FORMER Hereford police officer Neal Richardson was working at the World Trade Center complex in New York when the twin towers came under attack, as reported in The Hereford Times last week.

Here is his story of the horrific events of September 11 and the distressing scenes he witnessed as he fled the scene, as told to the Hereford Times in the days following the tragedy.

"Tuesday, September 11, 2001, started off as a beautiful, clear day in New York City. This great city has been my home since 1993, and I was feeling particularly good this day, I was in my office at the World Trade Center when at 8.45am, the building shook and the lights flickered.

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Unbeknown to us, the first airliner had flown directly over the top of our building and had slammed into the north tower. From our windows, we could see clouds of smoke and fire.

"Everybody out," shouted our boss, and we all made an orderly exit, via the stairs, down to the street level. Everybody made it out.

This was the first time that the facts began to unfold. We all stared right up at the gaping, flaming hole in the side of the north tower.

The word spread that the cause of the destruction had been a plane. Colleagues of ours had been at ground level when the plane struck. Now none of us had any idea that this collision was anything more than an accident.

Perhaps the pilot had become disorientated or the plane had malfunctioned? A few seconds later, things became very clear, albeit chaotic. The second plane slammed into the south tower. A huge fireball wrapped the building and we scattered, running north.

Fortunately for us, the point of impact of the second plane had been on the far side to us. I looked up at the towers and I saw people, clearly still alive, falling from the upper floors.

These poor souls were faced with the option of a slow painful death, or ending it instantly.

I realised that although I was safely out, I was in serious danger being that we were clearly under attack from organised terrorists.

Would there be a third plane, car bombs, and toxic gas? I had to get away and the ferry to New Jersey seemed the right move. The ferry runs from the World Financial Center, which is right next to the World Trade Center complex.

Not surprisingly, the ferry pier was a mobbed, although people were well behaved and orderly in boarding ferry after ferry.

The 15-minute cruise across the Hudson over to Hoboken allowed us to observe this surreal scene of devastation. Setting foot on the New Jersey side of the river made me feel safe.

I had been trying hard to phone my wife at home, who I knew must have been watching these scenes of television.

Cell phones were useless, being that the main transmitter was located on the top of the twin towers. There are other transmitters, but the sheer volume of call traffic was too much.

I boarded the train home and I was surrounded by people in various states of distress. Some passengers had radios, and the word spread about the other hijackings and crashes.

Any one of the things that occurred would be enormous, but for them all to happen at once made it almost impossible to take in. After many attempts, I finally made contact with my wife, and made it home soon afterwards. Later that afternoon, I watched television in disbelief as I saw the live shot of my building collapse.

I feel lucky to be alive when I realise what may have happened if the planes had come in at slightly different angles. My heart goes out to the families of the people who are currently listed as missing. I returned to work on Monday at a makeshift location."