Terror alert - trip to London

[Rainydayss]

Has the recent news made you anxious about going to big cities? I'm due to go to London the end of this week and I feel uneasy about it, I cant decide if to go.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable op. It’s easy to be more vigilant in places you know better/ spend more time.

Go and have a lovely time OP , ignore the grinches
We all need some reassurance at times

Sorry you are anxious at the moment. I’m a little anxious about a trip to a city I’ve got planned with my daughter.

The recent car bomb and the fact it’s a strange place so you may not be confident of your surroundings is worth processing and exploring so you can go ahead with your trip.

We can’t let the terrorists win but you are allowed to be concerned.

No. I live in Westminster so I'm here all the time!

Just weigh up the stress of it for you personally -v- the benefit, because if you're not going to enjoy it and don't have to then don't go.
However, London is big and look at it this way, if you were actively seeking out trying to be in a terrorist attack the chances of you being in the exact place at the exact moment would be pretty slim wouldn't they. Just thought it might help to look at it that way round.

OP I would go and I agree with others, the risk is low.
However if you are feeling nervous something to be prepared for is that when the threat level is raised often the security presence in the big train stations is much more visible. More armed police around. Despite have lived in London in the past sometimes seeing increased armed police made me nervous. I guess its actually more secure - and maybe reassuring even.
I hope you have a lovely time.

Take chance of a terrorist attack, or a meteorite hitting Harris’s, is no greater than it was this time last week, last month, last decade. It’s just one if myriad risks we weigh up every single day as we go about our business. Statistically you are far more likely to come to harm crossing the road and being struck by someone on an e-scooter

I don't think I'd go if it's a leisure trip. I'm only heading into London a couple of times a week to go to the office. It's a hassle and the train and tube are packed.

I did think "oh great, here we go again" when I heard the news earlier, but these attacks are random and fairly infrequent and you're unlikely to be caught up in one.

Some people are horrible on here. It's natural to be wary following a very recent atrocity, especially given the headlines about the terror threat being 'severe'.

I grew up in Belfast where the terror threat was off the scale and we just had to get on with things, but that didn't make us complacent ... or rude about other people's fears. And now that we're accustomed to peace of a sort, a bomb attack would probably make me quite anxious.

Best time to go, everybody will be on high alert and there will be armed police and undercover everywhere.
I understand your concerns, though. But realistically the chances of you being involved in anything are pretty small.

There was a car bomb outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital yesterday.

Yes and oddly OP is worried about coming to London

No, not at all. The guy in Liverpool was a random nutter. Wouldn't make me change my behaviour.

@DontTellThemYourNamePike I had older family in Belfast & for a while my parents didn't take us when visiting because they & our relatives were anxious about us being there & seeing things. In turn I was anxious about visiting family in France at certain points as I was unsure if I wanted my young dc to see so many armed troops because it used to scare me when young.

@Rainydayss

Thank you for those who are helpful. I will go and enjoy myself, I just wanted opinions not a backlash of angry comments - probably also ranting on the covid threads to people who may be anxious.

Threads like this suggest that people who live or travel into cities should consider worrying about their safety. I don't agree but you could be causing people anxiety with your question. It's asked every time there's an incident and people will city links will inevitably think

Cities will always be more likely targets and being caught up in an incident is very unlikely. You'd never go anywhere if you were scared this easily.

Theres nothing anyone on here can do about it. It's unpredictable where the next one will be.

@breadrollz I can understand your parents' concerns. I often wonder how my parents coped when we were small. We were exposed to some terrible real life situations and media headlines and images. Thinking about my own children in a similar situation, I feel as if I would want to nail all the doors shut and never let them out!

@DontTellThemYourNamePike I would do the same I think!

Some absolute dickheads on here. It's actually pretty sad.

I’d still go, these things are unpredictable and in the scheme of things very unlikely. Your chance of being harmed by terrorists was very very low last week and remains very very low now.

That reasoning seems rather more logical to me than ‘people live there’ - plenty of people live in Afghanistan, I assume there aren’t too many of the scoffing Londoners on this thread who’ll be holidaying there on that basis.

I do appreciate you're anxious but I do wonder if you think the 9 million of us who live are just terrified all of the time.

I’ve come back from a fantastic day out in London today with two friends and it didn’t even occur to us to be nervous or even think about terrorist attacks. As others have said, London is huge and security will be higher so it’s the ideal time to go. Christmas lights and trees are being put up, there’s elephants even, and it’s looking vibrant and beautiful. I really hope you’ll have a lovely time, as we did today

No, and this one is very close to me.
A couple of days after the MEN bombing (somewhere I've been many times over the years) I travelled to London. Terror threat heightened, social media said there would be an increased police presence, there wasn't at all. It was fine and I'm glad I did it.

No I am not and I once went into work at an office where the windows had been blown out by an IRA bomb.

I think of someone is prepared to bomb a women's hospital, then there is no way of predicting what the next target will be. So unless you plan on living in a field you'll need to crack on live life.

No, I went to work there as normal today. And back tomorrow night for a show. Never crossed my mind to be concerned.

One of my friends in Belfast had a lot of English family who were too scared to visit and it annoyed them. Then when I was in London they wouldn't let their daughter visit me after 9/11 because of terror risk and didn't seem to connect that attitude and their own irritation at English family refusing to come to Belfast.