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'I've been warning over safety for years'
Frank Dobson, MP for Holborn and St Pancras11.02.08
Since the late Eighties, I have been raising concerns about the fire dangers of the various parts of the Camden Lock markets.
I'm glad to say that Saturday night's fire didn't turn out to be as bad as I had feared was possible - people dying because fires near an exit cut off their means of escape.
Although there was no loss of life in the blaze, irreparable damage has been done to historic buildings. This damage will change the character of this famous area for ever.
But fire isn't the only danger posed by the size of the crowds, both in the market areas and along Camden High Street and Chalk Farm Road.
Any sudden surge of people, either in panic away from danger, or when attracted towards some "happening", is a potential threat to life and limb.
The overcrowding makes it difficult to police the area and to bear down on thieves and drug dealers. Time and again people complain to me and, while police action brings a temporary improvement, the problem soon builds up again.
One obstacle to reducing overcrowding has been that it is almost impossible under planning law to turn down applications for additions to the market on the grounds that the area is overfull already.
The other major safety threat is the overcrowded state of Camden Town Underground station. Passengers tell me they don't feel safe. They are right. They aren't safe.
That's why I and many other people have been pressing for major works to make the station safer.
The improvements have long-been promised but still haven't started. The delay results from arguments about what is to be built above the station, but surely that is a secondary consideration to public safety.
We must use the shock of Saturday's fire to force the authorities to take a fresh look at Camden Lock, and draw up and implement a plan to make it safer in every way.
That is the only way to guarantee the future of the market and the safety of its customers - as well as ensuring that our brave and expert firefighters don't have to risk their lives again on a fire that could and should have been avoided.
