On Sep 15, 10:18*pm, "Dr. Sunil" wrote:

On Sep 13, 8:50*pm, Martin Petrov
wrote:

I took a look at the Westfield in Stratford tonight, and other than
marvelling at the size of the place, (which really is enormous) the
overriding memory was how busy it was trying to get out of the Stratford
City area on the 97 bus - tough to tell if it was directly related to the
opening of the shopping centre, but it took an absolute AGE to get from
the shopping centre up to Leyton. The roads from Leyton through to
Stratford aren't really of the highest quality, and I wonder if Leyton
High Road could be at a standstill at weekends.

(Orient were also at home - and this was 30 mins before kickoff, but I
can't believe this made much of a difference....)

I went FROM Leyton to Stratford City this afternoon on the 97, and we
had to stop inside a big tent-like structure on the periphery with the
engine turned off while security (G4S) inspected the bus, top and
bottom. No searches of passengers though!


They're searching cars that enter the Westfield (they being G4S
security on behalf of LOCOG) - see this extract from the TfL press
release on the opening of Westfield Stratford City:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/20990.aspx

---quote---
Safety first

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic
Games (LOCOG) has confirmed that it will be operating security checks
on vehicles entering the public car park at the new Westfield shopping
centre in its first year of operation.

Due to the centre's proximity to the Olympic Park, the vehicle
screening areas (VSAs) are operational from now until the end of the
Olympic and Paralympic Games in September 2012.

LOCOG will be working with its security provider G4S to operate
vehicle screening areas, providing security checks on vehicles.

The screening areas will be similar to others which operate at
shopping centres in secure areas and will be based at Warton Road,
Penny Brookes Street and the Lea Interchange off the A12.

Security checks will have minimal impact on shoppers' journeys with
vehicles chosen to be searched directed out of the traffic flow to be
checked before continuing their journey into Westfield car parks.

Over the last 10 months, London 2012 has undertaken a local
consultation and communications programme aimed at local residents,
especially in the Warton Road area, to ensure the plans have as little
impact as possible on the daily lives of local residents.

LOCOG Chief Executive Officer Paul Deighton said:

'Delivering a safe and secure Games is a key priority for everyone
involved in London 2012. With Westfield so close to the Olympic Park
and with vehicle access to it directly accessed from the Park, it is
an obvious and important part of our security plans.

'We will make the checks as quick and unobtrusive as possible - we are
confident that shoppers will recognise the need for us to be vigilant
and carry out these checks. We are also committed to working with the
local community to ensure that vehicle screenings have a minimal
impact on their daily lives.'
---/quote---


This bit stood out - "The screening areas will be similar to others
which operate at shopping centres in secure areas [...]" - I'm not
quite sure what they're referring to, but what came to mind was
Israel.

At Canary Wharf I've seen the security bods at the vehicle security
check points board a few buses and have a quick look under seats.

"John Salmon" wrote in message
...
The half-hourly 12-car rail shuttles which ran from St. Pancras to
Ebbsfleet
yesterday for the Westfield opening (they run again on Saturday) seemed to
be a bit of a flop. On one of the trains I used, Gensheet members (five
of
us) seemed to outnumber 'normal' passengers. Of course, the interest for
us
was the (first-ever?) use of platforms 1 and 4 at Stratford International
by
passenger-carrying trains. Platform 1 seemed not to be set up with any
expectation of passengers arriving from the Ebbsfleet direction; the 'way
out' signs led me to an escalator going the wrong way, so I trudged up the
metal staircase to find myself outside the station (without having passed
through a barrier) just opposite the entrance to Westfield.

The Stratford to Stansted service has been increased from four to eight
cars. Has any one used this service recently? The last time I did was on a
315 a few months ago. I boarded at Cheshunt and I recall there being about
five people in the front coach. In fairness those sets do work peak
Stratford to Hertford East services.

John

On 16/09/2011 11:59, John C wrote:

The Stratford to Stansted service has been increased from four to eight
cars. Has any one used this service recently? The last time I did was on
a 315 a few months ago. I boarded at Cheshunt and I recall there being
about five people in the front coach. In fairness those sets do work
peak Stratford to Hertford East services.


I was at Stratford this morning for a couple of hours and noticed that
almost all the Southend services ex-Liverpool Street were 8 cars
(normally 4). Quite a few passengers alighted at Stratford, but
certainly not anything like 4 cars-worth.

--
John Ray