Technician sues Foreign Office after being taken hostage in British embassy by 'knife-wielding Iranian mob'
A former British Embassy worker in Tehran is suing the Foreign Office after complaining his training left him open to being taken hostage.
Mark Tozer, 46, says he has been left mentally scarred having suffered post traumatic stress disorder after an Iranian mob stormed a diplomatic compound and took him hostage in 2011.
Despite desperate efforts to hold out in a special security keep, or safe room, Mr Tozer, a technician, was briefly held captive by angry Iranian students brandishing knives in the Foreign Office's Gulhak compound in Tehran.
He is now claiming £64,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for breach of duty, saying the effects of the incident have blighted his life.
"The training we received in London made clear you have two choices: either you run for it or you stay put and secure yourself,” Mr Tozer told the Central London County Court
“If I had known there was a mob rampaging through the compound then I would have made a run for the nearest exit.
"When they came in, the first thing they did was to point knives at me.
"They said they weren't going to harm me but...there were so many of them. They were armed and smashed their way in, so whatever they said I would not have believed it."
In November 2011 Britain imposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. Two days after the Iranian parliament voted to expel the British ambassador, the UK embassy in Tehran and one other diplomatic site nearby were attacked. In response Britain gave Iran 48 hours to close its embassy in London and expelled its diplomats.
The FCO denies all liability, insisting that it took all possible safety measures against the background of extraordinary events, was not responsible for the acts of "hostile third party criminal agents" and could not have predicted the shocking nature of the rapidly moving events.
The hearing continues.
