Police investigate second gas' attack in five days

2:21pm Tuesday 16th October 2001

Police are keeping an open mind about a possible link between the release of a noxious gas at Enfield Chase Station on Saturday night and a similar incident on an Enfield-bound bus in Cricklewood on Tuesday last week.

Two passengers and the driver of the 102 bus needed treatment for sore eyes after 'CS gas or something similar' was released on the top deck, as the bus travelled along Claremont Road.

On Saturday night, eight passengers complaining of burning sensations, vomiting and dizziness after walking through the subway at Enfield Chase.

They were treated at the scene by paramedics.

Five of them felt well enough to go to The Wheatsheaf pub opposite, which was then sealed off by police, with no-one allowed to leave in case of contamination.

A further seven people on the station with similar complaints were taken to Chase Farm Hospital as a precaution.

A spokesman for WAGN Railways said: "Police set up a quarantine zone around the station.

"They did not allow train services to go through until they satisfied themselves it wasn't some terrorist incident."

He added that the source of the gas was a liquid 'pepper spray or something similar' that had been dropped on the floor.

A police spokesman said: "There is no evidence to suggest that this incident [at Enfield Chase] is linked to any other, but we're keeping an open mind."

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