High Wycombe - Featuring in The Media

Featuring in The Media

High Wycombe has featured in the national media in recent history for a number of different reasons including seasonal coverage of the local library's refusal to display a Christmas carol service poster and more serious stories such as the triple shooting of three young Asian men; a small-scale riot between feuding families and gangs in which knives, metal poles, and an axe were used, whilst a gunman sprayed bullets; and the shooting and murder of Natasha Derby at point-blank range in the middle of a busy dancefloor at town centre venue.

The town made national and international media after anti-terrorism raids were carried out across the town on 10 August 2006, as part of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot. Five arrests were made from three different houses in the Totteridge and Micklefield areas of the town. A small number of houses in High Wycombe were evacuated in Walton Drive, which is thought to be because one of the houses raided contained dangerous liquid chemicals.

A three-mile No-flight zone was issued over the town. Other raids and arrests were also made in East London and Birmingham.

King's Wood to the north of the town was cordoned off for four months to be searched by police, and many suspicious items have allegedly been found including explosives, detonators, weapons and hate tapes. Other woodlands in the Booker area of the town, the M40 at High Wycombe and nearby woods were also under observation. Explosive officers were called to the motorway as were forensic officers. A lane of the motorway was closed as a precaution.

On 21 December 2009, heavy snowfalls hit the town, paralysing the town's road network (which is mainly on steep hills), and causing major disruption to refuse services for several weeks. Staff and customers of the John Lewis department store were stranded overnight, leading to national news reports and interviews from GMTV and others on the morning of the 22 December.