A few years ago I was at a train station in the UK when they started paging an "Inspector Sands", the fire alarm (I think) was going off on one of the platforms.

A few days later I was taking the Tube when once again I heard "Inspector Sands" being paged to the operations room (the message was obviously a recording and was repeated every 15 seconds) . Then after about five minutes of Sands being paged, the message changed to:

The station was then evacuated and closed.

Is "Inspector Sands" some type of code word for a fire alarm or emergency on British trains and the Underground?

It appears so:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Sands

I guess Wikipedia is my friend

So as a practical matter they can never hire an inspector named Sands.

Discrimination!

Googling the term also produces a number of interesting results, including video of the omnipresent Inspector Sands being summoned over the PA at a number of stations.

It is quite common to have code words to designate what kind of alarm is happening. At Summer Camp, where we only have a single campwide alarm (with a separate tone for cancelling the alarm, usually), we have radio code words for things like fire and lost child. Just helps the staff know what is going on and where, without everyone else getting involved (which initially, you might not want).

One time we did a lost child DRILL during staff training week and the local police helicopter got all worried about all the radio chatter about a lost kid in the woods, at night (no, we were not on their frequency, I guess they must have been listening generally). But thankfully, we already had a really good relationship with the local bobby (this was England), so when he stopped by, everything was good and well.

DanishFlyer

Inspector Sands all over the place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne8tebm6Vvg

The summer camp I attended when I was a kid had a similar PA code - the staff was instructed to page "Lou Costello" to the main office in the event of a lost camper. (Lou Costello, for those of you who don't know, was one half of the famous comedy team of Abbott & Costello - and a highly unlikely name for a camper.)

I went as an adult helper to a boy scout camp a number of years ago, come to think of it if I recall correctly our fire code word was "hot dog" and missing camper was "cheeseburger".

My husband is in property management, and at every building they have codes designating different potential emergencies... You don't want to announce there has been a bomb threat over the radios, because that could cause panic. They also have codes for things that are distasteful, like "Tweety" for a dead bird and "Mickey" for a mouse.

It's not rocket science to break the codes, but it's a deterrent to overreaction. Someone who bothered to figure out the code is likely thinking and not being hysterical.

We use animals, AFAIR lost camper is "monkey" :-)

DanishFlyer

That's hilarious

In the Uk , 'mr sands' was code for fire, and 'mr rubble' was the code to call for security (rhyming slang- barney rubble= trouble)

I remember this thread. I am glad it is back because I wanted to comment and let it get away.

Lou Costello makes sense. Lou Costello-LC-Lost Camper.

Now if they had used the Borden cow, Elsie, that may have been more mysterious.

I read this thread a few hours ago, and since I have a habit of fixating on disasters, fire alarms follow me everywhere, and I'm planning on going to London sometime later this year, I'm now scared ****less.

The transport fire alarms I can remember are alarms during an entire hour-and-a-half layover at IAH and a half-hour alarm at Government Center whose volume was comparable to the screech of the Green Line trains heading toward Park Street. Yuck.

I won't be sleeping tonight.

Also, since my Googling led me to a link showing that circuses and theaters play "Stars and Stripes Forever" to signal a life-threatening emergency, maybe they shouldn't play this at Boston Pops shows as often?! This past year we got evacuated on the Fourth due to a thunderstorm and yes, they did play it.