The Times has learnt that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has told every force in Britain to review training after the death of Mr de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station last July.

The IPCC found that many forces had no plans to deal with a bomber walking through a crowded street or city centre. Less than two hours before the 7/7 attacks, Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, boasted that Scotland Yard was the “gold standard across the world for dealing with terrorism”.

The report, delivered to Sir Ian this week, also calls for improvements in radio communications, clarity about issuing the crucial orders to open fire, and streamlining of chains of command. The commission is still investigating the aftermath of the shooting but The Times also understands from Scotland Yard sources that it has heard evidence of “chaos” among senior commanders. Frantic meetings were held all day but it still took hours for any clear understanding of Mr de Menezes’s identity to emerge.

Today Brian Paddick, one of the deputy assistant commissioners, is consulting his lawyers over comments by the Yard about his evidence to the IPCC. He told investigators that an officer in Sir Ian’s office knew that Mr de Menezes was innocent six hours after the shooting. He is understood to be extremely angry at a Scotland Yard statement challenging his evidence.

Mr de Menezes was shot seven times on an Underground train at Stockwell station in South London after officers wrongly identified him as one of the bombers involved in the failed attacks on the London transport system on July 21.

According to police sources the IPCC investigators found that the Yard’s training and planning for Operation Kratos, the national shoot-to-kill policy for dealing with suspected suicide bombers, was inadequate. The commission accepts that there is a need for a shoot-to-kill policy to deal with terrorists who can trigger a device in seconds.

Scotland Yard officers maintain that they had taken into account the eventuality of a bomber seen on foot in the street, and had adapted strategies used for kidnap cases. One officer told The Times: “We did have a plan. We have a strategy for every scenario. We had been training for an operation with someone on foot.” The IPCC is understood to believe that this was not good enough and did not meet a fluid situation. Scotland Yard has been told that the plans simply did not work and its planners should rewrite their strategies.

No one envisaged a suspect moving on to public transport — Mr de Menezes caught a bus at one point — and there were differences between officers about whether he was one of the suspects being hunted by police. Officers are still disputing whether the coded order to open fire was given by Commander Cressida Dick.

The IPCC found that other forces did not even plan for a situation where police had to deal with a suspected bomber moving through busy streets. Many of their teams relied purely on traditional scenarios such as a suspect identified in a building or holding hostages.

Most forces only trained marksmen to deal with a 999 call to a suspected bomber identified by the public or for protection for a public occasion such as a royal visit.

Both Scotland Yard and chief constables have studied what happened on July 22 and the Yard has said that it will consider the IPCC recommendations.

Last night Scotland Yard confirmed that Sir Ian will be questioned under caution when he gives evidence to the IPCC towards the end of the inquiry next month.

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