Last month, there was water ingress at Paddington and the Fire Control Panel did not work. So had there been a fire, the system would not necessarily have kicked in to detect and suppress it. Not safe to open the station, then.
It seems though, that a senior manager arrived at the station and was rather peeved to find it closed, gave the Rostered Duty Officer a ring and demanded that he instruct that the station be opened. The Circle side of the station was duly opened, but the Station Supervisors rightly dug in and refused to open the Bakerloo side, which is deeper and has escalators.
So well done to them for sticking up for safety. But what will be done about managers who take such an apparently casual attitude to essential safety protections?!
