So, somebody on a bus smokes an e-cigarette and the M6 gets shut?

someone on a bus smokes an e cigarette (which is legal), the M6 gets shut (both ways) for several hours, bomb squads are called, anti-terrorist police are brought in, police dogs are used, police helicopters are used etc etc

it's going to be mayhem when the Olympics start

 

You can't be too careful. You could have someone's eye out with an e-cigarette.

 

Link for the lazy ---> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-18719962

 

some snips from the link:

"Given the nature of the report we responded swiftly and proportionately, treating the information as credible and extremely seriously.

About four hours after armed officers arrived, police confirmed the scene as safe. Shortly before 1500 BST the M6 Toll reopened
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4 hrs? .... both lanes closed during this time and it was just for an e-cigarette?

someone needs to be fired, as this will cost loads ... even helicopters were used .... I thought that the government was trying to save money

 

It might be legal, but its still stupid. I don't know about anyone else, but if I had a device that produced smoke, legal or otherwise, I wouldn't set it off on public transport on a busy motorway, and if I did, I'd fully expect to be the least popular bloke within a 100 mile radius for some time.

What if it hadn't been a e-cig?

 

I've had a burning cigarette butt come through my car window and get between my spectacles and my eye. Fortunately I managed to avoid crashing my car. I think whoever did that to me should have been pulled out of their vehicle and sent to Guantanamo Bay for a very long time indeed, regardless of whether it was 'real' or 'synthetic'.

 

if it was not an e-cigarette, and if it was a bomb, and they take 4 hrs to figure that out, they best hire some outside help such as the israeli police to give them some training in cases such as these

4 hrs to figure out what the problem is, is way too long in cases of emergency

 

Well, I must admit I don't have the greatest respect and trust for our police forces, but I expect there was in a case like this there is a lot of bureaucracy to deal with. 4 hours is not a long time when you consider that the road has to be closed, lots of different forces came in, everybody had to be interviewed etc. You can't just pop along, have a look, and then take someone's word for it that all is well.

I hope some of the 4 hours were spent politely discussing the rights and wrongs of releasing unknown visible vapours in a confined space in the middle of a busy motorway at a time when more than a few people want to do us a mischief.

 

I think the police response has been seriously OTT as it often is in this country but at least they did not shoot to death the person holding the e-cigarette this time! That would put people off coming to the olympics.

 

Only the expensive posh ones produce smoke I believe

 

OK, so it wasn't a bomb - did you know that at the time? Did anyone know that at the time? What would you like the emergency services to do? Wait until a coach load of people are engulfed in flames and then say 'Well, we assumed it was just an e cigarette'?

As the IRA said not so long ago - 'We only have to be lucky once - you have to be lucky all the time'

 

yea .... however, 4 hrs is a very long time to establish the cause ... I lived in South Africa during the time when bombs in shopping centres were frequent ....

there were a lot of hoax bomb threats aswell .... police and the bombsquad used to establish if it was a real threat in well under an hour .... 4hrs is half a working day

same as Israel (I worked on a kibbutz for several months during a gap year) ... there were loads of bombthreats, and it never took half a day to check it out

 

It does seem a long time i suppose Dim, you can do a lot of things in 4 hours! i was thinking maybe they used the opportunity though to practice or maybe they were trying to prove to the world media that they are ready if anything does happen...

 

... licenced to snuff out that e-ciggi permanently. Hasta la vista, fake cigarette!