Terror fears lead to panic as car hits pedestrians outside museum
Patrick Sawer, Adam Bennett
Nicola Harley
POLICE said an incident in which a car mounted the pavement outside the Natural History Museum in London yesterday – sparking fears of another terror attack – was a traffic accident.
A man was dragged from a car after it ploughed into pedestrians outside the museum, injuring 11 people.
The car mounted the pavement before smashing into two other vehicles and hitting visitors as they made their way to the museum, in one of London’s busiest tourist areas.
Moments later, the man was dragged from the black Toyota Prius – understood to be a licensed private hire vehicle – and bundle him to the ground. He was later arrested and was last night being held in custody at a police station in north London.
The incident provoked a significant response from the police as dozens of armed officers flooded the area and a 200-metre cordon was created.
Witnesses fled in panic as police told them to “keep running” and put businesses around the area in lockdown.
One of those helping to apprehend the suspected driver was Oliver Cheshire, singer Pixie Lott’s fiancé. Last night he said: “I’m OK. Thank you to the men who helped me pin him down and the police for coming so quickly.” Downing Street said Theresa May was “being kept fully informed” of developments.
But Whitehall sources later said the incident was “not thought” to be terror related. Within hours, Scotland Yard said: “The incident in Exhibition Road, South Kensington, earlier is not being treated as a terror-related incident. It is a road traffic collision.”
One witness suggested the driver may have lost control of his vehicle before it spun across the road and hit another car, before striking pedestrians.
Greg King, 22, a banker at Goldman Sachs, said: “A black Toyota went ploughing straight towards us and the crowd. At that point I thought it had lost control. It went spinning round and as it did that it smashed into a sign and knocked it over. In the meantime it hit at least two or three people. It went careering across the road and smashed into the side of another car that brought it to a stop. People jumped out of the back of the car and everyone ran. Museum staff and the public dragged him on the ground.”
Eleven people were hurt, with nine needing hospital treatment following the accident. The incident, which fol- lowed a number of attacks in which vehicles have been used, sent pedestrians fleeing in panic.
In March, Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four people and injuring more than 50 people before he was shot dead by an armed officer outside the Houses of Parliament.
The following month, Islamist terrorists killed eight people and injured another 48 after using a van to drive into crowds at London Bridge before jumping out and stabbing customers in bars and restaurants at Borough Market. Speaking outside the Natural History Museum, Emmanuel Hook, who was in the area at the time, said: “I was in a Chinese restaurant and all of a sudden all the diners just hit the floor and there were all these people running on Exhibition Road towards the station.
“I was sat by the window, it was really worrying seeing all these people panicking. All of a sudden police turned up in yellow vests, everyone was leaving their bags behind. People were panicking and running, no one knew what was going on, there were policemen telling us to ‘go, go, run’.”