New Scotland Yard

New Scotland Yard was one of four sites selected for the Provisional IRA’s coordinated bombing operation in London in March 1973. A bomb planted in a green Corsair outside the police headquarters was discovered and defused before it detonated, alerting authorities to the possibility of other devices still hidden across the city.

A target in the coordinated plan

The plan called for four cars to be driven to separate locations: a Hillman to an army recruiting office in Whitehall, a Corsair to New Scotland Yard, a Vauxhall to the British Forces Broadcasting Service on Dean Stanley Street, and a Cortina to the Old Bailey. The group intended to issue telephone warnings shortly before 2 p.m., with timers set to trigger the explosions an hour later. Remembering the civilian deaths of Bloody Friday, the bombers had been ordered to avoid casualties. They expected to be back in Ireland by the time the devices went off.

The Corsair reached its destination among the vehicles flooding central London during a rail strike. The strike had suspended parking restrictions, making it less likely that cars left in unusual places would be removed. The four bombs were in position by 7:30 a.m.; most of the crew later travelled by bus to Heathrow to catch a flight to Dublin, while Dolours Price, Marian Price, and Hugh Feeney were scheduled to take a later flight.

Discovery and defusing

The Metropolitan Police had received a briefing at Cannon Row police station at 7 a.m. about an impending IRA attack. Officers were told to search for suspicious vehicles, particularly near government buildings. Later that morning, two constables near Scotland Yard examined the green Corsair. Its lack of a tax disc, the mismatch between its 1968 model and 1971 registration plates, and four drill holes in the number plate, where two would normally be expected, raised suspicion. Through the windows, they saw a thin white cord running from the front seat towards the back, partly concealed beneath the carpet.

Bomb-disposal experts found nearly two hundred pounds of explosives beneath the rear seat. The timer was audibly ticking, and one investigator judged the device tremendously powerful. As people watched from surrounding windows, one bomb-disposal officer held the cord while another cut it. The device did not explode: they had defused it. Its missing minute hand made the precise detonation time uncertain, though investigators estimated it might have gone off at around 3 p.m.

From one bomb to a citywide search

The discovery at New Scotland Yard immediately changed the meaning of the operation for police. If other bombs had been placed around London, they had to be found before the estimated detonation time. The long timer also suggested that the bombers might be trying to leave the country before the blasts. Special Branch officers at every port and airport were therefore instructed to close the exit points and question Irish people seeking to depart.

The book leaves the question of how the police learned of the impending attack unresolved. British authorities later presented their advance warning as extraordinary luck; press reports suggested that police might have had prior notice of an attack involving several bombs. The Price sisters believed an informant had betrayed the operation, and Feeney later said they had been set up. The Corsair’s discovery at New Scotland Yard thus became both a practical turning point in the response and the focus of competing explanations for how the authorities were prepared.