Whelford residents are living ‘in limbo’ since RAF Fairford evacuation

Ruth Foxman has lived in Whelford for 16 years and told the BBC that she felt like a lot of residents were still processing what had happened.

“It was very real, it was very frightening, but you kind of just detach from what’s going on – if you’re told to evacuate, you just do,” she said.

“When you are tired or scared, you can run home and hide, safe and secure in your own home. That was a fundamental loss to us all for two days. To have that refuge denied was very hard to come to terms with.”

Foxman said that residents have a WhatsApp group chat that initially informed her of what was going on, however this was the only indication they had that anything was wrong before the evacuation order was given.

“I think for older people who were less likely to have looked at the messages, they didn’t know what was happening until there were armed police on their doorstep,” she explained.

“It’s a completely bewildering experience to feel that you’ve been thrown out of your home and your home is no longer safe.”

Like Daniels, Foxman expressed that she wished to see improved communication with residents about possible threats to their safety.

“There may well have been plans in place, but none of that filtered down into the community,” she said.

“I’d also like the MoD emergency phone to be answered in the middle of the night,” Foxman added, referring to the Ministry of Defence’s failure to answer their emergency phone line when a Whelford resident called the number in the early hours of 27 September.

The Ministry of Defence did not address the BBC’s query about the emergency phone line, but Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton has insisted that UK bases are safe and secure, adding that the removal of bombers from the base was to “reduce risk”.