At 6.15am on Friday 4 April 1913, porter Edwin Mighell discovered bomb damage in the gentlemen’s toilet at Oxted Station. The Surrey Mirror reported that ‘walls were bulging, slates on the roof smashed, the doorway splintered and the window broken’.

Stationmaster Henry Holder called the police, and Superintendent West and Sergeant Boshier arrived to investigate. In the toilet they discovered a basket, containing a can of Shell petrol, a battery, firelighters, cycle oil, cotton wool, an alarm clock, and a cardboard box which may have held gunpowder. The damage was less than had been intended, as the petrol had not ignited.