The Economic Effects Of Terrorism On London – Experiences

‘back to normal’ and our trains were healthily loaded during the morning peak period.The resilience of the population at large should not be under estimated.”Tony McNally, managing director of security consultants Amicus Mentor Ltd, said hisfirm had felt a definite impact from the recent terror attacks. He added: “We were not thatsurprised to hear that a high proportion of businesses in London do not have acontingency plan to review. For many organisations that do not have in-house securitythis can be quite a daunting prospect. But it is surprising that even since the July attacks,businesses are still not talking to their neighbours. During surveys carried out since July,we have found that building, security and facility mangers at three very large buildingcomplexes had still not spoken to businesses on their doorstep about cooperating witheach other. We notice the absence of the normal - and the presence of the abnormal - athome, and we need to encourage the same at work. It is worth remembering thatdeliberate threats can only be realised if the opportunity exists, and therefore every effortshould be made to remove or minimise those opportunities.”An LCCI member company working in the aviation sector reported that although theirlandline communications were disrupted for several days, their internet and emailconnections, which were provided by a different supplier, were unaffected and allowedfor the continuation of business. According to their chief executive there was ‘a lessonthere possibly for others in spreading the risk’. Another business, an employment agency,highlighted that their business was reliant upon mobile phones and they found that thenetwork outage left them unable to check on the safety of their staff in the field, althoughthey were able to resume a limited service during the afternoon of 7 July. The firm addedthat the impact of the attacks was mitigated by their flexible workplace policy, withcritical facilities based outside central city locations.A senior manager with a large West End retail chain said that the impact on their businesscould have been a great deal worse if the national rail network had been unavailable forthe day. The director of a recruitment agency based in Canary Wharf pointed out that theimpact of the 7 July attacks on their business was minor compared the aftermath of theCanary Wharf bombing of 1996, when the firm had been unable to gain access to theiroffice for three days.Benefits for someCertain sectors of the London economy have received a boost since the attacks, mostnotably security companies, taxi firms and cycle stores. Evans Cycles, for example,reported a doubling of sales in the two weeks following the first attack (Times Online, Focus:Is the economy bombproof? 24/07/05). More surprisingly, it seems London’s theatres have nottaken the knock which might have reasonably been expected showing a 7% year-on-yearincrease in attendance (BBC News, West End recovers after attacks, 04/08/05). Whilst security isan issue, with 72% of those questioned feeling an increased threat in travelling in and outof the capital, it does not seem to have dented theatre-goers resolve to attend as planned.- 16 -