Car crash outside Westminster

[youarenotkiddingme]

Now it's just happened as RG was outside reporting for GMB.

No one knows what happened or why and if it's suspicious or not.

But I think the fact the immediate reaction was for armed police, no one to approach the car until they arrived and a huge cordon was applied once they'd seen driver shows that we do in fact live in a time where the suspicion is always the worst rather than the best.

Thank goodness no one else other than the driver is involved.

102 out of 153 murders 2017-2018 solved with a sanction detection.
Hardly not doing a 'fucking thing'

85 murders so far this year since January - too soon to count SDs because of the length of time a case takes.

Or maybe you mean police should be preventing murders from happening in the first place.

85 murders so far this year since January - too soon to count SDs because of the length of time a case takes

90 actually, and no but they should have the resources to put more into investigating threats of gang retaliation which WOULD have prevented the 90th murder of a 7 yo autistic child in his own bed.

But carry on chucking wrong statistics around and defending the very people who cut the budgets in the first place thus rendering the police unable to do their jobs safely and in full.

To be clear, there were specific and numerous revenge threats given to the police about the case I’m talking about.

Jo Cox MP was actually murdered, because she was an MP. Stephen Timms MP was attacked and left in a critical state, because he is an MP

You don't have to like MPs to recognise that simply because of their jobs they are at a higher risk than the rest of us

There is much speed in this investigation.

There are failings in our country due to police cuts but that's not those on the front lines fault or those who investigate the aftermath.

In this case though it's proven that when they know about a possible threat to the residents of the U.K. they will act quickly, without much concern for their own safety and their investigative skills are second to none.

You don't have to like MPs to recognise that simply because of their jobs they are at a higher risk than the rest of us

I know they are, I haven’t said otherwise!

My stats are from the Met Police website.

You obviously have a better source so could you please let me know where you get your figures from?

When the child died it was stated in all the media outlets that they were the 90th victim.

You carry on with your stats, I’m not arguing when stats are apparently more important than people.

OK so your source is the media.
Thought so.

Aye senior police officers talking in TV interviews must be wrong too eh?

Someone who is more focused on statistics than people and protecting the elite isn’t someone I really want to be conversing with. Off you pop and find another person to get snotty with with your facts and figures.

I work in Westminster and I was in the office when the incident occurred. The police aren't just there for the MP's, they're there for the 000's of us who work in the area and the 000's of tourists who visit daily. The police have been amazing today and I'm hugely thankful to them. If you see a copper on duty over the next couple of days, take a second and say thank you to them. We all like to feel appreciated and the police don't get thanks very often. But they do a job that few of us could, or would want, to do.

I wonder if the car was acting suspiciously beforehand. The van following the car stops and it looks like 2 men jump out and run to the left....

An eye witness who works for the BBC thought it looked like deliberate driving into people rather than accidental veering off road or heart attack at the wheel.

It's very odd and the Scotland Yard officer dismissed the 'being followed' and almost seemed to be too unaware of it (considering the images were all online by then)

An ambulance goes down the road but if you watch closely as the ford goes into left lane and then turns the wrong way a car (van type thing?) in right lane cuts across and then when he goes over the pavement they cut across again and follow ambulance.

The man is known to police in West Midlands. Earlier someone reporting was very careful to not mention where as they still claim to not know what area he's from.

Car registered in Nottingham.

The whole thing is definitely suspicious but doesn't yell terror attack to me.

Possibly someone being followed who panicked?

Not helpful to speculate but this case doesn't seem as clear cut as others have been.

They are talking about pedestrianising the whole area. Seems like a good move to me!

The whole thing is definitely suspicious but doesn't yell terror attack to me

well the ITV news is reporting that this was thoroughly researched, possibly by team members in London, who correctly identified the weakest point in the security barriers, the place you could get the fastest run up, and end up the closest to Parliament, and to the police guarding parliament, and that the car was driven down from the Midlands last night specifically for this.

Still not sound like attempted terrorism to you?

Sounds like a serious attempt, and luckily it mostly failed

Sounds like a test run to me.

Claire did you mean so sound so scathing?

The evidence you present that's reported hadn't been something I'd seen. And yes, it does appear to change things.
No need to put it quite so rudely though. 🙄

They seem very intent on reminding us Terrorism has to be religiously driven.

Not that I really feel the need to discuss what we call this. The only word we need is utterly abhorrent as it's clearly an intent.

didn't men to sound rrude, sorry, it just sounds and feels very much like a terrorist attempt to me

No worries.

I've have sky news on in background for long periods of time today (had a gut of lounge and ds bedroom!) because it's bothered me somewhat in a way I've felt uneasy.

Maybe because this isn't your typical terror attack (which is what I mean about not screaming terror) but more like a pre cursor to something or something that went wrong iyswim?

Maybe because this isn't your typical terror attack

Vehicles being used as weapons is exactly what a typical terrorist attack looks like; why do you think the barriers are there? Their sole purpose is to minimise the damage from this style of attack.

Attacking Westminster, is one of the few areas in London where it will cause maximum disruption - the traffic is always hideous, it's difficult for emergency services to enter and exit with the road system and the conjunction. It targets multiple groups of people; people who work and live there, MPs, tourists, school children. St Tommy's is so close it has in the past been locked down during an incident which removes the closest emergency healthcare provider.

Really not surprised people are saying the roads should be closed to vehicles apart from emergency services.

Claire, you have nothing to apologise for.
What you said was not remotely rude.

Of course it was a terrorist attempt, or some sort of dummy run.

How did I know that the man wouldn't be called Howard from Tunbridge Wells??

He should lose his citizenship for doing this. Where is his loyalty to the UK?

It's hard to explain but something about it didn't make me immediately think terror motivated. Clearly was an attack of some kind though.

This morning we were being told to keep an open mind re terror motives and now they've arrested and charged him with attempted murder.

So it seems something is still 'odd' about it.

But it doesn't stop it being abhorrent whatever the motive was

And joy I agree.