Driver Martin Woolward, was at XL on Sunday at 6 a.m., the time of the first blast, and a number of tour trucks were ready to unload that morning. Within an hour, the area had been evacuated, preventing access to the warehouse or any of the office facilities.
It was 'business as usual', however, for XL's 12 shows due to load in on the Monday morning! XL's project managers were diverted as per the Disaster Recovery Plan, to First Network in Northolt. Directors and project managers were able to carry on with phone calls, planning, re-directing equipment and juggling the logistics to take into account the disruption caused by the blast.
"We accomplished everything we expected to do by the end of Monday, with provisions in place for all jobs up to the Friday," states XL's Malcolm Mellows, "Albeit some elements ran a little late!".
Managing director Lee Spencer dealt with building repairs and office restorations and ensuring that the required back up systems were running. "The main warehouse door was blown off its runners and ended up inside the warehouse, some windows were smashed and internal suspended ceilings where brought down due to the shockwave, however the main structure and building exterior is intact."
XL Video successfully re-arranged and shipped shows on Monday 12 December, including the CBeebies UK Tour, the Cape Farewell Organisation in Oxford, a gala Dinner event at Koko in Camden Town, and a five truck event for a Thomson Holidays at the NEC. Fallon comments: "We are grateful for the kind and practical offers of help we have received from all parts of the industry, particularly from transport companies and other major audio-visual suppliers. We specially want to thank all our customers for their understanding and patience during this upheaval, and we appreciate their unwavering confidence in XL Video. We would specially like to thank Denis Georgiou and his team at First Network for all their help and support at such short notice."
(Chris Henry)
