult chemical to make than the fairly similar tri nitro toluene. It's a bigger bang too apparently. If you don't manage to blow yourself up making it over 2 or weeks at at temperatures and pressures.

Out of safety considerations we just stuck with gunpowder. We did not afterall want to blow things up badly just make a bright, colourful display inside a wall of of oak lockers.

 

[Profpointy]

Funny thing about explosives, the knowledge isn't hard to get. A kid in my old school a few years before I got there apparently made tri nitro benzene out of things nicked from school. That', I case you didn't study organic chemistry at school, is a more unstable and difficult chemical to make than the fairly similar tri nitro toluene. It's a bigger bang too apparently. If you don't manage to blow yourself up making it over 2 or weeks at at temperatures and pressures.

Out of safety considerations we just stuck with gunpowder. We did not afterall want to blow things up badly just make a bright, colourful display inside a wall of of oak lockers.

We usually used toluene rather than benzene in school because benzene is a known carcinogen, though our teacher, a young post-doc said they she used to wash stuff off her hands using benzene only a few years previously. Anyhow for the nitrating experiment we used benzene rather than toluene as you do get some di and tri nitro toluene as well as (singly) nitro toluene. Not sure why she though tri-nitro-benzene was going to be any better, but that said, high explosives like TNT, and presumably TNB and picric acid / tri-nitro-phenol are very hard to set off so it's not a big risk. (untike nitro glycerine which is rather dodgy to handle safely)

 

[Alex321]

A simple bit of planning and the MP or his office could have checked the event was totally accessible given this was billed as green event.
Maybe now he will refer the matter to the speaker and fight to change it. Not holding my breath mind.

What does it have to do with "totally accessible"?

Being able to carry a bike around with you or not isn't about accessibility. You should not expect to be able to take it into an indoor venue.

I would be surprised if there were no facilties to lock a bike up reasonably securely nearby. And a Brompton is just as lockable as any other bike.

 

[Time Waster]

Heard a tale of a civilian training course for people needing to use c5 plastic explosives. The former special forces and ex army trainers arranged an informal getogether round a bonfire on the arrival evening. Then one of them would hang back then approach and throw a pack of c5 on the fire before running off. Apparently the delegates dived away from the fire in fear leaving the rest of the trainers laughing by the fire with their drinks.

They used that as a memorable way of getting through to the attendees that c5 didn't need to be treated like death in a wrapper. They went on to say they preferred c5 to other explosives because it made a good fuel for cooking on when you really need it.

Other tricks were hitting it with a hammer. Same effect.

Anyway, the closest I ever got to so called high explosives was a job interview question about whether I was OK with learning how to handle, use and plan explosive charges in a quarry. Apparently if I got the job I'd need up know that, not to do it but as a H&S guy I needed it. I guess my over enthusiasm was too obvious as I saw an immediate crossing out which I took to be my name on a list of interviewees!

 

[Alex321]

Why do you drivers get to use my roads as free car storage? (the roads are taxpayer funded, just like the parliament buildings)

It seems that sensible give-n-take would be helpful here.

Roads are specifically designed and built for driving (including cycling, horse riding etc.) and parking on. Indoor spaces are not designed for outdoor objects such as cars, bikes etc.

 

[Time Waster]

The brompton inside thing is simply arrogance on the guy's part. You have no right to take any bike into venues not even folding ones. Not if packed into a bag he might have got away with it. Then it's luggage and depending if the venue allowed large bags in you might have been OK.

It is arrogance to think folding your bike up makes taking it into a building that's not your own is acceptable. I personally ask if it's OK going in with by brompton if I go into a shop or other place. If not I don't go in or do something with my bike.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Roads are specifically designed and built for driving (including cycling, horse riding etc.) and parking on. Indoor spaces are not designed for outdoor objects such as cars, bikes etc.

Really? Most roads are definitely not designed that way.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Really? Most roads are definitely not designed that way.

True. If you think about it, most places with on-street parking were built before the war/before the boom in car ownership. More recently built (60s onwards at least) have off-street parking, presumably per planning regs but also as a sales feature.

Sometimes this can backfire. Some years ago I was talking to a guy who was involved with a homeless charity and he told me that they'd run into regulatory problems with some buildings they wanted to use as a sheltered accommodation of some sort, because it didn't have sufficient off street parking. "Believe it or not, most of our clients don't have cars"

 

[Petrichorwheels]

Roads are specifically designed and built for driving (including cycling, horse riding etc.) and parking on. Indoor spaces are not designed for outdoor objects such as cars, bikes etc.

I trust you take your shoes off and crawl when entering hallowed public spaces like libraries/the town hall etc.
I often take my brommie inside places. No problem usually. Last time i checked you could leave them in the national theatre cloakroom. Wouldn't dream of leaving a brommie in the street, however locked. The height of folly.

 

[tom73]

What does it have to do with "totally accessible"?

Being able to carry a bike around with you or not isn't about accessibility. You should not expect to be able to take it into an indoor venue.

I would be surprised if there were no facilties to lock a bike up reasonably securely nearby. And a Brompton is just as lockable as any other bike.

It's not folders are not allowed but not allowed if they don't fit the scanner. It's not hard to think it's London so decent chance a Brompton may come along at some point in time. How do we accommodate them? Do they turn away an on MP on a Brompton not likely or expect them to use a public bike rack? again not likely.

Your clearly missing the point as i've said the story go's way past this it was a local MP hosting a local event. At a building and location which to most is not accessible, cheep and easy to get to and in place which most see as irrelevant. It all comes down to mindsets and total lack of seeing life past parliament or London for that matter. So yes it's got everything to do with totally accessible.

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[Alex321]

It's not folders are not allowed but not allowed if they don't fit the scanner. It's not hard to think it's London so decent chance a Brompton may come along at some point in time. How do we accommodate them? Do they turn away an on MP on a Brompton not likely or expect them to use a public bike rack? again not likely.

Your clearly missing the point as i've said the story go's way past this it was a local MP hosting a local event. At a building and location which to most is not accessible, cheep and easy to get to and in place which most see as irrelevant. It all comes down to mindsets and total lack of seeing life past parliament or London for that matter. So yes it's got everything to do with totally accessible.

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Nope.

It still has nothing to do with "accessible".

I don't know what point you are trying to make, but you aren't succeeding.