School Trip to London EYE

[WhatwouldYOUdotoo]

We live near London, and we visit London on a frequent basis.

We usually go at the weekend, and go on short tube journeys, use the bus to get round etc etc etc.

So I am not afraid of going to London.

But DD school trip is making me feel VERY ANXIOUS.

Its on a week day, and on a Friday, by train and tube into London then a trip to the London Eye.

I would prefer it if they went by coach. I would prefer it if they didnt go on a Friday, I would prefer it - if they were not visiting the Eye.

I know life goes on, I know we shouldnt change our habits due to terrorists, I know all that, I have said I am happy for her to go, but at the same time,

We are at heightened risk,

The people in the KNOW say we WILL BE ATTACKED not IF.

The London EYE has been mentioned several times as KEY target.....

I am worried about them being on the tube and train.

I feel very anxious and worried about this.

I know the chances of her being killed in a coach crash are higher but I am nervous....why court danger?
I have lost people close to me very suddenly with no warning...I know life hangs by a thread.

Thanks to all the kind posters!

I would worry too

Wicketkeeper are you such a honey in real life?
Really think some MNers are lacking something

Lol should say wickerbasket. Was so disgusted I didn't stop to check

I can understand OPs anxiety, it may not be logical ( yes the coach journey is statistically more risky) but it is understandable. She is not the only person who is worried. My child's school has rearranged their residential trip to London this summer as the headteacher is worried. I was happy for my child to go, but other parents were considering pulling out.

Well at least for you it is just one day of worry. For those of us who have children, and other relatives using the tube , going to work in Canary wharf etc etc it is a low lying anxiety that we have to live with. Of course for those that have to actually live and work in London well maybe they should all just move out!

Given the levels of security in London, I suspect the reality is that terrorists are more likely tol opt for softer targets if they are so minded.

The people arrested recently in the uk in connection with Paris and Brussels were all from Birmingham. The Bull Ring is as likely a target as the Eye. London is exceptionally well protected with emergency services well poised to respond. In my opinion this makes other parts of the uk softer targets. I understand your anxiety, as a parent it's very normal. But the likelihood of it happening to you/ your dd is statistically exceptionally low.

Do you know the probability of being involved in a terrorist attack? She's more likely to come to harm in a bus

I can understand what teatowel is saying, my daughter lives & works in London and I try not to worry as that is pointless, but impossible not to.

However, speaking as a teacher who has led many visits to Central London locations, I could not sign a risk assessment which did not identify locations such as the London Eye as high risk, given the current threat level.

I think it's sad that this is the case, but not as sad as anyone becoming the victim of a terrorist attack.

My parents were both Londoners & my father served 5 years as a prisoner of war in WW2. I am very unhappy that it has come to this.

Gosh, dp took dd into London by tube and on the London Eye last week and it never occurred to me to worry. I'm now worrying that I didn't worry . The chances of anything happening are really really slim though.

No of course you shouldn't worry theliverpoolone. London is a huge city with nearly 9 million residents and many more people coming into the city to work every single day. Thousands of children cross London every single day to go to and from school and about their lives.

Worrying is pointless. It's not going to stop a terrorist attack nor will it cause one.

I'm not trying to belittle the OP's (and others') anxieties but they are irrational. It's okay to have irrational fears - and the OP knows she's being irrational because she wouldn't have let her DD go on the trip if she didn't. It's not okay (IMO) to seek to legitimise those anxieties by calling them natural or saying that they are well-founded. They're not.

albertcamus - you have a very poor understanding of how to carry out a risk assessment if you wouldn't authorise a school trip to the Eye.

Speaking as my School's EVC lynda I can assure you that I have current training & a good understanding of risk assessment. The process is informed by Home Office statement status & reviewed at least twice before sign off.

I agree with you op and I'd be the same worrying etc. It's good that you rationalise your fears and still signed. I'm not sure I would let my kids go if I'm honest but also because of a 'busyness' point of view - keeping all together etc.
I'm from up north so not as familiar with London anyway (having only been once!) but Id be too nervous no matter how irrational that fear may be.
I don't believe risk is the same everywhere, certain cities and venues are likely more at risk due to higher population and publicity etc - I think past threats and events suggest London is at higher risk than other areas

Just read this and had to post. There are some nasty responses on here and it's not necessary. I live near Manchester and we went to London for the first time as a family the other weekend and DH and I were both really nervous about the threat of terrorism and tbh we kept public transport to a minimum, we took taxis instead. Im sure that to get on the eye there is probably good security but it amazed me that there was no police presence in the throngs of crowds around the eye, if any of them had posed a threat in sure they would have damaged the eye. This was before the eye was named as a target. That said, once we were there we didn't feel unsafe and lost the anxieties that we had in the build up.

www.gov.uk/terrorism-national-emergency/terrorism-threat-levels

Level 5 : Highly likely

The whole country has been on severe since August.
It's not just London that has been mentioned but all parts of the country.
There doesn't need to be visible police presence, there are under cover officers. Never mind cctv.
But then what about other cities? Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Portsmouth etc. Incidentally Portsmouth and Durham iirc have been mentioned as next possible targets.

That's the point though. There's so many possible targets to go for. Football stadiums. Angel of the north. Museums across the country. Green park, Windsor castle. That shopping village near Oxford. Blue water... I could list loads of places but why?

Level 5 is imminent. Level 4 is highly likely.

albertcamus - that link says it's level 4 - highly likely, not level 5. I don't know what an ECV is but it's been at level 4 since 2014. In the last ten years, it's been at a Severe level more often than not (see here: www.mi5.gov.uk/threat-levels)

MI5's advice is this: Threat levels in themselves do not require specific responses from the public. They are a tool for security practitioners working across different sectors of the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and the police to use in determining what protective security response may be required.

Vigilance is vital regardless of the current national threat level. It is especially important given the current national threat. Sharing national threat levels with the general public keeps everyone informed. It explains the context for the various security measures (for example airport security or bag searches) which we may encounter in our daily lives.

Nothing about avoiding daytrips for school parties.

And are you saying that, in your opinion, going to the London Eye represents an unacceptable risk, despite no advice to avoid it or indeed any other tourist destination from the Home Office?

If you're bonkers OP, then so am I. I'd worry too.

But I agree with your policy - permission would be given, and anxiety hidden. It's the right way.

what I've just gone through this. The dc's school booked a trip to the west end in Oct (for a feb day out) and I happily signed the slip and paid. We go to London often and while I'm anxious I can hold it together when I'm with them. Then poor Paris was attacked and I struggled to cope with that and the thought of the dc's going to, what I consider to be, a potential prime target without me. It was causing me problems to the point of crying and waking up in the night. As a result in knew they had to go and I paid silly money for a wonderful counsellor to help me talk it out and work through it. I did manage to put it in perspective and get my worries under control after a couple of sessions and yes, the dc's went and had a great time.

Let them go and shell out for some counselling to talk it over. Fear and anxiety really screws your head up and you can't live like it. I'm always going to be a worrier but I am better and handing myself a grip these days. .

lynda EVC = Educational Visits Coordinator. I am given annual training & updates by my County, and regularly briefed by the contracted consultant for the County's Evolve system (Google it if you wish to see its remit & scope), whose role is to evaluate risk assessment in view of current conditions & potential exposure of students, staff & educational establishments to both harm & potential legal claim.

In answer to your question, yes; I am saying that, in my opinion, a visit to the London Eye is an unacceptable risk to my students given the current level of terrorist threat. I speak as a teacher who has led many previous visits in the UK & overseas.

I think it's a natural parental instinct tbh.

I was born in London, have lived elsewhere since I was 3 but have always loved taking DD on several trips back every year.

Nowadays it worries me, especially the thought of taking her on my own which is ridiculous. We all went to visit some friends and spent one day in the city and one at Westfield last week - no problem. The thought of going on my own doesn't faze me at all, but just me & DD makes me really uncomfortable.

She's 11 and gagging for one of our girly days out in London and I'm trying to think of alternatives tbh.

I work in London - very close to the eye - in a building that's a target. I can honestly say, hand on heart, that neither myself or my workmates talk or worry about a terrorist attack. And the only worry I have about the trains is that the service is pretty crap for the money I pay! i take my kids into London lots - my son is coming in on Tuesday. And we've just been to Paris, my son with the school and my daughter with me. Plus I was in canary wharf when the IRA bomb went off. Life has to go on.

I know you feel anxious but you really shouldn't. The severe level has been the same for the last two years.

Keep thinking about the statistical reality of a terrorist attack happening - the same reasoning gets me through flying (the chances of being in a plane crash versus death by a car crash for example - I'm a very nervous flyer...)