Plans to evacuate London drawn up

Plans are being drawn up to evacuate thousands of people in London to the Home Counties in the wake of a terrorist attack.

Trains would carry thousands out of the capital to counties including Kent, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Essex, in what would be the first mass evacuation since the Second World War.

The plans could be put into action if terroristslaunched a chemical or biological attack, creating the possibility not just of immediate casualties but of mass panic.

Trains into London would be cancelled and reception centres set up in the Home Counties to receive evacuees, backed up by an information campaign to calm people's fears.