Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Fear of tunnels
Sometimes taking evidence in an Assembly Committee can produce an unusual insight. The Social Justice Committee of the National Assembly spent an hour and a half today having a very useful and interesting discussion with the three Welsh fire brigades and the fire brigade unions about the proposal to devolve powers and responsibilities for fire to Wales. At one point the Chair of the South Wales Fire Authority intervened to inform us that there is half a million pounds of equipment sitting at the Welsh end of the Severn tunnel to rescue us if something goes wrong. He continued "We don't think about it but when I travel through the Severn tunnel I think about it all the time!". Does he have an insight into the operations of our railways that we don't?
