if you are just if you arejustjoining us, this is the scene live, just outside the palace of westminster, the house of commons, an incident here involving a car, which has crashed into security barriers. the driver has been detained by armed police. they swooped within seconds of this car crashing into the barrier. it is reported that several pedestrians have been injured for them it's not known how seriously. one of them, it appears, was a cyclist. his bicycle has been badly damaged and is still lying on the road. the area is in lockdown, though. emergency services on the scene. these pictures here just up the road from parliament square fulston this is the scene at whitehall. the whole area, as i say, is in lockdown there. police, as

soon as the incident happened outside the palace of westminster which is in recess, so parliamentarians are on holiday at the moment, police racing not only to the scene of the crash, the incident, but also to ten downing st. this is just incident, but also to ten downing st. this isjust outside incident, but also to ten downing st. this is just outside ten incident, but also to ten downing st. this isjust outside ten downing st. this isjust outside ten downing st where the gates are for number ten. it's not clear quite what happened. a partner fact ten. it's not clear quite what happened. a partnerfact armed police very quickly on the scene within seconds, we understand. detaining the driver and we know that several pedestrians have been injured. this is one of the most protected, fiercely guarded areas in central london. just down the road from buckingham palace, of course. normally incredibly busy at this time of day. the morning rush—hour.

and this incident here, coming just over one year after another incident confirmed as a terrorist attack them, involving a jihadist who drove into pedestrians and rammed the gates of parliament in a terror attack in another terror attack. he killed five people including people based in westminster, pc keith palmer. before khalid masood was shot dead by armed police. no confirmation that this is a terrorist incident at the moment, but it is certainly being treated as a potential terrorist incident by security forces in central london. the only statement we've had so far

from the metropolitan police was treated. a short time ago. —— tweeted. so just to look from our aerial shot here, you can see this is the location just outside the main part, almost outside the great hall, i think, of westminster palace, and if you look closely, just against the barriers they are, you can see a silver car on the middle barrier. that is the vehicle that collided

with those barriers and, as we now understand it, has left several pedestrians injured. eyewitnesses speaking to our home affairs editor mark easton who was down at westminster the time, report that the cart seemed to be travelling at speed as it mounted the pavement and went into those barriers, instantaneously, according to eyewitnesses mark was speaking to, armed police swooped, detaining the driver, who has been taken away and, at the same time, police vehicles with sirens blaring headed towards downing street, the residence of course of the prime minister, for our international viewers, to beef up our international viewers, to beef up security outside there. but

parliament square, normally at this time of day, extremely busy in rush—hour, with the traffic, but airy quiet. the police activity and emergency services activity on the ground continues. this is slightly clearer, a slightly clearer shot of the carbon that highlighted circle over it. —— the car. you can see a lot of activity around it but that is the vehicle. we understand it crashed into the barrier, a silver car, the driver now in detention. he was arrested by armed police. this

area normally absolutely packed with people but now in police lockdown. if you are just switching on, if you arejust coming across if you are just switching on, if you are just coming across these pictures for the first time, just to repeat what we know, and that is at 7:37am this morning, a car was in collision with barriers outside the palace of westminster, outside the houses of parliament, armed police immediately on the scene. the male driver of the car detained by officers at the scene. a number of pedestrians have been injured. we don't know how seriously. officers remain, though, at the scene and thatis remain, though, at the scene and that is as much official information that is as much official information that we have tom at the moment. but

worth pointing out of course it was here last year, just over a year ago that the terrorist khalid masood drove into pedestrians and rammed the gates of parliament in a terror attack them. the jihadist was killed along with four other people, including a policeman at westminster, pc keith palmer. khalid masood was shot dead. by armed police. there been other attacks, of course, involving vehicles, as a weapon. in london and around europe and around the world. no confirmation, though, at this time, that this is a terrorist incident.

just the very quick response from security agencies in london after this incident this morning. at 7:47am. we have been speaking to our home affairs editor mark easton. he was down at westminster when this happened. he didn't actually see the incident. but he was speaking to eyewitnesses who said the car appeared to be driving at speed, into the barriers, knocking pedestrians over. and, at the same time as that happened, armed police swooped and detained the driver whilst, at the same time, other police cars with sirens blaring,

made the shortjourney up whitehall to get to number ten downing st. they beefed up security there. the whole of whitehall significantly beefed up by security in the last hour or so fulston this is the incident, according to the metropolitan police, happening at 7:47am. it is now 8:40am, local time, uk time, so normally this area would be a bee hive of activity with rush—hour traffic, lorries, buses, vehicles driving past the palace of westminster which, in the past few yea rs, westminster which, in the past few years, has had this chicane, is a way of describing it, security barriers outside the palace of westminster, just slowing down

traffic down, still allowing it to drive past the house of lords and house of commons, and westminster hall, but slowing it down significantly and preventing any vehicle from picking up any significant speed to be able to sort of crash into the building itself. those barriers not particularly high, but certainly very wide and a very strong. it would be able to stop a very large vehicle deliberately trying to target that building. let's speak to our news correspondence and richard lister, who was in the studio with me now. richard, very early days in this and i appreciate you might not have a lot, than what we know already, but tell us the story as you understand it. as we look at these live pictures from the palace of westminster. as you have been saying, the first report came out on

social media just before 8am this morning. there were a number of eyewitnesses sending in videos and photos on twitter and other social media outlets, which showed something that clearly happened. outside parliament, there reports of ca i’s outside parliament, there reports of cars crashing into barriers, reports ofa cars crashing into barriers, reports of a cyclist apparently injured, so we waited for a while to find out an official confirmation of what had happened and that has come from the metropolitan police who have tweeted that a car was in collision with barriers outside the houses of parliament, a male driver was detained by officers at the scene, a number of pedestrians have been injured, officers remain at the scene, and we issue further information when we have it. now certainly, at this stage, there was no more official confirmation of exactly what happened beyond that information that we have. quite clearly, the police are treating

this as a potential terror attack because to do otherwise i think would be regarded as reckless, given the location and given the situation is there. also, it'sjust over the location and given the situation is there. also, it's just over a year ago, the same building was targeted and five people were killed. in fact, yes, five people killed, the attacker also died, that was in march last year, when khalid masood went in a van basically targeted pedestrians on westminster bridge and then went towards parliament. and he stabbed an officer to death before being shot by officers there, so clearly that sort of incident is very much uppermost in the metropolitan police force's mind as they deal with another situation where a car has hit barriers outside parliament. this is a little different as insofar as the driver of the car we understand was arrested fairly quickly. armed officers swarmed all

over the car, police cars raced in from all directions. the roads surrounding it were quickly sealed off. this was an incident that was contained very quickly. and, just to reinforce that point, we still don't really know what sort of incident this was. no. when i rang the police just before eight o'clock this morning, they indicated at that stage they very didn't know any more thanit stage they very didn't know any more than it was a road traffic accident. but clearly, it could be anything at this stage. these barriers are pretty sturdy, aren't they? they are made of steel and concrete and were installed in the wake of that westminster bridge attack in march last year. just worth pointing out also that, i drive past them most days actually, and those barriers, the way they stream the traffic into that tunnel, it prevents any vehicle picking up a significant amount of speed. to prevent another attack

like this, so for a car to crash into cyclists and have that sort of damage, that would be unusual for this particular area in terms of the traffic control outside such a sensitive building? it's difficult to say exactly what has happened. the area where this car now is according to the cameras we have got on it, isjust on according to the cameras we have got on it, is just on the approach towards the house of lords, the second chamber of parliament, from parliament square. heading out towards chelsea? that's right, it would appear the car order passed the main gates of parliament, which was the focus of the khalid masood attack in march last year, and it looks to be that the car has stopped in an area which is approaching the place where vehicles would be stopped searching before going on to park for the house of lords. now obviously parliament is in recess at the moment, no political activity going on there, which i suppose adds

another dimension to this. we still don't know exactly what has happened with this car, but the fact it has crashed into barriers means it's being taken very seriously. eyewitnesses say several cyclists have been injured. anyone travelling that route to work, you would normally see hundreds of cyclists now travelling down past there because it is a short cut through from embankment to get towards the city. richard lister, our news correspondent with us in the studio, just talking through the latest development as we understand it. still very much in the dark about quite what was behind this incident today which happened at 7:1i7am and we have our news helicopter up as well just looking over we have our news helicopter up as welljust looking over the scene. richard. we have had a tweet from

the metropolitan police saying at this stage officers do not believe that anyone is in a life—threatening condition. it says cordons are in place to assist the investigation. westminster underground station is closed and the roads around there as well. but the good news is the police say they do not believe anybody is in a life—threatening condition. but they are confirming there have been injuries. how many? we do not know at this stage. there we re we do not know at this stage. there were at least one, possibly several cyclists that had been injured. the tweets i saw suggested that some of those injured were alert and talking to medical personnel who were there. police now confirming nobody is in a life—threatening condition. that is one of the busiestjunctions in london, particularly at rush hour. any traffic accident there has potential to cause a number of

casualties, especially considering the popularity of cycling. another correspondent, jonathan blake, is at the scene. he is a parliamentary correspondent for the bbc and he has been talking to an eyewitness. we are at the edge of the police cordon, a few hundred meters down from the houses of parliament and jason saw what happened a little while earlier. tell us what you saw when you were walking past parliament square? i saw a man driving towards the houses of parliament at speed. it was a 20 mile an hour zone and he was going may be at 40—50 miles an hour, maybe more. he has driven into a pollard right outside the houses of parliament. there are the police there. they are guarding parliament. but he has driven into it. in my

opinion it was deliberate. he did not swerve into it. it was a direct hit. how quickly was he driving and how many people were injured?” think there was a cyclist injured. i have seen people on the floor. i don't know if it was their reaction to hit the ground. obviously as londoners are becoming quite experienced at this now u nfortu nately experienced at this now unfortunately so i don't know who was injured or not. but in my opinion i thought this was serious. i have got my phone on me to film it. this is what is going on. i am on my way to work, i am a businessman, i am in sales, on my way to work, i am a businessman, iam in sales, that on my way to work, i am a businessman, i am in sales, that is what i was doing. i don't work for parliament. it looked like the police responded very quickly, what did you see? the specialist police

came in with their 4x4 bmws. in a matter of minutes, in five minutes, i saw five of them coming with their blue lights flashing. they dealt with it, they made an arrest, or arrests. but definitely the main person i think has been arrested. there have been at least two ambulances, fire engines. i commend the police, i do, yes. thank you for telling us what you saw. that is just one eyewitness account of the drama which unfolded outside the houses of parliament here in westminster this morning. the details are still emerging. jonathan can join us live now. details are still emerging. jonathan canjoin us live now. i'm not sure where you are in relation to this cordon, but once again, u nfortu nately,

to this cordon, but once again, unfortunately, london is eerily quiet following an incident in the centre of the cityjust outside the palace of westminster which was attacked in march last year. we are just hearing from the eyewitness that you are speaking to, have you managed to get any more information from people who saw what happened this morning? we have spoken to several now and the picture to be building ofa several now and the picture to be building of a car being driven deliberately from one side of the road deliberately from one side of the roa d a cross deliberately from one side of the road across to the other into a group of cyclists outside the houses of parliament and then it seems into those crash barriers which are permanently on—site outside the palace of westminster here in central london. several people were injured in the attack which understand from the police. my colleague has described those injured sitting in reflective bla nkets injured sitting in reflective blankets opposite the houses of parliament and they are being treated near the scene. as you have seen treated near the scene. as you have seen and can probably see behind me,

there is a heavy police and emergency services response to what happened here outside the houses of parliament a little over an hour ago. we came outside to see what had happened and we were told to get well back. an initial cordon was in place just around the houses of parliament and the surrounding area. that has extended a few hundred metres down the road to the edge of lambeth bridge where i am standing at the moment. it stretches several hundred metres down the road. couege hundred metres down the road. college green opposite parliament is cordoned off and whitehall, which stretches from the houses of parliament up to trafalgar square is also cordoned off by the police. around us now there is a very heavy police presence, several police officers on motorbikes and more vehicles arriving all the time. there are a number of armed officers who have responded to this incident, both in the immediate moment after that crash happened, and we have

seen that crash happened, and we have seen pictures of police officers pointing their rifles into the car involved, and also since then armed police are standing guard at various stages along the cordoned behind me. we saw an ambulance drive through from this end and police cars drive through from this end and there are more sirens and more emergency vehicles arriving all the time. the response to this incident outside parliament is still very much under way. stay with us. we have just seen an ambulance go behind you. we are hearing from scotland yard that fortu nately hearing from scotland yard that fortunately there were no vitality is. does it sound as if some of the cyclists caught up in this were walking wounded rather than potentially anything much more serious? as far as we can tell at this stage from the initial information we have from the police and what eyewitnesses have told us,

that seems to be the case. one eyewitness described people on the ground around the car after it hit the barriers. it was not clear whether they had been injured or whether they had been injured or whether they had been injured or whether they had been told to get down on the ground by the armed police who responded very quickly. it seems at this stage at least, thankfully, there have been no fatalities, just minor injuries. but i have to stress the details of how many people were caught up in it are very unclear. the police and the emergency services response is still very much in full flow and it will be some time before we ascertain how many people were involved or exactly what happened. a picture building from several eyewitness accounts that a car was deliberately driven into cyclists and crashed into barriers outside parliament. no official confirmation this was a terrorist incident. that is what eve ryo ne terrorist incident. that is what everyone fears, given what happened in march last year when khalid

masood injured several people, and killed others before being shot dead himself as he tried to break into the palace of westminster. jonathan blake, thank you very much indeed. let's speak to tom mcnamee who joins us on let's speak to tom mcnamee who joins us on the telephone as we look at this picture of the houses of parliament. where were you and what did you see? i was coming down from the millbank end of westminster and i looked up to see a car in the barrier about 50 yards away. i notice the armed police were approaching the vehicle and immediately the uniformed police we re immediately the uniformed police were calmly ushering people back from the area, trying to create a perimeter which i understand had been immediately afterwards. what did you see in terms of who was inside the car? did you see the man

being arrested? inside the car? did you see the man being arrested ? explain inside the car? did you see the man being arrested? explain what you saw. the only thing i saw was the car in the barrier. i did not see any casualties or anything like that lying around, just the car in the barrier and the police response. how badly damaged was the car? the front end was smashed in. it had bounced into the barrier. but there did not seem into the barrier. but there did not seem to be any panic in the area. just the armed police approaching the vehicle, something bad was going on. i don't know how well you know that stretch of road, i drive down it most days and people familiar will know it as well. this was an area just past the main gate into

parliament, it was the car moving away from the palace of westminster? it is on the millbank side and it was in the barrier. i did not see the incident itself. wye right, and where are you now and what can you see at the moment? immediately eve ryo ne see at the moment? immediately everyone was encouraged to get away from the scene and to carry on with the day. westminster and around the area is on a bit of a lockdown, you cannot get into the area. i got on another tube and as you go to westminster there were people in the underground and i presume people can get around that way. were you in london last yearfor get around that way. were you in london last year for another attempt on the palace of westminster? no, i was not in london at that point.

there was a real sense of calmness about the whole situation. everyone is aware of terrorism and things, but there was not any sort of mass panic in the area. no, and it is obviously quiet now in terms of rush—hour traffic, but a big security operation continuing their just on the ground. tom, thank you very much for talking to us. richard lister, our news correspondent is in the studio looking at these pictures with us now. according to four eyewitnesses, not necessarily the last one, but the one before, it does appear as far as they were concerned that this was a deliberate collision, a deliberate attempt to drive into the barriers. if that is the case, and it has not been

officially confirmed, it would u nfortu nately set officially confirmed, it would unfortunately set a pattern not only in the uk, but around unfortunately set a pattern not only in the uk, butaround europe unfortunately set a pattern not only in the uk, but around europe and the world. it would. as you say, the idea of driving a vehicle into groups of people has become a very simple weapon of choice for some extremists prepared to use violence to make their point. i think it is worth pointing out one caveat. last october there was something of a similar situation outside the british museum in london when a car was driven at speed into a crowd of people, and ii was driven at speed into a crowd of people, and 11 people were injured and eyewitnesses then said they felt the car had been deliberately targeting them, but in fact the driver was also arrested in that case and the police said it was not a terrorist incident and it seems the driver was taken ill. the response to that british museum incident was exactly the same. the scene was very incident was exactly the same. the

scene was very quickly surrounded by armed police, it was regarded as potentially a high—profile target and for the best part of 12 hours or so and for the best part of 12 hours or so people did not know whether they we re so people did not know whether they were looking at the aftermath of another terrorist attack. it turned out that it was an accident, so we should bear that in mind. exactly, we have no confirmation either way about this, apart from the fact that we know a car was driven into this barrier. we know unfortunately some pedestrians have been injured, but fortu nately pedestrians have been injured, but fortunately nobody has been killed in this incident. we also understand the driver of the car has been detained, armed police, as you would expect from the location, were very quickly on the scene. that man is in custody and the police operation around the palace of westminster continues. hello.

it's tuesday. it's nine o'clock. i'm victoria derbyshire. welcome to the programme. a man has been arrested after a car crashed into security barriers outside the houses of parliament atjust after 7.30 this morning. a number of pedestrians have been injured, and the area remains on lockdown. we'll have the latest. police chiefs in staffordshire tell this programme they fear it's only a matter of time before someone dies from the synthetic drug "monkey dust", so—called because it makes people think they have superhuman strength, and can climb like monkeys.