People gather at memorial to 52 victims of London underground and bus bombings to pay their respects
At 8.50am on the 7 July 2005 three bombs exploded on underground trains in central London. The explosions were followed, within an hour, by another on a London bus. At 8.50am today, under a grey sky, a handful of people gathered quietly at the eastern side of Hyde Park, where 52 steel pillars represent those who were killed in the bombings.
They came to pay their respects, to remember loved ones, to be quiet for a few moments as the traffic rumbled past in the background.
A young couple held each other, looking at the memorial as a few spots of rain began to fall. Another man walked silently at the memorial, weaving his way between the pillars.
Smartly dressed in a suit and tie, Andrew Robinson, 32, an analyst in the City, said he had been on the tube between Liverpool Street and Aldgate stations when the bomb detonated by Shehzad Tanweer killed seven people and injured 171.
When the train was evacuated, he said, passengers were forced to walk past scenes of devastation. "I was in physical danger, and I think if I had not seen those things I would have had a very different memory of the day".
He spent a few moments today remembering that day, saying the simplicity of the memorial was a fitting tribute to the victims of the attack. "It's fantastic, I find it very moving," he said.
Hazel Webb, whose daughter, Laura, died in the Edgware Road bombing, was also there. While some survivors and the families of victims are disappointed that no official ceremony was staged to mark the fifth anniversary of the bombings, Webb said: "Last year's ceremony was fantastic, we wouldn't expect anything on that scale this year. It's now moving into the private sphere".
Peter Hendy, the commissioner of Transport for London, was also at the memorial. He said he still found talking about the day difficult. "Those people were our passengers. We were in charge and we should be here".
He said three things struck him about 7 July – how terrible it was to realise people had been killed and injured as they were going to work, how proud he was of the staff who offered help and how the city came together.
"The world went on and we didn't let those people beat us," he added. "Those memories are as vivid to me today as they were five years ago".
The Rev Julie Nicholson, whose daughter Jenny, 24, died in the attacks, laid a wreath from the government alongside a official from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
She said she was also happy there was no official ceremony. Laying the government wreath had been emotional, but not as emotional as leaving her "own little bunch of flowers", she said.
The bouquet of 52 red and white roses from the government was accompanied by a handwritten note from the prime minister, David Cameron. "In memory of the victims of terrorism in London on 7th July 2005," the card read. "They will never be forgotten". The word "never" was heavily underlined.
A DCMS spokesman said: "At the request of the families of the victims, there is no formal ceremony this year, their view being that the opening of the permanent memorial by the Prince of Wales last year was the appropriate way to finish that stage of their grieving".
