I kept hearing from public figures that they had plans in place for a flu pandemic, but I wanted to see for myself.

I contacted Westminster City Council, which has legal responsibility for emergency planning in central London, and asked what they could show me.

They invited me into their Emergency Control Center which is housed in a rather non-descript public building – the exact location of which I cannot reveal.

I was directed to the back entrance via the trash cans. I was taken up in a lift, past a bank of security cameras and into windowless room that looked a bit like a computer training center.

I waited there until I was asked what I would like to do. Then I realised this WAS the Emergency Control Center. OK.

My guide was the John Barradell, the council's deputy chief executive who is also a former senior police officer and one of the country's most experienced people when it comes to emergency planning.

He explained that planning for a crisis is not nearly as exciting as we are led to believe.

It was also made clear to me that everything you needed to run London in a crisis was in this room, and you could do it all from just one of these computer terminals.

I was shown a list of folders on a monitor which gives you access to every system used to run the capital.

You could tap into the hospital network, the police, social services – health and safety.

If you made a decision in this room you could make it happen on the ground at the click of a mouse.

The control room was located next to the office for Street Services, and that is no accident.

The systems that control parking for example would be crucial in a pandemic.

The parking team have people on the ground throughout the capital in the form of traffic wardens.

They also have one of the world’s most extensive networks of street cameras at their disposal.

If there was a flu pandemic, Street Services becomes the eyes and the ears for emergency co-ordinators in one of the busiest and biggest cities in Europe.

It was a fascinating insight into the preparedness of London for a possible pandemic. The systems are all in place, but not quite in the form you would expect to see in a Hollywood movie.