Liverpool parade crash: 'Legitimate' questions on how car was able to enter road but need to give police 'time', says mayor
The car which ploughed into a crowd during Liverpool’s victory parade should not have been on the road and the “big question” is how the incident happened, the city’s metro mayor has said.
Speaking to reporters at the scene on Tuesday, Steve Rotheram said questions about how the car was able to enter the road were “legitimate”. He said: “Water Street was not a route where vehicles were supposed to be using it, it was blocked off.
“At this end of it, which is the direction that it was coming in, towards The Strand, there were literally hundreds of thousands of people here, so no vehicle would have got through anyway. The questions, I suppose, are legitimate, but we have to give the police the time to conclude their investigations, which is what they’re doing.”
Questions are being asked as to how a car was able to drive into crowds and injure dozens of people, but no clear answers have yet emerged. The risk of such attacks was laid bare in 2016 when a lorry ploughed into pedestrians in Nice, France, and the following year in London when vehicles were driven into crowds on Westminster Bridge and London Bridge.
Both permanent and temporary barriers and bollards are used commonly to protect the public, as seen in the massive security operation for the Queen’s funeral in 2022 which was the largest ever deployment of such measures. Footage of the incident circulating online appeared to show people in the crowd following the Liverpool Football Club celebrations attempting to get close to the driver of the car, with one managing to open the driver’s car door.
Videos then appeared to show the driver close the car door before suddenly speeding up and veering into pedestrians on both sides of the crowded street. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday, Mr Rotheram said he was hopeful that those seriously injured “pull through very, very quickly”.
The Prime Minister said he was in close contact with Mr Rotheram about the incident, adding: “Scenes of joy turned to utter horror and devastation, and my thoughts and the thoughts of the whole country are with all of those that are affected, those injured, which of course includes children, their families, their friends, the whole community, Liverpool fans everywhere.” Sir Keir Starmer also said it was a “matter for the police” that they gave details about the man who was arrested.