A few weeks ago, I was standing at Euston Station staring at the departure boards. It was one of a handful of days in the year when a trespasser on the track (or some other incident) causes absolute chaos to rail passengers. As the departure board timings were replaced with the ‘delayed’ message the concourse was becoming more and more crowded by the minute. Anxious commuters were packing into the enclosed space.

Incidents like this are an irritation but I generally don’t get too frustrated. Like congestion on a motorway, they are a travel hazard that merely increases journey time – no harm done. However, this day I felt different and as more and more people crammed into the station a scenario ran through my head. What if this was something more sinister? I was looking around the crowded concourse and the blocked exits, thinking ‘what if’.

There are number of ways to define the word ‘complacency’, one of which is: to lack awareness of potential danger. 2017 was a year of terror. Five horrific attacks in London and Manchester, three of which used a vehicle as a weapon. With the past two years being relatively quiet in the UK have we become complacent?

Earlier this year, the Home Secretary announced that nineteen major terror attacks on the UK had been disrupted in the previous two years. The security threat level in the UK remains at ‘Severe’, meaning an attack is likely; this is unchanged since prior to the attacks in 2017. In recent years, commercial vehicles have become one of the deadliest weapons used by terrorists across Europe and the DfT has recently published guidance to help fleet operators, managers and drivers mitigate the threat of their vehicles being used in an attack.

The guidance covers all aspects of vehicle and site security, including a vehicle security checklist; it complements the FORS Counter Terrorism Toolkit and eLearning module. If you are only going to do one security thing today, make sure your drivers have the information they need to keep themselves and others safe. We all have a responsibility to continue to help the security and intelligence agencies thwart terror attacks.