7/7 bus blast survivor Lisa French meets her saviour

Nov 2 2009 by Kim Carmichael, The Journal

A BOMB blast survivor has spoken of the moment she was reunited with the “inspirational” hero who led her to safety.

Lisa French was travelling to a meeting in London on July 7, 2005, when she was redirected from an Underground station to a nearby number 30 bus service.

Once on the upper deck, she was sitting just inches away from a young man carrying a bomb that he would soon detonate, killing 13 people as well as himself.

While Lisa, of Longbenton, North Tyneside, cannot remember the blast, she will never forget the sight of Chris Symonds, the British Transport Police worker who came to her aid and guided her from the wreckage of the red London Transport bus.

Now, four years on, the 34-year-old has finally met up once more with Chris, a Falklands War veteran, after he was tracked down by producers from the BBC.

In tonights’s edition of BBC 1’s Inside Out, viewers can watch their emotional meeting.

Lisa said: “Those few minutes that he spent with us, looking after us, were inspirational. He’s an amazing man. When he first came up to me and the lady sat beside me, he introduced himself and showed us his ID badge – we were deaf from the blast so couldn’t hear anything – and he took us off the bus.