THIS SCEPTRED ISLE



I recently heard an announcement at King's Cross requesting Inspectors Sams contact the control. I'm sure I have heard this before at other stations. Is it a code for something? Ben, Bedford UK It sounds like a variation of a warning of an emergency. There are similar messages used in theatres to warn of fire. David Randall, Gateshead England Almost certainly. Most public places with tannoys (stations, sports stadiums etc.) will send out warnings to staff over a walkie talkie system. The all clear is then often given by a tannoy message, such as the one you heard. The precise phrase used at each place is kept only to those that need to know but they are often such obscure messages that people wonder what they are! Raymond Lashley, Reading UK I'll think you'll find it's 'Inspector Sands', and yes, you probably have heard it somewhere else before. I often hear it at Notting Hill Gate. My theory is that it's csome sort of code-name for fire-alerts and fire-related issues; I used to work in a restaurant where the code-name for a fire alarm was 'Mr Sands'. Nick, London England Correct! It is a code - usually means there is a fire on the premises. The code is used in order to alert staff without alarming customers. Nicola, Beckenham UK I also heard this once at Richmond Station. It was preceded by an announcement that there was now going to be a fire drill. Everybody looked a bit confused when instead of an alarm bell ringing, there was a recorded announcement requesting this Inspector Sams chap. No doubt this is so that people don't panic. However, now it's been posted on N&Q, railway stations will probably have to change Inspector Sams' name. Any suggestions? R Cooper, Twickenham England It's Inspector Sands, and it's a safety code letting the staff know that there's a fire on the premises but avoiding panicking the public. They normally call the fictitious Inspector to a particular location to indicate where the fire is, and often say something like 'Inspector Sands has left the building' when the fire has been tackled. I learnt this while stewarding at London sports grounds, but was surprised to find that nearly everywhere uses the same code, which is a little silly. The only exception was Stamford Bridge, where they use 'Mr Bridge'. Rather stupidly, even now when I'm on the London Underground and I hear this announcement, I never leave the station. Tom Fassnidge, London UK Its not really a code simply advice that they would like to speak to him regarding something trivial like a late train. Jack Hill, St Albans England UK I heard the same thing recently at Old Street. It was a recorded announcement, by a very RP male voice. As it mentioned the inspector by name, and must have been recoorded some years ago, I realised that the announcement couldn't be for the actual inspector, and sure enough about a minute later a more 'modern' London voice came on the tannoy to tell us to evacuate the station. Rob, Hackney, London It's a fire alarm designed to alert staff without panicking members of the public. But what I can't explain is why so many companies seem to use exactly the same codename without the "Inspector" - have noticed it in a pizza restaurant and merchant bank as well as London underground. Elliot Merrony, London UK It is a code for telling the staff that there is a fire alert and that they should evacuate the station. Codes are used so as not to panic the general public into rushing out of the building in an unorderly manner. I think similar codes are used in theatres. I was once told that Mr X (a fire) or Mr X's friend (a bomb) could be in the building. Emma, Ruislip England It's Inspector Sands because it refers to the sand used in old-style fire buckets. Joe Sharples, Redhill Surrey I used to work in a nightclub where it was called out as 'mr sandman' 3 times to notify staff of a fire, this never happened though. Miss Hall, Bournemouth UK As an aside, at the Royal Albert Hall they don't use "Mr Sams" as a code for fire. They use "Lost Chord". At least, they did when I worked there. Mark Harris, Enfield, Middx UK In a local mall, they use the phrase "Will Mr Frost please call 123". This is not only an obscure message, but it is obviously pre-recorded (said very clearly and eloquently for a tannoy!) and is used for fire drills, just before the smoke barriers come down. To make it even more peculiar, it seems that they do fire drills about 1 in 3 times I visit, and give a warning of a fire drill anyway. How this message is supposed to keep the public calm during a real fire alarm is beyond me! Aidan Randle-Conde, Oxford UK One slightly anal point. It's not to warn that there is a fire, it's to warn that a fire call point has been activated. Nine times out of ten they are false alarms, either activated by someone 'for a lark', or set off because of high amounts of dust in the atmosphere (this is more prevalent since the at King's Cross since the refurbishments started) If there is an actual fire, you won't hear the 'Inspector Sands' message, you will hear "due to a reported emergency, will all passengers please leave the station immediately." John Porter, London I am an inspector at several places throughout London. As I am a little absent-minded I often for get my sandwiches. My wife will often drop them off for me and this is then announced on the tannoy. Johnathan Sands (Inspector), London U.K. "Would Inspector Sands come to the operations room immediatly". This is "alert" message for staff that the fire alarm has been activated. It is played when one call point, or one smoke detector has been activated. After a predefined time, the evacuation message is played, or if a second call point or detector is activated, it plays an evacuation message automatically. It allows station staff to put up "station closed" messages on platforms and stop people from coming into the station, and to prepare to evacuate passengers by the safest route, either by train or up the escalators. James Barnett, London, UK Inspector Sands refers to anyone that the security staff have spotted on the CCTV that they find amusing for some reason, the location they give is in reference to the funny-looking person's location. Snoop Muckin, London, England What about this one? I was at Richmond station yesterday morning boarding the tube, when I heard an announcement that sounded like "Cover toe, cobbleton" shortly after followed by "Cobbleton, cobbleton" It was a pre-recorded woman's voice and the word cobbleton was very clear, although I was not sure about the first word(s). Jasmine, Twickenham, UK Its almost certainly a code. I've worked a few sites which have code words for fires such as "Mr Ash", and "Mr Case" for a suspect package. Mark Edeson, Worksop, UK A few years ago, when I was at university, the codewords included messages for "Mr Ash" for a fire, "Mr Rivers" for a flood, and for a fight: "Mr Wellard"! James, London UK As someone who works for London Underground, I can tell you that the "Inspector Sands" message is run for two reasons. 1. is when an alarm has been activated, and we need to investigate without causing pandemonium, and 2. when we test the fire alarms, to make sure it's in working order. Nothing sinister, nothing spectacular. It's a prerecorded message connected to the PA system. Federico, London England I was at Green Park station yesterday and that same announcement came on the tannoy about Inspector Sands. Two station attendents with walkie talkies went to a fire alarm break glass point and reset it and walked away. 10 seconds later the same tannoy notice came up and they went back to the same break glass point and reset it again, after which the tannoy notice stopped. K Shivji, London, UK My wife is Inspector Sands and she works at a number of different stations around London. The announcement is played when someone phones for her at work. Gareth, St Evenage, UK My husband is Head Janitor at Kings Cross Station and says that Inspector Sands is code for sick in the station. Each Janitor is in charge of particular waste matter and my husband is in charge of sick clean up where he then puts "sand" on the offending matter. Rachelle, St. Evenage UK i have been informed categorically that it is a general alert for staff at the station that there is some kind of emergency - the person who told me said is was generally used for terrorist threats. I heard it this morning for the first time and nearly kacked my load!! Mel , Enfield UK As the Fire Engineering Manager for Tube Lines I can confirm that Federico has it spot on. Darren, England Inspector Sands is the first stage fire alarm message broadcast by the PA/VA system (public announcement and voice alarm). It is meant to alert staff without causing concern to members of the public. Staff will then investigate and if the cause of the alarm is found to be a true event i.e. a fire, or a set time (usually 3 minutes) passes then the fire alarm system will go to 2nd stage and signal the PAVA to announce an evacuate message. Julian Edel, Epsom Can anyone tell me what "telephone call for Mr. Fish" means? We heard this immediately before an evacuation from the London Aquarium. Jen, Pontypridd, Wales i was there at the london aquarium when they said mr fish then we were evacuated i was too scared to hang around to find out what had happened emma, farnborough hants Cardiff Central Rail Station has a "Would the Superintendent of the line please return to the carriage shed" repeated by a pre-recorded male voice - and it's only in English, unlike all the other bilingual announcements. I've heard it played several times over my years of commuting, but never been evacuated, so presumably it's a test or an alarm activation that is a fault. Richard Rossington, Bristol England Inspector Sands is used commonly across the rail network to alert staff members of a high priority emergency. Fire/bomb scare etc. It is used to minimise panic and to avoid un-nessecary immediate evacuations. Inspeactor Sands is used by the railway as Inspectors used to and in some locations are still managers or senior staff members, the Sands bit comes from an old code used in theatres. Mr Sands was used by staff in theatres to warn of a fire backstage and was originally a coded message for the request for sand buckets. This was used so panic wasn't struck in the people attending the show as regular backstage fires were often tackled without the need for the show to be stopped or the theatre emptied. This is why various versions of the above are commoly used in public places where small or false (or at least unconfirmed) emergencies would cause a lot of inconvience or cost, like rail stations, resturants etc Dan Smith, Sheffield, UK I heard 'Would inspectors and subservients report to platform 6' at Paddington Station. Kate Cryan, London It's usually to alert staff (or other orgs like the police) within the station that something serious is happening or that they at least have reasonable grounds to believe something serious is happening. It's not just for fires, Old Street used it in Nov 2012 to alert staff that someone had been stabbed for example. Soon after the station was flooded with BTP officers. The message can be played by control room staff or can be started by automated security or fire systems. Usually a deep male voice "Would Inspector Sands please report to the operations room immediately" - although there are others options which can indicate to staff exactly where the issue is. 'Inspector Sands' is the official code used by all public transport authorities in the UK, other variations can be found in other large public establishments. Rhammel Afflick, London UK When at White Hart Lane, every game there is always a call for the stadium manager to go to the east stand. We have never been evacuated. Will, London UK I was in the UK several months ago when one morning, Earl's Court station made an announcement about a fire alarm test and patrons were told not to evacuate. This was followed by "Will Inspectoer Sands please go to the operations room immediately" and after about three minutes  "Attention please: due to a reported emergency will all passengers leave the station immediately" Thom , Binghamton, NY United States "Inspector Sands" is the call to notify staff of a fire on the premises. It is used by many establishments across the UK, including TfL, National Rail, restaurants and theatres. On the Underground, activating the Fire Alarm Call point will not activate the fire alarm, so not to warn customers, but it does call fire officers and the TfL fire brigade. After a little further research - from Wikipedia, haha, it turns out it originated in theatres, when fires were tackled with sand buckets. Will Durrant, Cambridge United Kingdom So many answers saying the same thing, but still no answer. Heard it twice in 2 days no sign of fire. Chandler, Bing NY I work in the theatre and the only one you really want to worry about is "Mr Jet". That means there is a bomb in the building. Digby Shaw, London Uk



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