Lockerbie: A Special Report

Year 1 BTEC National Certificate Uniformed Public Services students got a rare opportunity to visit Lockerbie last weekend. This is where, in December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 was destroyed in flight by a bomb on board. 259 people on board were killed, and 11 people were killed in their homes when pieces of the plane crashed down in a fiery explosion.

We drove to Dryfesdale cemetery and were shown around the national memorial site for all those who perished in the disaster.

We then went to a small village 5 miles outside of Lockerbie called Tundergarth which is where the cockpit of the aircraft was found (most used image by the media) and which is 100 metres away from a church, where they built a rememberance room which contains a visitor book and an autobiography of each passenger on the aircraft.
Tom Gordon from the local police kindly escorted us around the crash sites.

We then went to Sherwood Crescent and Rosebank which are literally two streets of houses. We drove through where three houses were totally destroyed and where the 11 people on the ground died.

Strangely, it is now like any other residential street and we could see the residents through their front windows watching Neighbours.

After the quick tour of the areas we drove to our accommodation in Newton Stewart (25 miles from Stranraer) and had a pleasant evening where we ate our home made meal (Spaghetti Bolognese).

Friday Morning at 7.00am we left for our drive to Dumfires, where we were meeting Tom Gordon and the guest speakers at Dumfries and Galloway Police headquarters. The Chief Constable David J R Strang introduced himself to us and thanked us for coming up.

We were given a background and Response to the Lockerbie air disaster, an overview of the investigation, a background on the trial and a talk on emergency procedures used nowadays. We listened to guest speakers from the Police, Local Authority and Fire and Rescue services.

The students were also given the opportunity to see the emergency control call centre. The Police Service provided us with scones, coffee and tea for the first break and then put on a full buffet for lunch and afternoon refreshments also.

The trip was very informative and all aspects of the Major Incidents Unit were covered in detail by the guest speakers.

The students asked many questions and were able to get a complete understanding of the disaster, how the emergency services responded, the aftermath, and how things have changed since.