The Liver Run was a 27 mile journey transporting a human liver, completed by the Metropolitan Police from Stansted Airport in Essex to the Cromwell Hospital in London on the 8th May 1987.
Contents
Background
A telex came in from Hull to the Met's motorway control on the M11 that an organ was being flown in to Stansted, and would need to be at the Cromwell Hospital by 12:30. Officers from the Metropolitan Police were sitting in their Rover SD1 3.5 Patrol cars at J7 of the M11 just outside Harlow, Essex. An Essex Police car had gone up onto the runway at Stansted. The Essex car had gone up the slip road at J7 and handed over the liver to Graham Fordham, one of the Met Officers featured in the run.
The Route
The police took of down the M11 at 11:54, facing little congestion. They got up to speeds of up to 120 mph. As the motorway ends and becomes the M15 (now North Circular A406, was under construction at the time) the police exit at the Redbridge Roundabout, and go onto the A12 Eastern Avenue. They go up to Wanstead; this section is now bypassed by a tunnel built under Wanstead Green in 1999 as part of the M11 Link Road. They face heavy congestion along Cambridge Park; however at Blake Hall Road a police officer helps them get through the lights. They proceed to the Green Man Roundabout and onto the former A11 (now A106) High Road Leytonstone, where they go along with speeds of up to 60 mph, and sometimes taking the wrong side of the road. They continue along the A11, facing congestion at Gardener's Corner near Aldgate. They go through Leman Street and onto Lower Thames Street (A100). They face even more congestion along Embankment, with their average speed being 5 mph an hour. PC Les Crossland recalls being " a little bit lost over West London". They go round the Wedding Cake outside Buckingham Palace and towards Hyde Park Corner. Here they cut straight across the junction onto South Carriage Drive. The officers arrive at the hospital at 12:25 to deliver the organ for Aliza Hillel, an Israeli woman.
Officers involved in the run
52 total officers were involved, manning the junctions, on motorbikes etc. Here are the main ones, mostly drivers from the two Rover SD1s tasked with delivering the organ.
PC William (Bill) McIntrye, driver of the lead car with liver
PC Graham Fordham, co-driver of the lead car
PC Les Crossland, driver of the video equipped backup car
PC Steve McCabe, co driver of the backup car
Helicopter usage
Many people have asked why a helicopter was not used. The London Air Ambulance wasn't established until two years later in 1989, and the day before, a Met helicopter had a crash landing and all helicopters were suspended from use.
Re-runs
In 2014, For the Love of Cars did a re-run of the journey, after a Rover SD1 found in an old garage in Essex was set to be restored. The show's stars Ant and Phil, with Met Police SEG outriders, did a re-run. It took them over an hour to complete the journey, compared to the impressive 30 minutes in 1987.
TV
The run has been shown on a Police Action Camera special in 1996. Police Stop! did a special episode on it to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 1997. Unlike the Police Action Camera show the year before, the entire journey was shown.