Tottenham Court Road siege ends as police persuade man to surrender Tottenham Court Road siege: eyewitness accounts. An armed siege in central London ended peacefully on Friday when police officers persuaded a man to leave an office building after he had gone inside three hours earlier and, according to a witness, threatened to blow himself up. The incident began at midday when the man, understood to be Michael Green, 50, walked into the offices of Advantage, a company in Tottenham Court Roadthat offers heavy goods vehicle courses to would-be drivers. One Advantage employee, Abby Baafi, said in an interview broadcast on YouTube that she recognised him as a former customer. She claimed he had gas canisters strapped to his body. "I recognised him because he was one of our previous customers," she said. He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office. He was specifically looking for me, but I said 'My name's not Abby' and he let me go. Baafi said that the man had failed the HGV training course and had wanted his money back. Police and security services have been on high alert in the runup to the Olympics. The greatest fear of the security services is that a "lone wolf" - an unknown radicalised individual - may launch a terrorist attack on the games. However, it was quickly established incident was not terrorist related. An explosives team was sent to the scene as a precaution, but counter-terrorism officers were not involved. Police said they had been called at midday when the man entered the building and started throwing computers and other office equipment from a fifth-floor window on to the street below. Hundreds of people were evacuated from the area, and a cordon was thrown up around the building as a precaution. Rumours spread quickly on Twitter that the man was holding four hostages and had explosives, although none of this was confirmed. Police said later that no hostages had been taken. However, a special explosives team was on standby as a police negotiator arrived and began talking to the man. Three hours after he had entered the building he was seen being led away by officers. He emerged without his shirt and walked calmly as he was taken into custody. Scotland Yard did not confirm that the man had any kind of explosives on him when he entered the building. Commander Mak Chishty said no hostages had been taken during the incident, which brought parts of central London to a standstill as tube stations were closed and roads around the area were cordoned off. Chishty said police had been concerned that the suspect had explosives or flammable materials with him and their search would continue until officers were sure the area was safe to reopen. Pictures of computer and office equipment being thrown through one of the office windows were put up on Twitter and YouTube. John Lillis, a consultant at a furniture shop, Designer Sofas, in Tottenham Court Road, saw the incident from the back of his showroom. The buses had been stopped and there was an ambulance crew there, as well as police cars. The road was then cordoned off," he said. The police asked us to move to the back of the showroom. I looked across the road to an office block opposite our showroom, and I saw computer screens and computers thrown out of the window, and then a filing cabinet. About half an hour after it all started, we were asked to move behind the cordon on Goodge Street, and it has moved back further since then. Rajesh Kalia, of Goodge Law solicitors, who works two floors below where the incident happened in Shropshire House, said: "We were in the office and suddenly we were told by the police that there was some problem in the building and asked to evacuate immediately. The police were very clear about the instructions. There was no panic or anything, but they were very firm and got everybody out of the building very, very quickly. I overheard someone say that there was a man in there with some wires coming out of his jacket. Now, I don't know how much of that is true, but that's the impression they gave us.