Exercise in terror at city’s Bullring
IT is thinking the unthinkable. Terrorists have attacked Birmingham’s Bullring and Grand Central Station.
Armed police move in to counter the threat as ambulance crews in body armour tend to the wounded.
The drama unfolded at midnight on Sunday and ran into the early hours of Monday morning.
Dramatic photographs showed officers with guns on the escalators and shoppers diving for cover outside shops.
Thankfully it was just an exercise. But it was not just play-acting.
It means that police and emergency services are ready to tackle any terrorist threat to the heart of the city. Police stressed that it was a pre-planned exercise to test the response of all emergency partners to a major incident, and was not in response to any specific threat or intelligence.
West Midlands Police Assistant Chief Constable Gareth Cann said: “This is the latest in a series of exercises that we have carried out to test our ability to deal with large-scale incidents.
“Recent national and international events highlight the importance of public organisations testing their emergency response procedures to reassure the safety of the communities we serve.
“The UK threat level remains at severe, which means that an attack is highly likely, although there is no specific threat to our region it is imperative that we are ready to deal with such an attack if required.”
Police were approached by Hammerson, which manages both the Bullring and Grand Central, to help them test out their security plans.
“The exercise provided invaluable training and experience for everyone involved,” said Mr Cann.
“It also demonstrated the strong working relationships between West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service, West Midlands Ambulance Service, Birmingham City Council, Network Rail, British Transport Police and our commercial partners.”