On 21 Feb, 13:12, Laurence Payne NOSPAMlpayne1ATdsl.pipex.com wrote:
Why the heavy police presence at Farringdon station the other
Saturday?


Luton Town were playing away to Leyton Orient on saturday (kick off
was 3pm), so I'd presume that these were British Transport Police and
they were there to monitor/control/herd travelling Luton fans (who
have a bit of a reputation) - the obvious route from Luton is FCC
Thameslink to Farringdon, Circle/Met/H&C line to Liverpool Street,
Central line to Leyton, walk to Brisbane Road, which is the ground of
"the O's" - hence the presence at Farringdon.

Indeed given that this is the first station where the fans would get
off the train, it is an opportunity for the plod to check them through
for troublemakers and generally make their presence felt (though I'm
not quite sure whether information sharing about troublemakers between
local police forces, such as Bedfordshire Police who cover Luton, and
the BTP is actually any good).

An alternative route from Luton to Leyton would have been alighting at
City Thameslink, then a short walk to St Paul's tube station and
directly from there to Leyton on the Central line.

Incidentally Luton Town lost 1-0 - a match summary suggests that they
weren't very good.

James has provided an alternative explanation upthread.