Hey! That’s my lunch

Press, 1 May 1984, Page 1

Hey! That’s my lunch

An embarrassed office worker sprinted off with his battered leather suitcase minutes before an explosives expert was set to blow it up in Latimer Square yesterday afternoon. The man ran down Worcester Street to the cheers of workers who had been removed from the S.I.M.U. building, in Latimer Square, where the suitcase had been left. A Labour Department explosives expert at the scene said that the suitcase contained the man’s lunch. “It was nearly scrambled eggs,” he said. Staff at the S.I.M.U. building became concerned when the suitcase was left untouched under a wall heater in the building’s foyer for more than an hour. They got in touch with the police about 2 p.m. “We had to treat it very seriously in light of the Wellington explosion,” said Inspector P. R. Kavanagh. An explosives expert was called in and it was decided to detonate the suitcase in Latimer Square. Several buildings nearby were evacuated and part of Latimer Square closed to traffic. A fire engine stood byThe explosives expert, wearing a padded vest and a full-face helmet, attached a line to the suitcase. Before a bemused crowd, the suitcase was then hauled from the foyer to the edge of Latimer Square. At that stage, the embarrassed owner of the suitcase approached the explosives expert. He confirmed that the case was his, picked it up, and ran. The explosives expert said later that he bad planned to open the case with a small charge. Inspector Kavanagh said that a friend of the man who owned the case had left it in the foyer. “It was a good exercise, anyway," he said.