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Scene of devastation after Liverpool FC parade crash
A child was among the four people seriously injured after a vehicle ploughed into a crowd in Liverpool city centre during the club’s Premier League victory parade.
Four children were among the 27 people rushed to hospital following the incident on Monday evening, while 20 others were treated at the scene for minor injuries, taking the toll of those hurt to nearly 50.
Police confirmed one child and an adult were seriously injured. Liverpool City Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram told BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday morning that four people are still “very, very ill in hospital”.
A 53-year-old man, who police described as white, British and from the Merseyside area, was arrested at the scene of the incident at 6pm on Monday, with Merseyside Police saying they believe him to be the driver. The force is not treating the incident as terrorism-related.
Footage circulating online appeared to show a vehicle speed up as it veered into pedestrians on both sides of the crowded street.
Witnesses described seeing a grey people carrier driving through the crowd before angry bystanders tried to smash its windows. One eyewitness, Natasha Rinaldi, said she could hear “screams and screams”, telling Sky News: “It was a horrible scene.”
Dan Ogunshakin, an off-duty BBC reporter attending the parade, told the broadcaster: “What had once been an atmosphere of celebration and joy and happiness suddenly turned into fear and terror and disbelief.”
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned the incident, calling the scenes “appalling” as he sent a message of unity, saying the city “stands together”.
Sir Keir Starmer has said “scenes of joy turned to utter horror and devastation” after a car ploughed into a crowd during Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade on Monday.
The prime minister said the whole country “stands with Liverpool” and the nation’s thoughts are with the victims and the wider community.
Sir Keir told reporters today: “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.
“Liverpool stands together and the whole country stands with Liverpool. I’d like to thank the first responders who did a fantastic job last night and continue to do so. There’s now an ongoing investigation. I’m being kept updated, talking frequently to the mayor Steve Rotheram. But as I say, my thoughts and the thoughts of the whole country will be with everybody in Liverpool today.”
Sir Keir Starmer has said ‘scenes of joy turned to utter horror and devastation’ after a car ploughed into a crowd during Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade on Monday (Getty Images)
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 10:25
Jurgen Klopp has said he is “shocked and devasted” as he spoke about the Liverpool parade car crash for the first time.
The former Liverpool boss wrote on Instagram this morning: “My family and I are shocked and devastated, our thoughts and prayers are with all those who are injured and affected. You’ll never walk alone.”
Mr Klopp had been at the parade, sharing images of the celebratory scenes on social media before the horror unfolded.
Jurgen Klopp has said he is ‘shocked and devasted’ as he spoke about the Liverpool parade car crash for the first time (AP)
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 10:19
A former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent said it was “unprecedented” that the police “very quickly” gave the ethnicity and race of the suspect in the Liverpool incident.
Dal Babu told BBC Radio 5 Live: “What we do have, which is unprecedented, is the police very quickly giving the ethnicity and the race of the person who was driving the vehicle and I think that was, and it was Merseyside Police who didn’t give that information with the Southport horrific murders of those three girls, and the rumours were that it was an asylum seeker who arrived on a boat and it was a Muslim extremist and that wasn’t the case.
“So I think what the police have done very very quickly, and I’ve never known a case like this before where they’ve given the ethnicity and the race of the individual who was involved in it, so I think that was to dampen down some of the speculation from the far-right that sort of continues on X even as we speak that this was a Muslim extremist and there’s a conspiracy theory.”
Asked if it was a result of Merseyside Police having learned the lessons from what happened after Southport, he said: “Yeah, absolutely, I think you’re spot on. It’s remarkably striking because police will not release that kind of information because they’ll be worried about prejudicing any future trial, but I think they have to balance that against the potential of public disorder and we had massive public disorder after the far-right extremists had spread these rumours.”
He added: “The difficulty we have is in the olden days, when I was policing, you would have a conversation with trusty journalists, print journalists, radio journalists, broadcasting journalists, you’d have a conversation and say look can you please hold fire on sharing this information and people would listen, we don’t have that with social media, it’s like the wild west and anything goes and so puts the police in a very, very difficult position.”
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 10:10
Bottles, glasses, used fireworks and Liverpool flags could be seen in Water street on Tuesday morning, along with a paramedic’s coat and kit box.
A mobile police station was parked on the road and officers stood at entrances to the street.
The police cordon stretched back past the Town Hall, along Dale Street to Moorfields, where traffic was being diverted away from the road.
Outside the India Buildings on Water Street a white tent was in the road and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service screens were around a parked ambulance.
The large blue tent was slightly further down the road.
An inflatable field tent at the scene in Water Street near the Liver Building in Liverpool (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 10:00
A witness has told of hearing shouting and seeing people lying on the floor in Liverpool on Monday night as she questioned: “How did a car get down there?”
Hannah told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It was just too many people, you couldn’t actually see what had happened. All you could hear was like shouting, shouting, and I just knew something had happened.
“The roads are closed, how did a car get down there anyway?
“You see people lying on the floor, all I can remember is just the police going ‘everyone go now, now, leave’, they ushered us all off and they were screaming.”
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 09:52
Liverpool FC have postponed more events following the parade car crash, according to leaked emails.
The BBC reported the club has now put on hold multiple internal staff events that were planned for today to celebrate their Premier League title win.
The broadcaster cited an internal email sent last night in which staff were also told the club “will continue to offer our full support to the emergency services and local authorities” as well as to those affected.
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 09:40
Police urge public to avoid speculation on Liverpool FC parade crash
Merseyside Police have urged the public not to speculate or spread misinformation on social media after a car ploughed into a crowd in Liverpool city centre during the club’s Premier League victory parade on Monday (26 May). Four children were among around 50 people injured in the incident, with one youngster seriously hurt. The “horrific incident” was not being treated as terrorism following the arrest of a 53-year-old man at the scene, Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said. The force said the suspect was the driver of the car, white, British and from the Liverpool area. Ms Sims urged people to refrain from sharing “distressing footage” from the incident online, but called for videos to be passed to the police.
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 09:30
One woman has described the moment she heard “beeping and screaming” before jumping out of the way of the car during the incident in Liverpool on Monday night.
Chelsea told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We heard beeping and screaming and as we looked up the car was coming directly for us and for everybody else and we just jumped, I grabbed my friend to jump out the way and she grabbed her daughter, and it just skimmed us.
“It must’ve been going about 30mph and then we were just in shock that we just nearly got run over but we didn’t really know the gravity of it at that point and we were just in shock, then we saw everybody chasing the car afterwards with all the windows smashed.”
She added: “All of a sudden you just saw people lying on the floor and several police officers running towards the scene.”
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 09:20
The MP for Birkenhead has called on the public not to speculate following the “really awful” incident in Liverpool.
Alison McGovern told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she felt “so devastated” after spending four hours at the Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade.
Asked about how important Merseyside Police’s announcement of an arrest was on Sunday evening, the Labour MP said: “The police gave out some very clear messages yesterday, not least that if people have got footage or anything that might be useful to them, then please, please give it to Merseyside Police and don’t speculate on the internet or share things like that.
“In Merseyside, I think the police have been through quite a lot in recent times and they’re very, very capable, and I would ask people to listen to them and to do as they’ve asked.”
The MP for Birkenhead has called on the public not to speculate following the ‘really awful’ incident in Liverpool (PA Media)
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 09:10
Merseyside Police has adopted a “complete step change” in sharing information with the public after a car ploughed into a crowd in the city centre, one of its former inspectors has said.
Four children were among about 50 people injured during Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade on Sunday, with the force not treating the incident as terrorism after a 53-year-old man was arrested.
Peter Williams, senior lecturer in policing at Liverpool John Moores University, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the quicker response was very different to what happened after the Southport terror attack in July last year.
He said: “It has been a shift, because, particularly in relation to the aftermath of Southport… there was a lot of criticism focused at Merseyside Police and of course the CPS, in relation to how the management of information was sort of dealt with.
“But also, if listeners cast their mind back further, is the investigation into Nicola Bulley as how the management of the information was responded to on that occasion. That led to a College of Policing inquiry.”
Mr Williams said one of the recommendations made after the Southport attack was to prevent any “vacuums” of information in future incidents, particularly where there is harmful online content.
He continued: “It was no surprise to me last night that within an hour or so, we got a statement to say what had happened and that somebody, a male, had been detained. Later on, there was a press conference led by the Assistant Chief Constable, where she shared a lot more information.
“As that investigation progresses, which will be a major one led by the major investigation team, that will be shared with the public, so there’s been a complete step change in how the police will be communicating what has occurred with the public.”
Tara Cobham27 May 2025 09:00
