Paris attacks: The Met must cast its net wider when issuing advice

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris last week, it is natural for the police to want to issue advice in London – it does not escape most people that what takes place across the Channel could easily be replicated here in the coming months.

I refer to the news that Scotland Yard advised the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR), the trade association for pubs, bars and restaurants, that all businesses should “review their continuity plans and ensure their staff are trained to respond to incidents”.

Whilst this does not, on the face of it, concern hotels directly, many in London are affected by the same risk factor that the police describe here.

But what exactly does the advice mean to the hundreds of independent establishments in the capital, or is there now way of communicating directly with them? In a heaving city of millions of people and thousands of small businesses, it is reasonable to assume that there are many, many operators who do not know what a “continuity plan” is, much less have they trained their staff to “respond to incidents” of the nature we have witnessed in France.

In the absence of specific guidance – perhaps an operator’s manual written and published by the Metropolitan police – no such procedures exist in the independent sector beyond what a handful of private operators may have produced of their own volition.

It is foolish to imagine that police can bestow invincibility on the general public – discomforting though it is to admit the fact – so if we accept this, then it is the responsibility of the authorities to furnish them with some tools.

It is right that the reminder has been issued to those multiples which are members of this particular trade body, but they make up only one portion of the hospitality sector in London and as such they are not the only group in need of advice.