this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. good morning from westminster. a man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a car crashed into barriers outside the houses of parliament during the morning rush hour. he was going pretty fast, in my opinion. i think it is a 20 to 30 mph zone, he was going at maybe 40 to 50 mph. two people were hurt, they've been taken to hospital by london ambulance who say their injuries aren't serious. it was very strange because once he hit cyclist, he accelerated. you would have thought he would have tried to put the brakes on but he swerved across and accelerated towards the barrier. a man in his 20s was arrested at the scene, and the police say they are treating it as a terrorist incident. prime minister theresa may said her thoughts were with those injured and thanked the emergency services for their "immediate and courageous" response. hello from westminster. where there

isa hello from westminster. where there is a lockdown at the moment. roads sealed off around the houses of parliament as is the underground station. at the scene down there where the vehicle collided with crash barriers, forensic work is going on. there were a lot of armed police around the security cordon. armed police have now gone but still a heavy police presence here at westminster. let's talk you through the chain of events as we understand them. the incident happened just outside the palace of westminster

and this was at 7:37am, just as people were heading into work in central london. we gather that the car involved, which was a ford fiesta hatchback, was travelling westbound passed the houses of parliament when it swerved into eastbound traffic, hitting security barriers. the whole of the area has now been cordoned off by police. several cyclists were hit when the car collided with them. two people we re car collided with them. two people were treated at the scene and were taken to hospital but the london ambulance service and police saying that their injuries are not thought to be serious or life—threatening. the police have arrested a man, they say he is in his late 20s, he is being held at a police station in london. they are questioning him on suspicion of terrorism offences. the prime minister has already been talking about what has happened here is saying in a tweet that her

thoughts are with all those who have been injured in this collision, this car crash at westminster, thanking the emergency services for their immediate and courageous response. and the metropolitan police are saying that their counterterrorism command are investigating this incident. it is being treated as a terror related incident. it follows that incident at westminster bridge last year and a year after that security is much tighter than it was then and it is pretty clear that the armed police intervened very, very quickly after this incident happened. we can hear now from one eyewitness who saw what happened, barry williams. i heard a commotion and turned around to see a silver car heading towards to cyclists on the wrong side of the road. they were parked waiting for the lights to change. he hit the cyclists then swerved over towards where the safety barrier is, where police make sure cars go through, and accelerated and hit it at quite high speed.

what was your impression? was it a deliberate act? well, it it seemed to... i wasn't sure whether he meant to hit the cyclists, they may have just been in the way, but he accelerated hard towards the barrier. and what was the reaction of the police at that point? what did you see? the police were very fast. they vaulted over the safety barrier and headed towards the car, followed by lots of armed police who were in the area. what also happened was the police started a cordon. not only did the police go towards the car, the police headed away to try to block off people walking towards us. and what about the car? we saw video of armed officers encircling the vehicle. it is strange, when he hit the barrier, there was a lot of smoke and it hit it with quite a jolt, it actually came off the ground and landed again because it is quite a light car, but we're not sure.

they rushed to the scene, grabbed the bloke, but then they seemed to walk away. and what about you? what did you do? well, obviously, we were pushed back. after the police first got to the car, they then turned around and started to push us back towards where the lights were and that is when i walked past and saw lots of pedestrians standing there, but also the cyclists, there was a few on the ground. some were holding their arms, but there were bikes everywhere. and what about at the moment of the collision? presumably, given events here in westminster in the last year or two, a frightening moment. it was frightening, but that is why i was walking backwards and not standing too close to the car. you are not sure who is in the car. and there is a scene on the ground, the cyclists, can you give us an idea of the numbers, the scene at that set of lights whether cyclists had been? there were about ten cyclists waiting for the lights to change. i don't think he hit all of them. he hit about four or five and there was bikes everywhere. i was very impressed, one of the cyclists got up and started to chase the car. good heavens. yes. there was one on the ground which was being treated and two

or three were just sitting there holding their arms against posts and stuff. and what was your sense of the motive, if there was one, behind this? could it have been an accident? well, if it was it was very strange because once he hit the cyclist, he accelerated. you would have thought he would try to put the brakes on, but he swerved across and accelerated towards the barrier. unless he was trying to get away from the scene, perhaps? he was a very bad driver then. and as someone who has worked in westminsterfor a long time, you would, of course, have been around during the westminster bridge attack last year, what was going through your mind when you saw this incident? it looked like an attack. it was a fairly feeble one because it is a small car, but it did look to drive up the barrier. and the reaction of the police at that point, obviously, this area has an awful lot of armed police at all times, and it does appear that they responded very quickly and in numbers. they did. and also it seemed well rehearsed. as i said, police ran towards the car, but also, some ran away to stop people walking towards where the car was. that was one eyewitness talking to oui’ that was one eyewitness talking to our home editor. the speed of the

response from the police around westminster. security has been stepped up after the westminster bridge attack. they do rehearse for incidents like this which the metropolitan police say they are treating as terror related. the man who has been arrested in his 20s is being held at a south london police station on suspicion of terror offences. our correspondentjonathan blake has been at the scene and spoken with an eyewitness. we are at the edge of the police cordon in a few hundred metres down the road from the houses of parliament here in westminster and jason saw what happened a little while earlier. just tell us what you saw when you are walking past parliament this morning. basically, i have seen a man driving towards houses of parliament at speed. he was going pretty fast, in my opinion. you know, ithink it is a 20 mph to 30 mph zone

and he was going at maybe a0 to 50 mph, maybe more. and he has driven into the bollard right outside the houses of parliament. there is police there, obviously, police are guarding parliament, but he has driven into it and, in my opinion, it was deliberate. it wasn't. .. he didn't swerve into it, it was a direct hit. how quickly was he driving and how many people were injured? could you see? i think there was a cyclist injured, i have seen people on the floor, i don't know if they were told or if it that was their reaction to hit the ground, because obviously us londoners are becoming quite experienced and this now, u nfortu nately. so i don't know who was injured or not, but in my opinion, i thought this is serious. i didn't have my phone on me to actually film it,

but this is what is going on. i am on my way to work, i am a businessman, i do sales, so that is what i was doing. i don't work for parliament or anything like that. and it looks like the police responded very quickly, what did you see of the emergency response? the police, the specialist police, they have come in the 4x4 bmw 5 series. in a matter of minutes, in five minutes, i have seen five of them coming with their blue lights flashing, they dealt with it, they have made an arrest or arrests, but definitely the main person has been arrested. there has been at least two ambulances, there were fire engines, so yes, i commend the police, yes, i do. thank you for telling us what you saw. so that is just one eyewitness account of the drama which unfolded outside the houses of parliament here in westminster this morning. the details of which are still emerging.

that is our political correspondent who works at our westminster offices here and was he a very shortly after it happened at 7:37am this morning. we have some pictures that i want to show you that were filmed from a camera we have high up over the palace of westminster. it was rolling at the time and you can just see the vehicle swerving onto the wrong side of the road before it then collides with those security barriers outside the palace of westminster. the man who was inside that silver ford fiesta hatchback then very quickly being arrested because all the eyewitnesses have spoken about the speed of the response of armed police who are of course trained to deal with this kind of incident, moving with great speed, very decisively. theresa may,

the prime minister, has been praising their immediate and courageous response. that man has been arrested and taken to a south london police station, being questioned, police say, on suspicion of terror offences. let's go now to the met police headquarters at new scotland yard and speak to our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. i think we may be getting a statement from the police fairly shortly, what more can you tell us? assista nt shortly, what more can you tell us? assistant commissioner is in charge of cou nters assistant commissioner is in charge of counters terrorism policing in the uk is expected to come down and given on camera update in about 20 minutes or so, sometime around 11:30am. these things tend to be variable. as you say, a man in his 20s is thought to be the person driving the car has now been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences. i understand this is somebody who has come across the radar a couple of times before so it is not somebody that is completely unknown to police in the world of

counterterrorism and extremism. he is currently being questioned at a police station in south london will stop no charges are being talked about at this stage, but it is clearly early days. it is worth reminding people that in the early hour of this incident, police were talking about having an open mind and counterterrorism were investigating as a matter of caution. partly that has changed because of witness accounts and video showing what the vehicle did in the build—up to it crashing into the barrier. police will be looking to get a good explanation from the driver of the car as to why it is that he drives in that manner. as the day goes on, if a good explanation does not come, this is clearly lea ni ng explanation does not come, this is clearly leaning towards it being regarded as a deliberate attack on

the cyclists police jumping out of the cyclists police jumping out of the way or on parliament itself. and a deliberate attack, potentially, that could have been so much worse. we know there were injuries and some people taken to hospital, but none of the injuries serious. certainly no fatalities. i suppose for the police and everybody else, a measure of relief at that. it is so different, isn't it, to when we were having these conversations back in march and june last year when there we re march and june last year when there were multiple deaths on westminster bridge and on london bridge and borough market. he is somebody appears to have used a vehicle to deliberately drive into people in central london right at the gates of the houses of parliament itself but we appear to have a situation where those injured have only minor

injuries, and critically, the driver of the vehicle appears largely on eejit, has not had to be shot —— largely on injured. the man who has been detained is in his early 20s —— in his late 20s and is held at a police station in south london. obviously, very early stages of this investigation, but we should get a formal update from the commissioner at 11:30am. daniel, we saw the speed of the response of the armed police in the area around the palace of mass winston —— palace of westminster. security has been stepped up since last year. westminster. security has been stepped up since last yeahm westminster. security has been stepped up since last year. it has been very noticeable this morning. i got here within half an hour or so of the incident and the way that it was being managed here on the embankment outside new scotland yard which isjust 100 metres from parliament, which isjust100 metres from parliament, was very, very different

to when the westminster incident happened in march last year. obviously, last year, they were dealing with multiple casualties but there was a controlled and preplanned this is what we do, this is how we go about it, it was a controlled expansion of the cordon, armed officers on the scene very quickly, but also a lot of armed officers manning the outer cordon. there was essentially a quick lockdown of parliament when nobody was allowed in or out and then there was allowed in or out and then there was an easing of the cordon once they had the situation under control. people quite quickly being allowed to go back into their offices. it does look like quite a lot of work has been done on what you do when incidents like these happen around westminster and central london itself. it is certainly a lot of resources have been thrown quickly at this. we are

situation, thankfully, where nobody has died and the injuries do not sound to be serious. certainly not life—threatening. and at this daughter of stage, was this potentially a attack by a lone wolf oran potentially a attack by a lone wolf or an organised plot or conspiracy? will the terror threat level be raised? all sorts will the terror threat level be raised ? all sorts of will the terror threat level be raised? all sorts of questions but it isa raised? all sorts of questions but it is a very early stage for all of that. yes, there are a few indications at this stage. there is a suggestion, as i said, from some sources that this is somebody that police have come across before. i think that gives you an indication that it think that gives you an indication thatitis think that gives you an indication that it is somebody was some degree of known extremist links at the very least. but there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of concern that this isa a huge amount of concern that this is a serious, large—scale attack. that tends to go towards the lone wolf kind of incident. it is at the lower level, i think,

wolf kind of incident. it is at the lower level, ithink, in wolf kind of incident. it is at the lower level, i think, in a sense. i think that is because people have not been killed so by definition this is something that has caused less immediate concern. it feels to me at this very early stage like the sort of low—level, lone wolf kind of incident by somebody that had come across the police radar on occasion before. all right, for the moment, thank you very much. that is our home affairs correspondent at scotla nd home affairs correspondent at scotland yard. we are expecting to hear a little bit more from the metropolitan police perhaps in the next few minutes so we will bring that to you as soon as that news conference happens. if it does happen. in the meantime... chris phillips, former head of the national counter terrorism security office is with me now. he is in central london. thank you for being with us. what are your thoughts this morning after this attack? as we have been saying, it has caused some injuries but nothing serious or life—threatening and

certainly no fatalities. and that is a really good thing, obviously. analysing that video that we have just seen, it appears that he is trying to go around parliament square and takes a last—minute delays into parliament itself. i also notice right behind the vehicle was an ambulance with the blue lights on, so there is a possibility that he was looking at doing an attack somewhere and then made a last—minute decision when he saw the blue lights. this is the area that the police will be investigating now. what we do know is that the security has worked and that security has worked and that security apparatus that is around parliament is really high quality stuff. it is designed to stop vehicles and 50, 60,70 mph, and it worked really well. that is a good thing. police now we'll be looking

at the next stage which is his background and why he would do this. and not only the security barriers around the palace of westminster working, but also the footage we have seen from mobile phone footage and so one, armed police on the scene really quickly and making an arrest very, very rapidly indeed. this is the most defended building in the country, so you would expect officers to be on the scene very quickly. they acted brilliantly. you have to bear in mind that all police officers know that when you have an attack of that nature, there is a real possibility that that vehicle is packed with explosives, so what you saw is police officers taking their lives into their hands to protect people. that is kind of what we expect of police officers, but we should not take it for a granted. a brilliantjob done should not take it for a granted. a brilliant job done by should not take it for a granted. a brilliantjob done by them. the impact of heating the barium has probably put the money into shock. it gave the officer is an

opportunity to react quicker than he could. and we have talked about a measure of relief that there weren't more serious injuries and i suppose interesting that the vehicle in this case in what appeared to be a silver ford fiesta hatchback, not a large vehicle, certainly not any kind of a van or truck that would have done a lot more damage. absolutely. and it does hint at a lack of planning, maybe this was part of the planning, maybe this was part of the planning, maybe this was his hostile reconnaissance that he was doing to see the best opportunity to attack in london and got spooked. we don't know yet. what we do know is that terrorists don't always think sensibly. they react as other people would in moments of panic, and what we have got is a set of defences around the palace of westminster that have worked. the police officers worked really well and we should be celebrating that. i know we have had some people injured, but

if you have a terrorist attack in a major city, which only ends up with a few people with light injuries, then we have all been very lucky indeed. we are just hearing that the government's cobra emergency committee is going to be meeting to discuss this this afternoon. not surprisingly. is there any question, do you think, of the terror threat level being increased or is that not likely to happen. that will give us a best indication as to whether this isa a best indication as to whether this is a person working completely on his own whether the police think that there is other people in his group or bank that may be about to launch other attacks. if the threat level goes up, then we can read into that that this person is not actually a lone actor but actually somebody in a group. but it too early for that. we are speculating. the important thing is that we have got away with this one. we should be thankful and thank our police and security services for keeping us

safe. and chris phillips, former head of the national security office, what you think of security around palace of westminster? is the lesson that having been improved after last year at westminster bridge, that it has done itsjob, that it bridge, that it has done itsjob, thatitis bridge, that it has done itsjob, that it is as good as it can be due think there needs to be further tightening up? the palace of westminster is clearly an iconic side which terrorists as few as an attractive attack. the further you can push vehicles away from the site, the scene, the buildings, the better. ideally, you would have that com pletely better. ideally, you would have that completely pedestrianised. of course that doesn't stop other potential threats to the building, but it does ta ke threats to the building, but it does take away the threat of vehicle

bombs. personally, iwould like take away the threat of vehicle bombs. personally, i would like to see the whole area pedestrianised. i think that would be good for parliament, but what that does do is move the threat of further away and the threat is still there and we have got to be aware of that. and there is always this debate about security being balanced with liberty and to what extent we should allow attacks like this, if that is what it turns out to be, a terror attacks, to change our way of life, to change the way of life of the palace of westminster and the heart of british democracy. and maybe moving traffic away from that or somehow isolating the palace of westminster would send the wrong signal, some people might argue. some people might argue that, i would argue the other way that it would argue the other way that it would improve the area considerably. but, listen, these are matters for government. from the police perspective, they do with the tools that they are given and the barriers we re that they are given and the barriers were placed around the palace of

westminster in about 2004 or 2005 and that was from the al-qaeda threat of vehicle bombs attacking big ben and the palace. they have done theirjob, let's be frank about that. of course, you are never going to have a situation where individuals walking on pavements or cycling on footpaths and run cycle paths are going to be completely safe from some madman who decides to run them over. the important thing is then that you have the correct police response and what we have seen today is a brilliant police response that has dealt with the situation perfectly. because of that, we have got very few people injured and that is a matter to be celebrated. we had those horrific terror attacks in manchester, london bridge, westminster, a lot of fatalities, and since then, i suppose, perhaps the work of the security forces receiving a lot less

publicity but clearly they are working all to keep the country safe and to keep their eyes on potentially thousands of terror suspects in the uk. yes, and this attack, actually, demonstrates how difficult it is for the security services because here is a man who was driving around parliament square and would not have committed an offence until the moment he decided to turn left and knock those cyclists over. that is a point that the police can interdict on somebody like this unless he has committed other offences in the past. we are asking the police and security services to do a pretty much impossiblejob to services to do a pretty much impossible job to keep us safe, but what we see ben is the reaction of the police to an incident and the reaction today was so good that we can all be pleased with that. but we are never going to get away from the fa ct are never going to get away from the fact that people can jump into a vehicle and knock people over. daniel stanford was suggesting that

this man involved may have been on the radar in some form. that is a lwa ys the radar in some form. that is always a problem because you have some people who are strongly on the radar and other people who are on the periphery and it is always a question of how many resources you devote to carrying out surveillance on those people perhaps more on the periphery. absolutely. if you think about 23 thousand people but i on the periphery who could at any stage drug intoa the periphery who could at any stage drug into a vehicle and do something like this and 3000 people plus who area like this and 3000 people plus who are a real threat to society, this isa are a real threat to society, this is a big issue. as i said before, we are asking the police to do a pretty much impossiblejob are asking the police to do a pretty much impossible job to are asking the police to do a pretty much impossiblejob to monitor all of those people, and we have got to weigh up the circumstances. if this vehicle had been followed explosives and people had died, then we will be talking completely differently today. we have to be realistic as to what we can protect, how we can protect it with the resources that are required, and the police and security services do it and this is thejob of identifying security services do it and this is

the job of identifying those people that are most likely to attack at any given moment. that is why we have seen so few attacks.|j any given moment. that is why we have seen so few attacks. i know it isa have seen so few attacks. i know it is a very labour—intensive job to carry out surveillance around the clock on potential suspects, do you think the security services have the resources they need or is it a question that they will never have all the resources that they ideally need? they will never have all the resources they need to keep was com pletely resources they need to keep was completely safe. we're asking them to do an impossiblejob. at this time, when the threat level is so high so many people are prepared to do ridiculous things such as we have seen this morning, i think to not fully fund the police forces around the country to protect it is com pletely the country to protect it is completely insane. i think the government really needs to get their act together and make sure that not only funding counterterrorism sections, but funding the police officers that are going to pick up

the threats in their communities across the country, it is insane what is happening around our country with policing. really good to talk to you and get your thoughts and analysis. former head of the national counterterrorism security office. we are expecting a news conference or a statement from new scotla nd conference or a statement from new scotland yard in the next few minutes. we will bring that you live as soon as that happens, but in the meantime, my colleague the carrier derbyshire has been speaking to an eyewitness who saw events unfold here this morning at the palace of westminster. approaching parliament square at around that time coming down and stopped at a traffic light and turned left. as they came around the corner, i could see on the right—hand side where the traffic lights are on the opposite side of the road, that there was a cyclist that had unfortunately been injured and hitand

that had unfortunately been injured and hit and a number of other cyclists and it around. there was a couple of pedestrians to that injured person. as i carried on, obviously you slow down to see what is happening, as i carried on down, i was told to get off my bike by a police officer. he looked like a police officer. he looked like a police officer. he looked like a police officer by himself and he said to me to get off the bike and move back and go back up the road. they mentioned that there was an incident. as i got off my bike, i could see in the distance there was a car in the barrier, there was smoke, it seemed to me like it had just happened. as i then dismounted my bike and what across the road, i felt it was a serious incident and my first instinct with a young son and wife at home wanted to get away from the scene. i could see the injured cyclist on the road, appear

to bea injured cyclist on the road, appear to be a lady in the recovery position was being seemed to by paramedics. i walked across the road towards westminster abbey, there were fire engines and response vehicles coming towards the scene. i at continued to walk up that roads, i ringed my boss to let them know i was ok, anticipating the news coverage. i continued to get away from the scene, if i'm honest, got back on my bike and cycled around the back of westminster abbey towards work. i stopped at some traffic lights with fellow cyclists, and one of them, i presume, had seen something, said the car had come across the road deliberately, hit the cyclist. there was some talk of smoke and some

suggestions and concerns around devices, which i can completely not collaborate. that's what i saw. and when you say other cyclists told you the car had come across the road, can you tell if the car that ended up can you tell if the car that ended up at the barrier would have had to drive on the wrong side of the road when you saw the injured cyclist on the floor? coming from where i was coming from, the coral toe was on the opposite side of the road. —— the opposite side of the road. —— the karel toe was on the opposite side of the road, you would be on the other side of the one—way system. so from where i saw it, it does look like that could clearly have happened. as i say, one i

walked up towards westminster abbey, there was no other injured people, there's only two ways you can drive there. the side you would come across, you would avoid the traffic lights on that site. it does seem plausible that would be the case. how do you reflect on the aftermath of what you witnessed? normally i would be coming through about five minutes earlier than that, but fortu nately for minutes earlier than that, but fortunately for myself, the lock on my bike wouldn't open when i got on this morning, meaning i missed my train by about two minutes. so i feel lucky, i'm glide to hear that war cyclists are injured in a major way and it does put things in perspective with a young family at home. so i'm british cup but i am

glad those people are ok. —— i'm pretty shook up. the latest here from westminster where wallace as saying a man in his 20s are now under arrest under suspicion of terrorist offences. he is being held ata terrorist offences. he is being held at a south london police station after a pole collided with a cyclist outside westminster. he appeared to ram the security barriers at the palace of westminster and the man inside that vehicle, a silver ford fiesta, was quickly arrested by armed police. a number of eyewitnesses have talked about the speed at which the armed police intervened and managed to take that man into custody. we can talk now to the former commons deputy speaker, nigel evans, who is here with me just outside the police cordon. this

is as close as we can get to the alice of westminster. nigel, what are your thoughts? bywords on television and have monitors there, we we re television and have monitors there, we were able to see whether the call was and we knew that normally there would be police there and that vehicle would have followed the route into the car park for the house of lords. clearly at 7:30am, and we're in recess, i'm not ashok there any police there, though they certainly weren't shortly afterwards. there are constantly police around the parliamentary estate now, they were on the scene would play. it was chaos for people who work in parliament today, my staff and i were working from home today, which is quite a right, safer today, which is quite a right, safer to work from home. but the only people in parliament at this time

during a recess with the cleaners and canteen staff, the chances of any members of parliament being on site would be scarce, i would say. the other thing is, when he rounded the barrier, where would he go next? once you've got through that barrier, the chances of getting any further our remotes, because there are barriers all the way along that route. the security there are clearly worried today, and i am grateful to those forces for doing what they did —— clearly worked today. i'm sure that the pedestrianisation of parliament square in which vehicles should be able to access closely will be reignited. security was tightened up after last year, this appears to be the second attack in two years on the second attack in two years on the heart of british democracy. how worried are you about that? very

worried. this is something the deputy speaker and speaker co nsta ntly deputy speaker and speaker constantly look at. not just the security of our democracy, but there are thousands of people working on the estates, cleaners to restaurant workers to researchers, my own staff, it's all got to be looked at to make sure people are able to go about their normal duties and also for reddish tomography, and that is the home —— for british democracy, to function properly. i'm absolutely certain there will be meetings taking place now where people are again looking at the security of parliament. how shocked are you that this has happened, in the wake of what happened last year, is london prepared embracing itself for possible terror attacks all the time? well, you have to. when i first got elected in 1992, there weren't any of those barriers around

parliament as there are now. they are there to ensure you can't ram raid, which is what this person tried this morning. security over at 26 year period has been stepped up, and any time there is an incidence, they look again at it. the tragic death of the police officer last year and the people who died on westminster bridge has led to further security measures taking place so there is now basically an iron girder both sides of westminster bridge to ensure vehicles cannot access the pavement any more. i'm sure again they will look at what is necessary, but i had to say, he was prevented from getting his vehicle any further than that first barrier, we should be grateful for that, the police that first barrier, we should be gratefulfor that, the police were armed with machine guns, which you never saw in 1992, they are now

regularly. them on the scene within a matter of moments, that speed is exemplary and we should be grateful for what they've done. in your view, if it were all pedestrianise, with that altered the nature of the heart of democracy? is important vehicles can drive pass, or would not bother you? no, if they are a terrorist threats, we should look at it. clearly, if you have a vehicle with explosives in its passing parliaments, but is a huge danger to eve ryo ne parliaments, but is a huge danger to everyone who works around our democracy. let's look at it again to see which vehicles should be able to access close to the estate, and it may well be, and have it does protect our democracy, we perhaps should see no vicault access except perhaps for the disabled to access

the parliamentary building. perhaps for the disabled to access the parliamentary buildingm perhaps for the disabled to access the parliamentary building. it seems this man may have been on the police radar, i read confident they have the resources they need to keep an eye on all the people they need to? it begs the question, doesn't it? almost an una nswerable it begs the question, doesn't it? almost an unanswerable question, the code you can travel the amount of money being spent and still someone will slip under the radar. —— you can treble the amount of money. the intelligence services need to see what they are asking for and we need to make certain they have the resources they need. we don't want to put their lives in any unnecessary danger than they already are in protecting parliament. the overwhelming sense this morning is relief that it could have been worse. there could have been a bigger vehicle, more casualties, ilott weiss? it could have been a bigger tragedy. ilott weiss? it could have been a

biggertragedy. hopefully, people have been knocked down and not badly injured, some have been taken to hospital, but we hope they will be fine, and we must be grateful that the systems but in place because of other events seem to have worked, but we need to make sure our democracy is properly protected. thank you so much. to recount situation, we're at the police cordon outside the palace of westminster. it began at 7:37am. the events of the morning as they did unfold, others are saying this was a terror—related incident. there doesn't seem to be any doubt about that. it happened outside the palace of westminster at around 7:37am, just as people were heading to work in central london. the car was a

silver ford fiesta, travelling originally westbound past parliaments, then suddenly swerved into eastbound traffic, hit cyclists, towards security barriers, and that's where it came to a halt. some eyewitnesses say it was travelling around 40mph. police at the scene arrested a man they say was in his 20s. they are questioning him on suspicion of terrorism offences. he's being held at a south london police station. we see that armed police intervened and very quickly. theresa may is saying her thoughts are with the injuries and thanking the urgency serviced for their immediate and courageous response. you know some of those injured were cyclists on their way to work. they were stopped at traffic lights when the vehicle

rammed into them. sell a traffic lights when the vehicle rammed into them. sella number of cyclists injured, but two people taken to hospital. we'rejust getting a statement from guy's and st thomas' nhs foundation trust on the casualties, let me read that to you. a statement saying... this statement from the prime minister as well, raising the immediate and courageous response of the security forces and armed police on the scene, very quickly indeed, to make that arrest outside the

palace of westminster. also saying her thoughts are with those injured and taken to hospital. there is going to be a meeting of cobra emergency committee, it always set up emergency committee, it always set up any kind of terror attack. we gather that is going to be at 2pm this afternoon, we will keep you posted on that. also keep you posted ona posted on that. also keep you posted on a statement we are expecting from new scotland yard imminently on more details on what has unfolded here this morning. we can hearfrom one eyewitness. i heard a commotion and turned around to see a car auto heading toward cypress point waiting for the light to change. he accelerated and hit a cyclist at

high—speed. accelerated and hit a cyclist at high-speed. what is your impression, was it a deliberate attack?|j high-speed. what is your impression, was it a deliberate attack? i am not sure if the intended to hit the cyclist, they may have just been in the way, but he suddenly intended to hit the barrier. the police were fast, vaulted over the barrier followed by lots of armed police in the area. but the police not only headed towards us but also way to stop people walking towards the area. armed officers encircle the vehicle? when it hit the barrier, there was a lot of smoke... we're going to interrupted because that new scotland yard conference is getting under way, let's listen in. .. collision in front of the houses of parliament is, that vehicle collided with cyclists before

hitting a barrier and coming to a stop. two people have been taken to hospital, one man has already been discharged and one woman remains in hospital with serious but thankfully non—life—threatening injuries. another man was treated at the senior did not hospital treatment. the driver of the fiesta, who was alone in the vehicle, was arrested at the scene by armed officers. the man is in his late 20s, arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences and has been taken to a south london police station where he remains in custody. given that this appears to bea custody. given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic sites, we are treating it as a terrorist incident in the investigation is being led by office rs in the investigation is being led by officers from the counterterrorism department. no weapons have been found at this time. at this early stage of the investigation, no other suspects at the scene had been

identified or reported to the police. there is no intelligence at this time of further danger to londoners or the rest of the uk, connected to this incident. our priority now is to formally established identity of the suspect and established his motivation, if we can. he is not currently cooperating. however, as you would expect, detectives from counterterrorism and making other, urgent enquiries to ensure there is no outstanding risk to the public. i urge anyone who thinks they may have information that may assist the investigation to call us we thank the many people who have already come forwards. similarly, if you have captured any images of this incidence, please upload them to us on our website. clearly, we are

treating the scene and parliament as a crime scene, so cordons are likely to be in place for some time as the investigation team look into what happens. i reject this has caused a good deal of disruption this morning to people who live, work or visit this area. thank you for your understanding why we deal with this incident. will be working as quickly and diligently as possible to reopen the area, but in the meantime, i ask the area, but in the meantime, i ask the public try to avoid parliament square and westminster at this time. the city of the public is always our top priority, and the met will continue to do all we can to protect the public of london. as always, the public to remain vigilant and if you see some, causes you concern, please dial 999. i inhabited the questions.

were officers already in prosciutto the vehicle when it collided with cyclists —— in pursuit of the vehicle? byes i've heard this morning, there was not... the vehicle appears to have driven deliberately two police officers, does it look as though the driver was targeting them specifically? we cannot say that at this time, but it does appear to be a deliberate act. is some someone counterterrorism officers were aware of biggest week? we haven't formally identified him yet, so it is too early to make that judgment. on the information held at the moment,... judgment. on the information held at the moment, . .. thank judgment. on the information held at the moment,... thank you very much. that was the assistant commissioner

of the metropolitan police, briefing the press on the latest. first of all on the casualties, three people it seems injured altogether after that vehicle collided with cyclists who were waiting at traffic lights just across the road from the palace of westminster. by this saying one man is still being treated in hospital at st thomas is across the river. another has been discharged from hospital. at the scarcity was treated at the senior but didn't need to go to hospital, so it is a risk free casualties altogether, one still in hospital, though not with serious injuries. the man who has been arrested, police as saying he is in his late 20s, he was arrested

by armed police and taken to a south london police station where he is being questions. the assistant commissioner was saying there were police are trying to find out his identity and also his motivation for what happens here at the palace of westminster. they say at the moment he is not currently cooperating, in other words, not giving them any a nswe rs other words, not giving them any a nswers to other words, not giving them any answers to their questions. they are making a lot of enquiries. our home affairs correspondence earlier said it does appear at this man was on the radar of the security services. the police also saying this whole area, which is clearly still in lockdown, is going to still be in lockdown, is going to still be in lockdown for some time. the whole area around parliament square and westminster, roads sealed off and the police say they appreciate the disturbance to the public but there isa disturbance to the public but there is a lot of forensic work needing donein is a lot of forensic work needing done in the coming hours or days.

returning to our home affairs correspondence who was listening to that conference at new scotland yard, what did we learn? the important takeaway from that is the idea that the suspected man driving the vehicle at the time of the incident is not cooperating. it's quite unusualfor a incident is not cooperating. it's quite unusual for a senior officer to say that, but i think it gives you an idea that this wasn't a straightforward issue open being taken to the palace station, saint i'd made a terrible mistake, ifell asleep at the wheel, this is someone who is apparently not answering questions or cooperating with police officers. they are saying there are still trying to formally identified him. it has been suggested to me the man driving the vehicle is believed to have been on various of extremists, but the assistant commissioner there are saying he was not someone who was now in either to mis

not someone who was now in either to m15 or counterterrorism policies, so make of that what you will. it's not sure watchlist he may have been on, cassie does not appear to someone who is actively being investigated in recent years. that's the sort of suggestion from that. at the moment we have someone arrested, the leader have been driving the vehicle, arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, but we haven't got to the stage of anyone being charged. because the amount of video around, it's fairly easy to see what happens, which appears to be a vehicle deliberately swerving, hitting cyclists and driving towards police officers then smashing into a barrier outside, the entrances to the house of lords on the main road that runs past this side of parliament. that is why police are treating this as a terrorist incident and it currently have a suspect who was not cooperating.

incident and it currently have a suspect who was not cooperatingm we assume it was a terrorist incidents, but it into context for us, clearly a lot of people are very relieved there are what appeared to be relatively minor injuries to a small number of people, certainly no fidelity is. also the vehicle used in this incident is a small ford fiesta, it could been so much bigger and the whole incident could have been worse? back to march 22 last year and the westminster bridge incident in which a vehicle to a similar route to this vehicle. on that occasion, a pied into pedestrians on the bridge, its railings at the side parliaments, the man then successfully stabbed a police man before being shot by armed police. on this occasion, the vehicle since i made one turn around parliament square, swerved through cyclists, has not seriously injured

anyone or killed anyone and has been successfully arrested without serious injuries to him. site is clearly a much less serious incident. as you say, a small vehicle being used that was clearly not go into break through those barriers. i have seen tests done by mis barriers. i have seen tests done by m15 wearing huge trucks have been driven into these barriers without successfully breaking through. i think it is unlikely any vehicle would have been able to get through those barriers which were put in place to prevent truck bombs getting close to parliament. that is not an incident where the vehicle was likely to get through to the grounds of parliament itself, but clearly it could easily have killed somebody or sea rcy could easily have killed somebody or searcy injured someone. frankly, it looks like it was more a question like that didn't happen then anything else. this could've been a

very serious incident and has turned out to be one in which one person is still in hospital and a suspect is in custody. just stay there for a moment, ijust in custody. just stay there for a moment, i just want to advise viewers that what we know so far is that a man is being questioned by police in a station in south london, arrested after a vehicle appeared to have rammed into a number of cyclists. there are we start three people injured, one still in hospital, another discharged. the silver ford fiesta then rammed into security barriers outside the palace of westminster. no details yet and whether this was a terror attack, but publicising the art treating it asa but publicising the art treating it as a terror—related incident. that is the very latest from here outside the palace of westminster. going

back to our home affairs correspondence, daniel, all the questions on whether this man, if this was a terror—related incidents, whether this was a man operating alone or some sort of plot? what is your instinct? you've covered a lot of these attacks, especially the ones in last year, what is your gut instinct? certainly at this stage, there is a feeling this is a low level incidents. it could have been incredibly serious, but it appears to be not part of some wider attack. but police nanny divided everything they can about this driver, go through his social media, visit his address and find out whether he was pa rt address and find out whether he was part of a wider network. thank you, daniel. much more at the top of the hour with me here at westminster. now the weather. some sunny spells

out there at the moments, particularly and ease. this is cambridge, a fairly decent day for punting on the river. war crimes further north and west, and you can see massive clouds producing some rain. moving through northern ireland and much of scotland, heavy in places, but throughout this afternoon, petering out a touch, patchy rain spreading into cumbria, northumberland and brighter spells. feeling warm, up to 25 across the south east, for the most byjuly further north around 20. this evening, the weather front still there as we go into wednesday, high

pressure a cross there as we go into wednesday, high pressure across the south just about holding on. as this area of low pressure drives in weather fronts. some rain across scotland and northern ireland and north west england, throughout wednesday. the further south and knees, drier and brighter, especially in the north west, bus of up to 40mph. all of us noticing a breeze, pretty much. temperatures fresher further north. the weather front making its way south and ease words, and narrow band of cloud and rain. behind it clearer spells after another band of rain omitting into northern ireland and the west of scotland. that training continuing during thursday, sunny spells behind it, but afresh a day for all of us as temperatures drop. this is bbc news. i am ben brown

reporting live from westminster where a man in his 20s has been arrested by armed police after a vehicle collided with cyclists and then security barriers at the palace of westminster during the morning rush hour. given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident and the investigation is being led by officers from the counterterrorism command. officers are searching the vehicle and no other weapons have been found at this time. the vehicle hit a number of cyclists. london ambulance say they treated several people at the scene. one person is being treated in hospitalfor non—life threatening injuries. it was very strange because once he hit cyclist, he accelerated. you would have thought he would have tried to put the brakes on but he swerved across and accelerated towards the barrier. he was going pretty fast in my opinion. it is a 20 to 30 mph zone,

he was going maybe 40 to 50 mph. armed police officers arrested a man at the scene. they say he is in his 20s. he is being questioned in london. the area remains in lockdown. prime minister theresa may said her thoughts were with those injured and thanked the emergency services for their "immediate and courageous" response. the government's emergency cobra committee will meet this afternoon. hello from westminster. we are at the police called in here after this morning's incident which they say was terror related. down the road

there a vehicle, a silver ford fiesta, at 7:37am this morning at the peak of the morning rush hour collided with cyclists and then hit security barriers outside the palace of westminster as well. let's talk you through exactly what happened. it was as people were heading into work in central london. the car was travelling westbound at the houses of parliament when it swerved across onto the other side of the road into eastbound traffic. hitting security barriers. the whole area now cordoned off and the police say it is likely to say that way for some time. several cyclists were hit, it is understood they were waiting at traffic lights at the time. two or three people were treated at the scene, one woman is still in hospital being treated with serious but not life—threatening injuries. the police are saying that they arrested a man who they say is in

his late 20s. they are questioning him on suspicion of terrorism offences. they say he is not cooperating. they are trying to establish his identity and his motivation, but he is refusing to a nswer motivation, but he is refusing to answer their questions and they say they haven't yet identified him and there is no intelligence at this time, they say, of any further danger to londoners. the prime minister has already tweeted with her thoughts saying that her thoughts are with those who are injured in what appears to be a terror attack this morning. she has thanked the emergency services for what she called their immediate and courageous response. as they say, a meeting of the government's cobra committee is scheduled for 2pm this afternoon. in the meantime, we have been getting an update from the metropolitan police commissioner neil basu at new scotland yard. the vehicle collided with

pedestrians. before hitting the barrier. two people have been taken to hospital. one man has already been discharged and one woman remains in hospital being treated for serious but thankfully not life—threatening injuries. another man was also treated at the scene but didn't require hospital treatment. the driver of the fiesta, who was alone in the vehicle, was arrested at the scene by armed officers who were already nearby. the man is in his his late 20s and has been arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences and has been taken to a south london police station where he remains in custody. given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident and the investigation is being led by officers from the counterterrorism command. officers are searching the vehicle and no other weapons have been found at this time. at this early stage of the investigation, no other suspects at the scene have

been identified or reported to police. there is no intelligence at this time of further danger to londoners or the rest of the uk connected to this incident. our priority now is to formally established identity of the suspect and establish his motivation if we can. he is not currently cooperating. however, as you would expect, detectives from the counterterrorism command are making various other urgent enquiries to make sure that there is no outstanding risk to the public. that is assistant commissioner neil basu talking to the press a few minutes ago. let's talk now ted kirkham. thank you for being with us. ——peter kirkham they are trying to work out who he is and what he did but they are not

cooperating. that is not an unusual situation. they come in like they do in tv drama and admit everything so you can get it solved in a narrow, that doesn't happen. they will need to identify him, that will feed in into the motivation in the absence of him explaining why he did it. i think the circumstances are such that it think the circumstances are such thatitis think the circumstances are such that it is plain that it wasn'tjust an ordinary traffic accident. that has been near enough eliminated right now. it is deliberate, therefore the reason is why. obviously, that can range from terrorism at the top of the a road rage incident to some sort of aggravated protest at the other end of the scale. the other question is whether this was a terror related incident, was this a lone wolf somebody operating on their own, or was it part of a wider conspiracy? that will be the main reason why they need to get to the bottom of who he is and what the motivation is

because, obviously, any further threat doesn't come from him, he is now locked up, but it would come from anyone who is associated with him orany large from anyone who is associated with him or any large organisation he is working with. so it is really important that they do identify him. they will identify him at some point. they have a number of starters, the vehicle himself, fingerprints or dna, maybe there will be some way of tracing connections abroad, but, of course, there are a number of lines of inquiry that they will follow. we have good footage of him, there may even be phone calls identify him. if anybody does know, they would really appreciate a call from them. a lot of frantic work going on right now to find out more about what happened. for sure. he to find out more about what happened. forsure. he is going to find out more about what happened. for sure. he is going to be examined in fine detail. the anti—terrorist branch do the same sort of frantic investigation as

anybody else. just a far deeper degree. that will be evidential. it is unlikely to add anything other than anything in the vehicle that helps identify him. the wider scene is unlikely to add anything in terms of his identity on motivation. it is for future use in any proceedings. what are your instincts as what happened here. it could have been so much worse, that is the initial response from many people. relief that it was not on the scale of previous terror attacks that we saw last year including the westminster terror attack. for sure. the police arrived within seconds of him crashing into the barrier. with weapons drawn and then calling him out of the vehicle. if you have got a firearm you are protected against any knife or gun that the person might have to a certain extent, but that vehicle could contain explosives or anything else and that would have been running through their minds. so you have got a situation where you want a vehicle

that you want to be far away from but you have a suspect is that you need to be close to two arrest. that is bravery. we have to praise them. the bottom line is, we are seeing this day in day out with offices not just around terrorism but serious crime, they are behaving extremely bravely and they are not being rewarded for it. what does it say about security around the palace of westminster and the improvements that there have been since last yea r‘s that there have been since last year's attack here that there was such a rapid response by those officers and also the security barriers clearly did theirjob as well. the palace of westminster is probably one of the most secure places in the country. there are armed officers bear all the time, although it was armed response vehicles that seem to be the primary arrival. the armed response vehicles what most of the armed officers to the scene today. the barriers did

their job, the scene today. the barriers did theirjob, they stopped vehicles getting into the premises. they are very effective in that but if you have got a vehicle with explosives in it if it went bang at the barriers, it is going to have a devastating effect. do you think they need to be —— do you think there needs to be further improvements? people are talking about pedestrianise in the whole area and not letting traffic anywhere near the houses of parliament. it is impossible to protect against an attack. if somebody wants to attack, they will. the further you keep them awake, they are likely to have large explosive devices. we have seen it in the green zones in places like afghanistan when you have got the green zone, they have really secure perimeters to that and all that happens is they bring a big truck bomb to that security point. get as far as they can and if they cannot go further, blow it up at that point. you will protect the fabric of the building but you will not

prevent an attack. thank you very much for your time. prevent an attack. thank you very much foryourtime. former prevent an attack. thank you very much for your time. former detective chief inspector with the metropolitan police giving his thoughts on what happened here at 7:37am this morning. the height of the morning rush hour when this vehicle, a silver ford fiesta, relatively small vehicle if this was a terror attack, apparently ramming incest agonists, swerving onto the other side of the road, hitting cyclists and then driving at speed, accelerating up to about 40 mph according to eyewitnesses, into the security barriers. the bonnet of the car completely crumpling, the airbag blowing up as well. and then armed blowing up as well. and then the armed police very quickly moving in if you seconds later and making that arrest. the man in his 20s, we gather, according to the police, being questioned at a police station in south london on terrorism related i in south london on terrorism related , suspicion of terror related

offences. barry williams saw the incident — he's been speaking to our home editor, mark easton. i heard a commotion and turned around to see a silver car heading towards to cyclists on the wrong side of the road. they were parked waiting for the lights to change. he hit the cyclists then swerved over towards where the safety barrier is, where police make sure cars go through, and accelerated and hit it at quite high speed. what was your impression? was it a deliberate act? well, it it seemed to... i wasn't sure whether he meant to hit the cyclists, they may have just been in the way, but he accelerated hard towards the barrier. and what was the reaction of the police at that point? what did you see? the police were very fast. they vaulted over the safety barrier and headed towards the car, followed by lots of armed police who were in the area. what also happened was the police started a cordon. not only did the police come towards us, the police headed away to try to block off people walking towards us. and what about the car?

we saw video of armed officers encircling the vehicle. it is strange, when he hit the barrier, there was a lot of smoke and it hit it with quite a jolt, it actually came off the ground and landed again because it is quite a light car, but we're not sure. they rushed to the scene, grabbed the bloke, but then they seemed to walk away. and what about you? what did you do? well, obviously, we were pushed back. after the police first got to the car, they then turned around and started to push us back towards where the lights were and that is when i walked past and saw lots of pedestrians standing there, but also the cyclists, there was a few on the ground. some were holding their arms, but there were bikes everywhere. and what about at the moment of the collision? presumably, given events here in westminster in the last year or two, a frightening moment. it was frightening, but that is why i was walking backwards and not standing too close to the car. you are not sure what is in the car. and the scene on the ground, the cyclists, can you give us an idea of the numbers, the scene at that set of lights where the cyclists had been? there were about ten cyclists waiting for the lights to change. i don't think he hit all of them.

he hit about four or five and there was bikes everywhere. i was very impressed, one of the cyclists got up and started to chase the car. good heavens. yes. there was one on the ground which was being treated and two or three were just sitting there holding their arms against posts and stuff. and what was your sense of the motive, if there was one, behind this? could it have been an accident? well, if it was it was very strange because once he hit the cyclists, he accelerated. you would have thought he would try to put the brakes on, but he swerved across and accelerated towards the barrier. unless he was trying to get away from the scene, perhaps? he was a very bad driver then. and as someone who has worked in westminster for a long time, you would, of course, have been around during the westminster bridge attack last year, what was going through your mind when you saw this incident? it looked like an attack. it was a fairly feeble one because it is a small car, but it did look to drive up the barrier. and the reaction of the police at that point, obviously, this area has an awful lot of armed police at all times, and it does appear that they responded very quickly and in numbers. they did.

and also it seemed well rehearsed. as i said, police ran towards the car, but also, some ran away to stop people walking towards where the car was. that was barry williams, an eyewitness to what happened here at westminster. the government cobra emergency committee is going to be meeting at 2pm this afternoon to discuss what happened here. we have heard from the police already that they are treating it as a terror related incident and that the man they are questioning is being held on suspicion of terrorism offences. we have been hearing on behalf of the government from james brokenshire. thoughts are with eve ryo ne everyone who has been involved with this morning's incident. i want to thank the emergency services for their response. this is being led by their response. this is being led by the police, the content terrorism police are leading the investigation for the metropolitan police but they

are keeping open—minded around this incident. and obviously the police will provide further updates as and when they are available. do you know whether it was deliberate or accidental? i understand a man has been arrested under terror offences. the police are obviously leading the investigation. this is an ongoing incident. i can't offerfurther details. what i can say is the metropolitan police's counterterrorism unit are leading this. the police are saying we should keep open—minded in respect of what has occurred but our thoughts are very firmly with eve ryo ne thoughts are very firmly with everyone caught up in this incident, those that have been injured and our thoughts are firmly with them. that was james brokenshire speaking on behalf of the government. the police have also been talking this morning. let's hear from our

have also been talking this morning. let's hearfrom our home have also been talking this morning. let's hear from our home affairs correspondent who is at new scotland yard. what is the picture that the police are painting for rose? inaudible the worst of the casualties. another person has been discharged, another person has been discharged, another person treated at the scene. there has been an apparent attack on westminster but with nobody killed and only one person apparently seriously injured. she is not suffering from life—threatening injuries. the cobra committee is meeting at 2pm this afternoon but it isa meeting at 2pm this afternoon but it is a meeting at the level of officials only so that means ministers like the home secretary won't be attending at this stage. that shows this is being treated as a moderately serious incident. this

was, by all accounts, an attempt to attack parliament, it hasn't been a very successful one and we haven't got large—scale loss of life. assista nt got large—scale loss of life. assistant commissioner neil basu said to us the driver of the vehicle in his late 20s who is in custody, they are trying to identify that man but he is not currently cooperating. we do not have a situation where the driver is being helpful with the police and have given a helpful explanation as to what has happened. therefore, police do not know what his motivation was. whenjames brokenshire was talking, police were dealing with the incident with an open mind, they are now treating it asa open mind, they are now treating it as a terrorist incident. that is their prime belief as to what the cause of this was, that this was a politically motivated attack on cyclists and pedestrians and on parliament itself. clearly, the key thing in this investigation now is to work on the identity of that

suspect on the place where he lives and the people that he knows and in this modern era is computer usage. by going through his property, talking to people that he knows and by going through all of his computer and smartphone memories, that is how police are likely to work out what was the reason why this man did deliberately drive his vehicle into parliament, if that is indeed what he did. one other interesting thing at this early stage of the investigation, we believe that the man's incident broke down towards parliament before turning right onto bridge street and round parliament square because we have seen footage of him doing that some minutes before the incident. it looks like after that he may have done one loop of parliament square itself. we are trying to look at footage ourselves to be sure about that but it does look as if he has done at least on one circuit of

parliament square before then driving off down towards the house of lords entrance where his vehicle eventually smashed into the barriers there after hitting the cyclists and pedestrians. you see police officers jumping out of the way on that footage so he may have been deliberately targeting police officers as well. it does look like he may have done a bit of a circuit and recce before he goes into this what appears to be deliberate attack on parliament. we know thatjust down the road from where i am, they are doing friends at work, frantic tests at the scene where that vehicle, that silver ford fiesta, collided with a security barrier, presumably they will also be looking at all of the various bits of footage, cctv and mobile phone footage. but in the end, i guess, they kind of know what happened. as you are suggesting, it is trying to find out the wide rather than the what. that is right. how do you work out why it happened? first of all,

did the driver say anything in the immediate aftermath? are they eyewitnesses or armed officers who quickly responded that can give an account of anything he said in the aftermath. in the finsbury park attack, the drive of the vehicle goes quite a lot of detailed information in the immediate aftermath. did the drivers they immediately in the aftermath say anything? he is not cooperating but has he said anything at all while held in custody? if none of that produces anything then it is all about any records that there are in his smartphone, his computers, any paper that can be found at either shows any kind of planning of this all shows any kind of mindset, any kind of ideology that might give a clue of the motivation. that is what will be going on now. i would be surprised if there aren't at this

moment police officers searching a property somewhere in the uk and getting hold of that material now. so often, people do travel with their smartphones, we do not know if this driver was, but if he was travelling with a smartphone, police will have that. that was the case with khalid masood who carried out the bridge attack last year. his smartphone was seized almost immediately. daniel, many thanks indeed. with the very latest from new scotland yard. in terms of casualties, everybody has been saying what a relief it is that the casualties have been light. when the vehicle hit cyclists, there were a number of injuries. we gather free people treated at the scene, one didn't need to go to hospital, two we re didn't need to go to hospital, two were taken to hospital, one has been discharged since then but one is still in hospital but not with serious or life—threatening injuries. meanwhile, the man in his

late 20s still being questioned at a south london police station on suspicion of terror offences. back now to the studio. thanks very much indeed. we will rejoin ben at westminster in just a moment or two's time. but we want to bring you some breaking news from another part of the world. this news coming out of the world. this news coming out of the world. this news coming out of the northern italian port city of genoa. a bridge have collapsed in stormy weather. these pictures show a large part of a suspension bridge having collapsed on a urban area. it carries traffic in the city of genoa. this large section, they reckon around 200 metres, has collapsed onto the urban area below. talk of possible railway tracks below as well. eyewitnesses

reporting that vehicles, cars and lorries may well have gone with the bridge as it collapsed. no firm indication of casualties, but clearly a great deal of concern. one news agency reporting that the ambulance service has said potentially dozens of dead in that colla pse potentially dozens of dead in that collapse of the bridge. this is a industrial area in the west of genoa. you can see the foggy pictures there, it was a rainy day, torrential rain, part of a motorway built in the 1960s. restructuring work carried out back in 2016 but no immediate cause for why this viaduct has collapsed. there you can see a huge section of the bridge have disappeared down into the vacuum below. concerned not only for those people who were driving across the

viaduct at the time, but for whatever it is that is below. talk ofan whatever it is that is below. talk of an industrial area, possibly a railway line below. the transport minister in italy tweeting that he was, quote, following with great apprehension with what scenes and immense tragedy. very shocking pictures. a section of a viaduct on the a10 a motorway collapsing at around just before midday. we'll keep you updated as more information comes into words. just bare bones of news coming in that perhaps eight or nine vehicles on that bridge in what one eye witness has described as an apocalyptic scene. the one to take you back down to my colleague ben brown who is following

things in westminster. back to you. thank you very much. the latest we haveis thank you very much. the latest we have is that the metropolitan police counterterrorism command still questioning a man in his 20s, late 20s, who was arrested at the scene just down the road. all of this area around westminster is now sealed off. he is being questioned on suspicion of terrorism offences after the silver ford fiesta was rammed it is cyclists and then into some security barriers. i am joined by the police called in. he also used to run a security team for the police in the houses of parliament. you can tell us a lot about security here and how it has improved. it seems to have done itsjob. the response from armed officers was incredibly quick. it was a phenomenal response. those police officers acted so quickly have saved lives. we should be very thankful for the work that the emergency

services are doing here. i think the challenge is in terms of infrastructure, you are never going to stop these kinds of activities. if somebody is determined to do an act of violence, you will not stop it by infrastructure alone. this is central london, anybody you knows it, traffic goes through rapidly, if you were to block this off, it would cause mayhem in london. what about the idea of pedestrian i think the area around the palace of westminster so that vehicles could not get so close? mps have eight minutes to vote, so you will find when the bells go for voting systems, essentially when they are warned, and they will all be around, offices around, many coming taxes, so you would have to look at how the voting system would change. when we have had some tight votes around brexit, people have been brought in in ambulances. you physically has to be present so you would have to

change that parliament system. there has been talk about changing that system but infrastructure is always going to be hard to do full with. —— ha rd to going to be hard to do full with. —— hard to deal with. i think we have seen the impact when we have seen the impact of knife crime, the impact of terrorism, this takes a lot of police resources. the important element is the relationship that authorities have with the muslim community. the muslim community have been very that with the comments borisjohnson has made recently about the burqa and people looking like bank robbers or postboxes. that is not going to help when it comes to the relationships. we have to make sure we have police officers from muslim backgrounds in key positions, at the moment we don't have that, so that is an important area for the police and security services to consider. is there a measure of relief that if

this was a terror attack, it could have been a lot worse than they could have been more casualties. absolutely. the police have learnt significant amount from previous attacks so we now have barriers that protect pedestrian and cycle lanes, that reduces the damage that somebody is going to be able to do with a vehicle. i think what we need to be looking at is how we can look at this individual, what lessons we can learn. it is very early to say what his backgrounders, what the security services knew about this individual, but we should be making sure that we engage with the communities and learn lessons around stopping these incidents from happening before they get to this stage. thank you very much. we knows peter chris fillets, a former head of the national counter terrorism security office, chris fillets, what are your

thoughts at what appears there been a terror attack here, the second in two years at the callous of westminster. relatively low—level casualties, three injured, one in hospital? i think we've been lucky, and if you get away with a terrorist attack in any city centre with the ease kind of casualties, we have been very lucky. it does appear this person was on a recce situation i thought, perhaps because of the ambulance behind him, to do something very stupid. we're never going to be able to have a complete protection against this kind of attack, we mustn't start blaming people for saying things across the media, that's ridiculous. what we must do is make sure we have protection measures in place but we can also pick up threats before they get to us. wheels need to resource the police. —— we also need to be is

also the police. the police are questioning the man in custody, they say he's not cooperating. is it your feeling this was a man acting alone or part of a wider conspiracy? that isa or part of a wider conspiracy? that is a key message and something we police are trying to establish. we are asking the police to investigate horrendous crimes with laws that allow the suspect not to say anything at all. what that does is push the police into dealing with social media, what the phone will tell them, the computer records, etc, in order to get the rationale behind this incident. whilst we are convinced this is a terrorist attack, it may not be. the police are doing a difficultjob, and luckily, as we saw, the number of casualties are very low and it's very strange you would choose this method of attack, because whilst it

isa method of attack, because whilst it is a copycat attack, it's actually a very ineffectual one, and those barriers will stop any vehicle, even trucks at 50mph. sorry to interrupted you, because we are seeing a recovery vehicle just driving along millbank, along embankments here, a vehicle that is perhaps going to recover the small silver ford fiesta here that was used in the attack. wing nut 100% sure about that, but we can see driving down there. —— we're not 100%. that truck is perhaps going to put that ford fiesta and take it away. a lot of forensic work being done at the moment and has been done ever since the incident. it happened

at 7:37am this morning, that fiesta colliding with cyclists and then the barrier. so, chris, in terms of whether this suspect would have been on the security services radar, it is always is so difficult where, if he wasn't, it's difficult because security services will be asked why he wasn't, and if he was, they will be asked why didn't have more manpower carrying out surveillance? these are the difficult things for the police. i would be incredibly surprised at this person hasn't got a criminal record of some kind, history tells us that aziz —— almost a lwa ys history tells us that aziz —— almost always the case. we have to be realistic, this guy, until the moment he turned the dari, was not committing any criminal offences, he

was just driving around london. the moment he turned left and not a cyclists over, he committed a criminal offence. elysee palace have real intelligence this guy is a com plete real intelligence this guy is a complete danger, they won't be following him. unless they have real intelligence he is going to commit or about to commit a criminal, terrorist attack, then they haven't the resources to follow all these people. we are following thousands of the poll in this section of society that police are really worried about, and on top of that, another 3000 who are really concerning them. the police are asked to do an impossiblejob concerning them. the police are asked to do an impossible job and they do the best they can with the resources we give them. does security around the palace of westminster need to be further tightened up, do you think? you're a lwa ys tightened up, do you think? you're always going to have a gap in security. whenever you have someone

driving a car vehicle near pedestrians, you have problems. parliaments around the world, you cannot take your car close to the white house, as an example. generally parliaments are seen as iconic sites, targets, as we have seen. perhaps moving vehicles further away from the scene is a good idea. there's been talk for many years about pedestrian rising with front of the palace and the bank, where boats can reach. this will have a knock—on effect to traffic in the capital, that's a fight, but sometimes you do have to use your common sense. if the location is good to be attacked regular, then give it the best protection you can. thank you so much, chris philips name.

much, chris philips we've protection you can. thank you so much, chris philips we've also been hearing from new scotland yard, the assista nt hearing from new scotland yard, the assistant commissioner agreed the press a short time ago. at 7:30am, a silver ford fiesta was involved in a collision outside the houses of parliament. that vehicle collided with pedestrians before coming to a stop. two people have been taken to hospital, one already discharged and one will remain in hospital and treated for serious injuries. another man was also treated at the scene and but didn't require hospital treatment. the driver of the fiesta, who was alone in the vehicle, was arrested at the scene by armed officers. the man is in his late 20s and was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences and has been taken to a four floods and police station where he remains in custody. —— police station where he remains in

custody. — — to police station where he remains in custody. —— to a south london police asian. given this appears to be a deliberate act, we are treating this asa deliberate act, we are treating this as a terrorist incident and the investigation is being led by office rs investigation is being led by officers from the counterterrorism command. no other weapons had been found at this time. at this early stage of the investigation, no other suspects have been identified or reported. there is no intelligence at this time of danger to londoners or the rest of the uk. at this time of danger to londoners orthe rest of the uk. our at this time of danger to londoners or the rest of the uk. our party now is to establish the identity of the suspect and his motivation, if we can. he is not currently, rating. however, as you would expect, detectives from the counterterrorism command and making urgent so enquiries to ensure there is no further danger to the public. jason

williams saw what happened this morning, tell us where you were?” was coming from westminster bridge road, i live in that area. eyeballed over the rage onto millbank —— i walked over the bridge onto millbank and saw a man driving very fast at speeds, radically, he pay the barriers —— he hit the barriers and specialist police were on the scene within minutes, they removed the man andi within minutes, they removed the man and i understand he has been arrested. because i asked police what was going on, they said it was just an incidence, and now i'm being told it is classified as terrorism. what was running through your mind?

i was thinking, not again, i'm a father have two, two young sons, and i was concerned about what's going on in the local area. i love this area, i've lived here for 44 years, and that's it. the police intervened really quickly? they did, i commend the met police and specialist police. the vehicle itself, digi see it hit the crash barrier? up to 50mph, in my opinion. and what was the impact? eyesores smoke coming from the front of the car. so quite an impact. how soon after that did police move in and arrest the suspect? ten-20 minutes... seconds?

no, minutes, in my opinion. i'm talking about specialist police. the police guarding parliament, they we re police guarding parliament, they were there within seconds. we gather he also hit cyclists, did you see that? unfortunate, yes. so what happens? he was driving erratically at speed and hit cyclists. is that cyclist ok? we gather and three were injured, one is still in hospital, but not serious injuries, that's what we're told. i pray they're 0k, it's not nice, going to work and hit bya it's not nice, going to work and hit by a terrorist, it's not acceptable, it needs to stop. something needs to be done by government. they're

having a laugh, they are attacking the government. i'm not saying it should be a tourist spot, though it is, it's just difficult times. we're approaching 2019, this has been going on now, similar attacks have been going on for at least 18 months. jason williams, thank you so much. that is the latest and as we heard earlier, at man in his early 20s still being questioned by police ata 20s still being questioned by police at a police station in south london. one of those with hit with non—serious injuries. there is a sense of relief that if this was a

terrorist attack, it could have been so much worse. we will of course return to ben at westminster shortly, but bringing you up to date with other news this morning. news breaking this morning regarding a section of motorway bridge in italy collapsed this morning, this in genoa. these pictures show what has been an extraordinary events. part of this is a viaduct, travelling traffic above part of the city. according to eyewitnesses, part of that bridgejust falling according to eyewitnesses, part of that bridge just falling away into the urban area below it. very tragically, it seems taking a number of vehicles with it. the latest we are hearing, according to local firefighters quoted an italian tv, they have confirmed at least three

people have died and say they are working to free others have been caught in the rubble. you can see a sense of the weather, this insidious suggestion that what happened was related to heavy rain and what police have described as a vibrant cloudburst which seems to have caused the collapse of one of the towers holding up this suspension bridge during this story weather. so a part of the road above has then falling down onto the city below. clearly, a great cause of concern and italy's transport minister thing it seems to him it to be an immense tragedy, and he is following developments with apprehension. eyewitnesses quoted as saying perhaps eight or nine cars or trucks went down with that part of the bridge as it collapsed. hard to see from the pictures, suggestions of up

to 200m of bridge collapsing. you can see verratti huge gap, shocking photographs coming to us from the a10 motorway in italy, heart of what is called... as we say, some latest pictures coming in. we don't have it confirmed the exact extent of facilities at the moment. local firefighters saying at least three had died, but that has an active scene as firefighters and emergency services work to free others caught in the rubble and get a sense of how many might have been caught in a real tragedy there are in genoa. the government says it will give

a new deal for social housing tenants is being set out by the government, with new proposals including landlord league tables and greater powers for regulators. the government says it will give residents more control to hold landlords to account. but the plans have been strongly criticised by campaign groups, for making no commitment to build more homes for people on low incomes. here's our political correspondent matt cole. following the grenfell tower disaster, the experiences of those living in social housing were thrown into the spotlight. the government now says it's listening. it says it wants a new deal to rebalance the relationship between tenants and landlords. from now until early november, a consultation will run, which ministers say it will examine ways of ensuring that social housing can be both a safety net and a springboard into home ownership. amongst the ideas in the green paper discussion document published today are suggestions for a new system so residents with safety concerns about their home can get a resolution. there are proposals to tackle the stigmatisation and stereotyping of those living in social housing.

and there is discussion of a tougher regulator to drive up standards and ensure social homes are well—managed, better places to live. the number of homes being built in britain today is a crucial part of this discussion. interrupting it to take you to bristol for breaking news for development in the ben stokes case. this is the trial of ben stokes, accused of affray, he has been found not guilty, i repeat, ben stokes has been found not guilty of affray. his co—accused, ryan ali, also found not guilty. this was a seven—day trial, thejury

guilty. this was a seven—day trial, the jury out guilty. this was a seven—day trial, thejury out for 12 guilty. this was a seven—day trial, the jury out for 12 hours, they came back to ask for more information from thejudge, is medical reports, but by unanimous decision, they have founded the england cricketer not guilty. lets get a look at the background to this case. one of world cricket's biggest stars, ben stokes arguably england's most high—profile player. but his career and repeat asian was plunged into uncertainty and repeat asian was plunged into u ncerta i nty after and repeat asian was plunged into uncertainty after he was arrested following a late—night brawl. he swapped cricket field for courtroom, accompanied each day by his wife and agents. the 27—year—old, along with two other men all denied the charge of affray. the three had been involved in this late—night brawl outside the city's embargoed nightclub last year. the court was taken through the events last year.

cctv cottage showed stokes and a team—mate trying to re—entered the club. a dorman said stokes had been abusive to him, and then was abusive to two gay men, though the defendant insisted it was just playful banter. footage of the fight played in court, threatening each other with bottles. a police officer who saw the fight described stokes as the main aggressor, knocking two other men unconscious. these are the two 93v men unconscious. these are the two gay men seen chatting to stokes outside the nightclub that evening. by outside the nightclub that evening. by the record as witnesses in the trial. i wasn't involved, i was by the record as witnesses in the trial. iwasn't involved, iwas on the sideline. it turned into a

massive brawl and i got scared. eden witness the entire fight?” witnessed most of it. when the guy was on the floor, i thought it was a bit too much for me. the prosecuting case over, the defence began, the court hearing from stokes for the first time. he said he stepped in when the two gay men were subjected to homophobic comments, something he suggested to police when he was arrested. ali denied that, saying it had just been banter between him and the two gay men. stokes has returned to cricket, but nowicki that he was suspended, missing the ashes series last winter. here lords, the ecb we re last winter. here lords, the ecb were no conduct an enquiry into a saga damaging for both the player

and those who run the game. when you're trying to attract new people to cricket, you want to show it as a sport that respects people generally and attract good people, good people who are respectful of each other and have a good behaviour, so not a com pletely have a good behaviour, so not a completely great episode. today's credits will come as a relief to stokes and england, but he will now need to wait to see if cricket's governing body takes any action. you can see the jealous behind me waiting for ben stokes to leave the court room. —— the journalists behind me. he faced up to three yea rs behind me. he faced up to three years in prison, but he has been found not guilty along with the co—defendant. we heard at the end of the seedings, both shook hands in the seedings, both shook hands in the dark, these are two men seen on cctv fighting and brawling on the

streets of bristol. during the course of the trial, they have both beenin course of the trial, they have both been in the dock accompanied by security officers that were sacked as farapart as security officers that were sacked as far apart as they possibly could, but now we hear shaking hands on leaving the dock. we're not expecting to hear from leaving the dock. we're not expecting to hearfrom ben leaving the dock. we're not expecting to hear from ben stokes himself, though we may hear from expecting to hear from ben stokes himself, though we may hearfrom one of his representatives. what happens to his cricketing career, still a question mark over that. there will bea question mark over that. there will be a disciplinary process, we understand, led by the english cricketing board. both himself and his colleague alex hales, he was also involved in that incident last september, will be involved in that disciplinary process. alex hales not charged with any offence, of course. thank you, andy. a section of a motorway

bridge has collapsed in the northwestern italy city of genoa. these pictures show a large part of a suspension bridge having collapsed on a urban area. initial reports indicate cars were on it at the time, and that there may be people trapped in the rubble. rome james reynolds. let's get more from our correspondent in rome james reynolds. we know this was the a10 motorway in genoa, over a viaduct. this morning a section of this viaduct simply collapsed. this section looks to be at least several dozen metres longer. the ambulance service suggest there have been casualties, the transport minister calling this an immense tragedy. we saw from the picture is the weather appears to be

bad and there is some suggestion from people on the scene this may have been a collapse that happened during what was described as a vibrant during what was described as a vibra nt cloudburst, but during what was described as a vibrant cloudburst, but that is presumably all speculation at the moment? it is a fact the weather has been appalling in northern italy, storms had been forecast. but bridges in italy and other parts of the european union are meant to be designed to withstand rain and mist and went, and big questions will be asked as to why this bridge has not been able to withstand weather conditions whether some other factor is responsible. the viaduct was built in the 1960s and was restructured, reinforce, presumably, in 2016. there will be strong questions about why that renovation has not kept people safe. we are just hearing a suggestion that ten

people have been killed. one assumes the priority will be for emergency services on the scene to keep looking in what will no doubt be a very difficult scene of rubble and ca rs very difficult scene of rubble and cars and so on. not helped by the weather conditions and, of course, as in any other disaster, we need to be very cautious of death toll figures that a packet that are certainly plenty remoaners at the moment, i am seeing —— there are 30 plenty of rumours at the moment. firefighters trying to work out whether anyone is trapped, whether anyone has been heard sorry, endured or worse from below. i think we should treat those numbers with a reasonable amount of caution, but clearly italy considers this to be a serious disaster. i went to a few know much about the area below this

section of road ? know much about the area below this section of road? i read there was a suggestion of pereyra underneath though that was not clear from pictures? double dash suggestion of a row way underneath? there was suggestion of a railway, though one picture shows a train carriage, whether not that was caught up this morning, we do not know, but this was clearly a busy area and transport into genoa, the system designed by italy in the 1960s and be two years ago was really meant to deal with vast amounts of traffic in one of italy's most important cities. the north of italy is a prosperous region and people expect their transport to work. didn't expect anything to collapse, even under rainstorms or showers.

bridges, viaduct, are not meant to fall down in major european cities. thank you, james reynolds. in a moment, time for the one o'clock news, but first look at the weather prospects. good afternoon, a typical weather pattern for this time of year at the moment. instead of high—pressure, a stronger jet year at the moment. instead of high—pressure, a strongerjet stream closer to the uk, and our weather's coming in from the atlantic. cyrillic few days, bad supplies coming in bringing outbreaks of rain. not much rain for england and wales, but a different story for england and northern ireland, outbreaks of rain tending to peter rouse, giving late sunshine in the

north east boosting temperatures. a lot of dry weather to come, limited sunshine in the southeast of england. for most places, dry by this stage, but later in the nights, rain back into northern ireland, the west of england and western scotland. a lot of clouds coming our way ibm, on those breezes, keeping temperatures up to 14 degrees. on wednesday starting with sunshine for most of england and wales, developing through the day in scotla nd developing through the day in scotland and northern ireland, and perhaps some rain crossing into northwestern england and wales. dry with sunshine, temperatures around 21 in scotland between the rain. the real heat is across the channel in france. this whether fronts taking

weather overnight and with a north breeze behind, dropping temperatures, bringing fresh air. on thursday, rain across the southeast of england, lingering for most of the day. sunshine following that in insurers in scotland and northern ireland, radzi borrowers of england. across—the—board, ireland, radzi borrowers of england. across—the—boa rd, temperatures ireland, radzi borrowers of england. across—the—board, temperatures lara on thursday, a top number around 21 degrees. it will feel pressure. by friday, the next weather system bringing rain to scotland and northern ireland, perhaps in north west of england. for the south and nice, dry, temperatures picking up in the south east of in the, but under the in the south east of in the, but underthe rain, in the south east of in the, but under the rain, quite a bit cooler. a man is arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a car crashes outside

the houses of parliament, injuring several people. the suspect is in his late 20s. police say he had no weapons and there was no—one else in the car with him. the ford fiesta car hit cyclists and pedestrians, before crashing into a security barrier protecting the palace of westminster. given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident. i will be reporting live from the scene. police say they are questioning the terror suspect at a police station in south london. so far though, he is refusing to answer their questions about who he is and what his motives were. also on the programme this lunchtime. a motorway bridge has partially collapsed in the italian city of genoa with dozens feared dead.