A fuelish mistake

There's grave concern at the Times about the paper's ability to react to a crisis, given what's happened recently when it has sent reporters to pastures new. Three incidents have provoked disquiet. First there was the fresh-faced young hack who disabled a company vehicle by putting petrol into the diesel engine. Then there was the reporter who expressed her nervousness about driving after being sent on a job. And then, after last week's blaze in a warehouse within the development zone of the 2012 Olympics, a hastily dispatched reporter chose to walk to the scene all the way from Wapping. Executives soon realised he had forgotten his mobile phone.