Up next in 10
Henry Riley hears from callers Stephen and Kit, who both attended the parade.
A man has been detained after a car ploughed into jubilant Liverpool supporters during the Premier League champions trophy parade.
Thousands of fans had packed the city's streets to celebrate their team being crowned Premier League champions.
Spectators draped in red lined the roads to watch the team drive around a 10-mile route on an open top bus with the trophy.
But the party atmosphere turned sour 10 minutes after the bus left the Walter Street area, as a car was seen driving down the busy main road and ramming into supporters.
Police later arrested a 53-year-old white British man from Merseyside in connection with the incident.
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0:00
Stephen is a new caller from the city
0:02
Thank you very much for calling in, Stephen. What can you tell us? Hi, I'm a new caller, obviously
0:10
Yeah, I'm actually driving out of Liverpool now. I was a taxi driver
0:15
I was there with my partner and my two daughters, who live in Liverpool
0:20
We were aware of the route Liverpool were going to take because I know the area really well
0:26
I wanted to stay away from the strand, So I thought, right, we'll go a bit further up, probably about a mile, mile and a half away
0:33
There was a petrol station. So the bus went straight past us
0:38
There was no railings anywhere. Anywhere. What I mean, anywhere. I didn't see any
0:43
So people could just walk on the roads. There was no police presence whatsoever
0:48
Anyway, the bus passed and there was loads of police around the buses
0:54
and as soon as he passed us, there was no police at the back and obviously when the bus passed, everyone just piled onto the road
1:01
and obviously it's a police petrol station there's cars coming and going
1:06
so you could literally drive onto the road with the pedestrians and they're all literally jumping out in front of me
1:13
in front of my car and I was saying to my partner, I go, someone's going to get killed
1:17
there was literally no there was no security or nothing. You could have done anything
1:26
I don't know what it was like further back. Obviously, what's happened, has happened. But judging what I've seen
1:32
there was very much lacklustre police presence behind the parade. And a lack of what
1:42
Barriers? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, well, the police must have been
1:46
aware of hotspots, so to speak. You know, where, like, for instance
1:50
Like I said, I was parked in a garage, a petrol station, so cars come and go
1:55
And they weren't cornered off. They were still running normally. There was people on top of the petrol stations
2:01
There was, you know, people hanging off lampposts or that kind of thing. But most of the police on the ground were walking next to the bus, like surrounded it
2:11
But behind it, there was nothing. So once the buses went past us, everyone just piled on
2:19
there was like a mile of people. And I could, you know, if I was a terrorist
2:23
I could just put my foot down and mow every single one of them down. And I'm not joking
2:28
I've got a dash cam and I couldn't believe it, what was happening. I was like, this is unbelievable
2:33
I said to my partner, I go, someone's going to get killed. People just walking willy-nilly
2:38
yeah, drunk with a kid on their shoulders. And it just takes one
2:42
someone not well you know and that what happened I think Well yeah I mean obviously we not sure We can speculate Stephen Yeah I don want to speculate Yeah I mean let keep it to what we know so far
2:53
In terms of the, I mean, were you working today as a taxi driver? No, no
2:57
I see you. You're regularly a taxi driver in the city, are you? Not just outside the city, but my partner lives in Liverpool
3:05
She's a scouser. We're Liverpool fans. My kids are as well, my two daughters
3:10
so yeah we were you know we went there for a day you know the weather was rubbish but you know
3:16
everyone's having a good time but I had a weird feeling a really weird feeling about the area
3:22
because there was so much emphasis on protecting the bus and the players you know and all that
3:27
stuff which is fine but people just walking you know there was no security just cones and things
3:33
like that and I don't want to you know the Merseide police are amazing they are great police force
3:38
and I don't want to, like, but they've got the ball on this, I'm telling you
3:43
Well, I mean, obviously that's your interpretation of it. That might be a thing there. And you're far closer to it than I am
3:48
and I imagine we'll hear more in the coming days and I'm sure there will be questions of various people
3:53
including Merseyside Police, as we continue to piece together exactly what's happened here
3:57
Did you, were you there at the moment when something had happened
4:01
I mean, how did you find out about what had happened? Well, I don't want to say where me the partner lives. No
4:07
No, but keep it general. We had to drive past Anfield towards that end of Liverpool
4:13
towards Kirby, basically. And what happened was in the town centre, you know
4:19
So basically, I dropped them off, and I've come back to North Wales, where I live
4:27
And, yeah, I got it on the radio, basically. So you weren't aware of anything while you were there
4:32
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'd seen Simon, I'd seen stuff. I just thought, oh, God, what's going on
4:36
and then I'd lose the missed calls because I'd listen to the radio
4:40
I couldn't hear the phone so yeah it's terrible what's happened I'm on the phone now
4:48
Are you hearing from friends and family that live in the city centre
4:52
Have you been in touch? Again I've listed LBC so I was like right my phone's
4:57
blown up so when I get home I'll go for it all I've got it all in film, I've got cameras
5:02
so if the police want any footage to me. The welcome service is getting in touch
5:09
I've got everything. To me, it was a disaster when it happened
5:15
I hate saying that. After what's happened with Hillsborough and things like that
5:20
I don't want to make things worse. I don't want to speculate either, but
5:25
I saw it from a mile off. It just takes one person
5:29
You don do that You don let people just walk on the road and let cars go With your footage Stephen can I recommend you do pass it on to Merseyside Police because they asking for people to call 101 and quote 784
5:44
So you call 101 and quote 784 for any footage or any information that you might have
5:48
in terms of that footage or whatever you've got on your phone images or whatever that may be
5:54
Do send it to Merseyside Police, because they are after all of that
5:58
Kit, you obviously live in the city. What would you like to say? Hi, Henry. Thanks for having me
6:05
What I would like to say is, first and foremost, obviously, it is a horrendous centre what has been an absolutely unbelievable weekend for the city
6:17
Without going into detail, I live right close to Sefton Park, so we're always busy around here because we have so many huge events on
6:24
but throughout this weekend for the three days without without wanting to cite your arrival
6:31
we all know the BBC Radio 1 events took place now I was trying to navigate the park
6:40
literally when you say there's about 120,000 people there is that is no exaggeration but
6:46
the point I want to make and this this is particularly relevant to today also is that
6:52
I heard somebody passing critique about the presence of police and the management of how the whole thing has been run
7:00
Now, I went to the parade today. Now, normally, I am a staunch LFC supporter
7:06
And normally, I do go down to the Strand because it's a brilliant speck
7:11
And they tend to go a little bit slower. But knowing how full the city's been this weekend, we had the three-day festival, which drew hundreds of thousands of people
7:21
Then today, we've got the LFC parade and the Queen Mary and Dock
7:27
So I just thought, no, you're having a giraffe. There's no way I'm not even going to attempt to go into town
7:33
You'd have to walk there and back. And it would have been loose because it would have been pointless
7:38
But my point is, as with the festival that was held at the weekend
7:42
there was a huge, the behaviour, considering there were so many young people
7:47
the behaviour was absolutely exemplary. and there was really high police presence
7:54
And as far as I'm concerned, I decided to go to the beginning of the parade today
7:59
because I knew how busy the town was. And I'll tell you one thing
8:02
the police presence was absolutely massive. I know the city like the back of my hand
8:09
We saw the bus, it was electric, the crowds were fantastic. The atmosphere was just absolutely wonderful
8:16
But the thing was, the police presence was amazing. And to say there were no barriers It like we came home and watched it on telly And knowing the city as do all the important areas that needed to be barricaded were barricaded there were railings
8:29
where they were necessary but you're talking about a 10 mile route they'd be moaning if they barricaded
8:34
every single plane what a waste of taxpayers money but the point is the atmosphere was fabulous the
8:39
police and the way the police managed the crowd i think was absolutely outstanding under very very
8:46
very extreme conditions. You've had three big events in the city over these days
8:51
But the comment that I'm awfully sorry but I didn't even know if I'd
8:56
been hearing correctly. Your earlier recipient Professor Anthony Glees, no one was voicing concerns about them
9:06
As everybody would have caught it. As you say, we're not we are not in
9:11
possession of all of the facts, are we? We absolutely shouldn't speculate. You're right
9:16
Just because you, I mean, the passion with which you speak about the city and the football club
9:23
I just wonder, of course, we know the history, you'll never walk alone with Liverpool
9:29
One of my friends was in the original Gerry and the Pacemakers, called Sam McLaughlin
9:33
And he was involved in the original Gerry and the Pacemakers band. And my other friend, Ian Brodie, is the one who was involved with Baddiel and Skinner and you're coming home
9:42
Well, see, you know, you are Liverpool through and through, Kit. I just wonder, the coming days, I mean, there'll need to be a lot of people supporting those in Liverpool
9:51
And I mean, the city has come together before and it will do again
9:56
Of course, I'm just very glad, at least on this occasion, to avoid Southport's experience repeating itself
10:05
I'm very glad that they have pointed out that he is white, he is male and he is British
10:10
So let's not speculate. But Professor Gleeson's comments when he was citing reasons why people should be worried, when Gleeson turned around and said people are entitled to be worried about not us not taking the medication, and he fell off from Steve
10:25
But did he actually just say that? What's an insensitive way to speak generically about people with mental health concerns
10:31
Well, and you are absolutely right in terms of not speculating. And, of course, we've asked Professor Glees, because he's a security expert, to sort of talk us through what the steps were
10:43
I didn't know he was going to sort of speculate on that front, but you rightly have corrected the record there, Kit
10:48
I'm very grateful to you for calling in and for, well, really just explaining about the city and about what the parade was like today and the really pleasant experience you had at the start of the parade
11:01
And, of course, the absolute, the terrible scenes that we are hearing about that have transpired over the last few hours
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