Public transport had to be 'shut down' after lfc parade horror

THOUSANDS OF LIVERPOOL FANS QUEUED OUTSIDE LIME STREET STATION FOR HOURS AND MANY MISSED THEIR TRAIN HOME 11:42, 28 May 2025Updated 11:43, 28 May 2025 Liverpool City Region metro mayor Steve

Rotheram said authorities had to shut down public transport at Lime Street Station after a car was driven into Liverpool fans on Water Street during the club’s victory parade on Monday (May

26). Yesterday, police chiefs confirmed that, as revealed by the ECHO, they were working on the theory that the car involved - a Ford Galaxy - had managed to tailgate behind an ambulance in

order to make its way on to Water Street, which had been closed to traffic for the parade event. It was confirmed that the ambulance had been allowed past a road block at the junction of

Water Street and Rumford Street to attend to a man suffering a suspected heart attack when the Galaxy driver followed in behind. In total there were 65 casualties, with 50 people treated at

hospitals across the region. 11 of those remained in hospital as of Tuesday afternoon, with police confirming they are all in a stable condition and appear to be recovering well. A

53-year-old man from West Derby was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving offences and driving while unfit through drugs. Water Street, Dale Street and other roads

leading to and from the main thoroughfares were cordoned off while detectives and forensic officers carried out enquiries. Around 15 minutes away at Lime Street, tens of thousands were

queuing to get home. Many fans told the ECHO yesterday that they experienced waits of over three hours, little communication from staff and overcrowding. A spokesperson for Network Rail

apologised to people trying to get home, citing "unprecedented number of visitors to the city". The British Transport Police (BTP) said, although there were plans in place for the

parade, the incident on Water Street meant more people left the parade earlier than anticipated, which led to overcrowding. The mayor meanwhile said yesterday that the authorities had to

shut public transport down in the immediate aftermath of the incident to keep people safe. He said: “The emergency services were outstanding, fantastic. The way in which the police were so

quickly on the scene and the ambulance service kicked into gear was brilliant. “We saw how the plan for the whole event and the contingencies within that, from something that is called Gold

Command, kicked in - I think it was exemplary. “The issue we have when an incident like this happens is that one of the ways we secure the wider area is to close down the public transport

system and we had to do that. That meant people in their hundreds and thousands were waiting for many hours to get transport. “But it also meant that the people driving those trains and

those buses and those running those transport services also had to work long and late and they did that voluntarily. People came in on their day off to do that. I would like to thank all of

those staff for stepping forward. They were absolutely superb.” Three entrances, including the main one to Lime Street Station, were closed off, with commuters required to enter via

Skelhorne Street. However, all those who spoke to the ECHO yesterday said there was no official communication or signage about this. It was explained on Liverpool Lime Street’s official

X/Twitter account but many people struggled to get signal on their phones in town on Monday. Steve Miller, 49, travelled down from Scotland to pick up his daughter, Catriona Miller, a

massive Liverpool fan, from Lancaster where she is attending university. He told the ECHO: “It was an absolute disgrace, my daughter and I queued for three hours and there was zero

communication. “The poor woman in Hi-Vis who’d been left practically alone outside didn’t know if any trains would run, admitted the queueing system had utterly collapsed and told us we

should get a taxi." Matthew Pellett, 39, from Wiltshire, added: “No-one knew what was going on. I heard from some people that the queue outside the main entrance was only for people

going to London, so I went around the corner to Skelhorne Street. “I went there - there was a big throng of people and just a single member of staff telling people to join the queue that

went all the way to Copperas Hill.” Matthew and others expressed their confusion as they ended up on trains that evening which were mostly empty. A Network Rail spokesperson said on Tuesday:

"Yesterday, the tragic incident at Water Street marred what should have been a joyful occasion for the people of Liverpool. "We work closely with our train operating partners and

other organisations across the city to plan for events such as this; however, on the day, an unprecedented number of visitors came to the city. "Our priority is always to ensure the

safety of the passengers at our stations, and our staff worked hard to achieve this under difficult circumstances. "We are sorry that people were delayed in getting to where they needed

to be during a distressing time. Our sympathies are with the people affected by the event." When pressed on the reason behind the issues at the station, mainly the entrances being

closed and shutters pulled down, Network Rail declined to go into further detail about what happened. A BTP spokesperson said: "BTP worked closely alongside our partners to support

Network Rail’s crowd management plan at Lime Street for the victory parade yesterday (26 May). "This involved multi-agency meetings in the run up to the event and an enhanced presence

of officers at the station to provide visible support. Unfortunately following the major incident on Water Street, a large volume of people left the parade earlier than was anticipated,

which led to issues with overcrowding outside of the station while staff ensured trains could be safely loaded and leave to destinations across the country." Article continues below