Hijacking & Personal Safety

Chapter Six :: Hijacking & Personal Safety

"All I did was stop at the red light - the next thing I knew I was kidnapped mugged, assaulted and left for dead, why wasn't I expecting it to happen." 

Our subject was a major figure in a multinational oil company, he had recently returned from concluding a deal in central Africa and while there had received several death threats from extremist groups. He took these very seriously and upon returning, took a course of training in anti-terrorist techniques. A week later he was in traffic in central London, crawling at less than 5mph, when he noticed a guy on his left was keeping pace with him. At one point the traffic stopped and so did the guy, then he saw him give  a subtle nod of his head. Looking across the road in the direction the nod was aimed he saw several men starting to leave a van - suddenly it all clicked and he knew he was in danger. Having allowed him­ self an escape route he prepared himself to use it and as soon as the men approached him he reversed into the one standing behind and then accelerated to the opposite side of the road, dragging the men who were attempting to open doors on either side. They let go and he manoeuvred down the opposing traffic flow, dodging taxis, until he could make it to a side road and then the nearest police station. Our view is that if he hadn't, he would be dead.

You can see from this that it is once again our observation and perceptual skills that can save the day, as long as we do not allow them to fade by worrying about other trivia or getting distracted by telephone calls. Urban areas are very easy for the would-be hijacker because they assume that all cars will stop from time to time and that if they are swift, nobody will even recognise what is occurring.

Away from the urban environment, other techniques are employed to force the vehicle to stop. These are far less subtle and are used without raising suspicion simply because a deserted stretch of road is chosen for the purpose. Both areas may require similar techniques for avoidance and for extricating yourself from a hijack that is taking place.