The police have questions to answer after the Liverpool car incident

Could the carnage and horror that played out on the streets of Liverpool city centre yesterday have been averted? We now know that 24 people were hospitalised, four with very serious injuries, when a car drove into crowds attending Liverpool’s Premier League championship victory parade. Merseyside constabulary, undoubtedly stung by their mishandling of the Southport attack details, which contributed to a week of national rioting last year, were commendably quick off the mark. We knew very quickly that the individual believed to be the driver of the vehicle was a 53-year-old white British man from the city. While the motive remains unknown, terrorism has been firmly ruled out. 

But there will still be questions to ask of the police and local authority on their preparation for this event. At last night’s press conference, Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims told reporters a ‘robust’ traffic management plan had been in place for the parade.