Directors at Oxfordshire County Council were faced with a terrifying scenario -- a plane crash near Oxford rail station killing 89 people.

Senior staff at the council took part in a multi-agency crash exercise on January 13 at the emergency planning headquarters in Woodeaton.

Emergency planning officer John Kelly put the senior staff through their paces in the nuclear bunker, as part of a bid to ensure that the county is prepared for any disaster, including terrorist threats which have increased since the September 11 attacks on America.

According to the scenario, a flight from Lisbon to Birmingham crashed on the Becket Street car park, causing mayhem in the city centre. The crash was not due to terrorists, said the exercise, but directors were asked to cordon off the area, as the plane's nose cone was made of depleted uranium and could contaminate the centre of Oxford, including County Hall.

Mr Kelly said the exercises were part of the county council's response to the Civil Contingency Act 2004, which will give local authorities a statutory duty to prepare for and respond to emergencies.

He added: "The Government has given us greater responsibilities but it has not increased our funding levels.

"We get £200,000 a year from central Government, which is laughable in the current climate and a further £100,000 from the county council."

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Mr Kelly said: "The directors coped very well, and liaised with representatives from the emergency services, and decontamination company RWE Nukem, based at Harwell.

"We hold these kind of exercises about once a month. There is no specific threat to Oxfordshire but the old Scout maxim "Be prepared" applies.

"We hope we never have to respond to a real incident but it is important that we are properly prepared."

"During the Cold War, we were getting £500,000 from the Government and that level of funding needs to be restored because the nuclear threat, now non-existent, has been replaced by the terrorist threat."

Ten years ago, there were 13 staff in the council's emergency planning team. That figure has been reduced to four, plus one part-time member.

"That is the same for most shire councils," added Mr Kelly, "but it is not enough."

Emergency planners are also drawing up contingency measures in the event of a terrorist attack on London, which could see 50,000 people evacuated to Oxfordshire in the space of 12 hours.

Last year, emergency procedures were tested to evacuate thousands of people from Oxford to west Oxfordshire following a "radioactive bomb".

The fictitious incident involved a bomb attack at the Kassam Stadium in Minchery Farm, during a match.