 This had been composed especially for the occasion by 16-year-old Band member, Eric Foster.The opening ceremony itself, to which the public was not invited for safety reasons, was performed by the Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond on 29 July 2011.Fatal fires in the Mont Blanc Tunnel and the Gotthard Road Tunnel in 1999 and 2001 respectively, resulting in the temporary closures of these tunnels, led to a re-evaluation of road tunnel safety throughout Europe.