Liver Run

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 8 May 1987.
Background
A telex came in from Hull to the Met's motorway control on the M11 that an organ was being flown into 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 off 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 . 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.
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 ' special in 1996. Police Stop! did a special episode on it to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 1997. Unlike the Police Camera Action show the year before, the entire journey was shown.
References

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu