Westminster car crash: 'Number of pedestrians injured' after vehicle collides with barriers outside Parliament

Man arrested as armed police swarm street and put Parliament 'on lockdown'

A man has been arrested on suspicion of terror offences after a car ploughed into cyclists before crashing into barriers outside the Houses of Parliament, injuring a number of pedestrians

Dozens of armed officers swarmed the scene and placed Westminster on lockdown following the crash, which Scotland Yard said was being treated as a “terrorist incident”.

Footage posted on social media showed police with firearms leaping over a barrier and surrounding a silver Ford Fiesta before leading its driver away in handcuffs.

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The Metropolitan Police said the car “collided with a number of cyclists and pedestrians” before slamming into a security barrier that was installed following last year’s Westminster Bridge terror attack.

A spokesman added: “The driver of the car, a man in his late 20s, was arrested at the scene by armed officers. He has been taken to a south London police station where he remains in police custody.

“He was arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences.

“There was nobody else in the vehicle, which remains at the scene and is being searched. No weapons have been recovered at this stage.

“At this stage, we are treating this as a terrorist incident and the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is now leading the investigation.”

Streets around Parliament Square, Millbank and Victoria Tower Gardens have been cordoned off and will remain shut “for some time” as police investigate, Scotland Yard said.

London Ambulance Service (LAS) said it treated two people before taking them to hospital. Neither was believed to have been seriously hurt.

Several witnesses said the car appeared to have been crashed deliberately.

“The car went onto the wrong side of the road to where cyclists were waiting at lights and ploughed into them,” said Barry Williams, a BBC employee who works nearby.

He added: “Then it swerved back across the road and accelerated as fast as possible and hit the barrier at full pelt.

“It was a small silver car and he hit it at such speed the car actually lifted off the ground and bounced.”

Another witness, Ewalina Ochab, said: “I think it looked intentional – the car drove at speed and towards the barriers.

“I was walking on the other side [of the road]. I heard some noise and someone screamed.

“I turned around and I saw a silver car driving very fast close to the railings, maybe even on the pavement.”

Police closed nearby Westminster Underground station following the crash and cleared out hundreds of commuters after widening cordon around the scene.

Members of the public and press were moved further from the area as police erected what an officer at the scene referred to as a “Terrorism Act cordon”.

The cordon was extended past the Cenotaph on Whitehall, a five-minute walk away.

Westminster Bridge was also closed to traffic.

Jason Williams, 45, was walking to work when he saw the crash, which he said “looked deliberate”.

He told the Press Association: “I saw a car going at high speed towards Parliament.

“It hit a bollard. A dark looking man, I would say maybe Asian, Mediterranean.”

He added: “It looked deliberate. It didn’t look like an accident. How do you do that by accident? It was a loud bang.”

Other witnesses said they heard screams as the car ploughed into cyclists.

“Sat in the first car at Westminster lights when car ploughed through cyclists,” wrote one woman on Twitter, sharing a photo of a group of cyclists stood by bikes strewn on the road.

Police were on the scene “in seconds”, she added.

Bus driver Victor Ogbomo, 49, was driving passengers past Westminster when he saw the aftermath of the crash.

“All I saw was the smoke coming out of a vehicle, a silver vehicle... I just stopped the bus,” he said.

“The police said we have to move back, then in less than five minutes the response team came.

“They went to the vehicle, so we had to push back. I saw the car in the barrier, I didn’t know how it got there.

“I think someone was inside the vehicle because many police went towards the vehicle.”

Peter Rhodes, assistant director of operations at LAS, said: “We sent a number of resources to the scene including three ambulance crews, responders in cars and an incident response officer.

“We have treated two people at the scene for injuries that are not believed to be serious and have taken them to hospital.”

Theresa May, the prime minister, said: “My thoughts are with those injured in the incident in Westminster and my thanks to the emergency services for their immediate and courageous response.”

The Houses of Parliament are surrounded by security barriers made of steel and concrete.

The defences were installed in the wake of a deadly terror attack in March last year, when Khalid Masood ploughed a car into crowds on Westminster Bridge, killing four people.

Masood then abandoned his car and stabbed and killed unarmed police constable Keith Palmer before he was shot by armed police in a courtyard outside Parliament.