by Eamonn MacDermott, Inishowen Independent
A Moville man caught up in the bomb scare drama at
the election count in Derry last week said it was
‘unfortunate’ it happened
Brian Barr, who was officiating at the count in
Templemore Sports Complex, said if it had not been
for the bomb alert, the Foyle count would have been
the first to declare in the North for the British
general election.
The count for the Foyle seat was disrupted when a
hijacked taxi carrying a pipe bomb was driven into
the car park of the Sports Complex resulting in the
building being evacuated for a period.
Mr. Barr said: “Things were really going well with
the count for Foyle and we were on target to have a
declaration at around 11.45pm. |
 |
“We knew there was some
sort of alert in the car park but were hoping to get
on with the count.
“Then with about ten minutes to go, the police came
in and ordered us to leave the building and
everything was up in the air.
“Eventually we got back in and completed the count
and then |
had to move on to do
the East Derry count.”
Mr. Barr continued: “I left Templemore at 5.45am and
it was the first time in many years I have gone home
with the sun up and the birds singing.
“If everything had gone according to plan we would
probably have been out of there by around 2am.
“As it was it had already been a long day but ended
up even longer than anticipated.”
The Moville man said that five cars had been damaged
in the operation by the British army to clear the
vehicle.
He said: “As far as I know three of the cars
belonged to electoral staff and they had windows
broken during the controlled explosion.”
Mr. Barr said that it was sad to see a return to the
days of controlled explosions and bombs being
planted.
He said: “We all thought we had seen the last of
those sort of things but unfortunately it seems we
have not.”
The taxi at the centre of the alert had been
hijacked in Marrianus Park in the Hazelbank area.
The driver was then forced to drive it to the Sports
Complex. The area was eventually declared safe at
around 5.30am. |
