Car ploughs into Liverpool parade crowd

Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said the “horrific incident” was not being treated as terrorism.

Transcript

00:00Firstly, my thoughts are with all those injured in tonight's horrific incident, their family

00:05and friends, and all of those affected by the terrible tragedy that has taken place

00:10today.

00:11I want to thank all of the emergency services, partner agencies, and members of the public

00:17who came to the assistance of the injured following this evening's shocking incident,

00:23which we declared a major incident.

00:25This had been a joyous day in Liverpool, with hundreds of thousands of people lining the

00:32streets to celebrate Liverpool Football Club's Victory Parade.

00:36Sadly, at six o'clock this evening, as the parade was drawing to a close, we received

00:42reports that a car had been in a collision with a number of pedestrians on Water Street

00:47in Liverpool's city centre.

00:50A number of people have been injured and were taken to hospital.

00:54In addition, a large number of people of all ages were treated at the scene, but did

01:00not require hospital treatment.

01:04Specialist officers have been put in place to support the injured and their families.

01:09Our emergency service colleagues from the North West Ambulance Service and Mersey Fire and

01:14Rescue Service also attended the scene and will be able to provide further updates.

01:19The car stopped at the scene and a 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area was

01:28arrested.

01:29We believe him to be the driver of the vehicle.

01:33Extensive inquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances leading up to the collision,

01:38and it is vital that people do not speculate or spread misinformation on social media.

01:45I know that people will understandably be concerned by what has happened tonight.

01:51What I can tell you is that we believe this to be an isolated incident, and we are not currently

01:59looking for anyone else in relation to it.

02:03The incident is not being treated as terrorism.

02:07We would ask that people refrain from sharing distressing footage from the incident online, and

02:15please share any information directly with our investigation team.

02:20Information, including video footage, can be passed on by the Merseyside Major Incident Police

02:26Portable.

02:27Detail can be found on the Merseyside Police website.

02:31In the lead-up to this event, we have been working closely with event organisers, and a

02:37robust traffic management plan was put in place for the parade, which included a number

02:44of road closures throughout the route and the city centre.

02:48We will provide further updates as soon as we have them.