Westminster terror attack - August 2018

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There hasn't been much charter about today's incident, the police seem pretty certain it was terror-related and the video clip would certainly suggest it wasn't an accident.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45189831

Now, watching the clip a few times I spotted something quite odd. As the car approaches at the start of the video there is an ambulance on flashing lights passing it. Pure coincidence, nothing too curious there.

But watch how two other vans/cars cut across a truck and then follow the assailant down the cycle lane. They appear to have flashing lights also, I suspect they are police cars as they rushed to the scene.

I could understand them being coincidentally in the area, but they seem to act before the assailant has done anything.

I can't think of an explanation. It's just curious.
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Comments

  • gavin_axecastergavin_axecaster Frets: 526
    tFB Trader
    Didn't he jump two curbs/drive over the pavement? That'd get pc's attention.
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  • FuengiFuengi Frets: 2849
    The car hit some cyclists as it left the road where the ambulance was, way before it hit the barrier. I would think the police cars were responding to that. 
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  • I now think there is only one police car there, the one that suits at the traffic lights after cutting in front of the truck. I think it's possible it was there by coincidence, but saw the assailant jump the lights and serve into people so reacted to that. The other vehicle which is in the bike (?) lane, is probably just a delivery vehicle which stops when the assailant comes across the pavement in front of it. The police car then has to push his way past it.

    Maybe it's not far fetched to have police vehicles patrolling round there, so not as big a coincidence as I first thought. And their reactions were swift, but quite understandable given the history of these things.
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    edited August 2018
    But watch how two other vans/cars cut across a truck and then follow the assailant down the cycle lane. They appear to have flashing lights also, I suspect they are police cars as they rushed to the scene.

    I could understand them being coincidentally in the area, but they seem to act before the assailant has done anything.

    I can't think of an explanation. It's just curious.
    To law enforcement types, the moment when the Fiesta driver crosses the pavement is the point of no return. The manoeuvre suggests either that the vehicle is wildly out of control or that the driver seeks to bypass the first security barrier of the approach lane to the Palace of Westminster.

    Any research that the driver did ought to have made it obvious that the second security barrier would be impassable without some form of pass. Driving a regular motor car of monocoque construction into the unretracted bollards could only end in the crumpling of the car. This deed only makes sense if the car had an explosive device onboard. Even if it did, what would be the point of causing an explosion at the palace if Parliament is on recess?

    Conclusion: the perp is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
    Be seeing you.
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    The police were asked and they said emergency vehicles in the area where there by coincidence on an unrelated call. I’ve been driving for about six hours today so I’ve heard this story on the radio a lot! 

    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11413


    Conclusion: the perp is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
    This

    At least get a Land Rover or a van - something with some weight behind it that will do some damage.  A Fiesta isn't exactly the heaviest or most robust vehicle around.

    I suspect that he's a lone nutter rather than anything organised.
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  • ToneControlToneControl Frets: 11789
    edited August 2018
    I watched the video a few times, and find it hard to conclude that this was deliberate.
    The car could have gone where it ended up by simply staying in the left lane of the road it was on.
    Instead, to me it looked like this:  it joined the 2 lanes turning right, and was suddenly overtaken by an ambulance, after which it started to move into the right lane, then suddenly swerved left to avoid the ambulance (or bounced off it), then hit the cyclists/pedestrians., and carried on over into the road. Then, it carried on and crashed. 
    If it was an accident, I have no idea what the driver was thinking then. Blind panic? Accidentally doing a hit and run and trying to get away? I know someone whose brother was killed that way recently, this happens.

    There's no way anyone intending harm would have crashed into that barrier, and he could have done it by carrying on in the lane he started in, so I think it's an accident followed by a panic.

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  • ToneControlToneControl Frets: 11789
    Unless he was a baddie and panicked  when he saw all the blue lights behind him
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    Those barriers are designed to stop a lorry, so there’s no way any sort of car or van has the slightest chance of getting through. That’s very obvious given how it stopped the car dead from a fair speed without the barrier being even visibly damaged (at least seen from that distance), but perhaps it didn’t look that substantial to a dim terrorist.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    The entire junction complex has been very carefully designed. The LH Northbound lane as you leave the bridge is walled off. There are two security barriers that must be passed. The first could possibly be activated by electronic means - like the Dartford tunnel toll. Hence, only the second barrier needs to be manned. 

    The only people who have any business taking the access route towards the Palace are those with prior security clearance. Anyone else attempting this is either a comedian or up to no good. 

    In my opinion, it is probably acceptable to mount a pavement in an attempt to give way to an ambulance involved in an emergency. It is not necessary to continue driving along the pavement.

    The intent is clearly to avoid the first barrier and, presumably, hope to catch the second barrier *unawares*, so to speak. This cannot possibly work. The default position on the safety barrier is SAFE.


    Be seeing you.
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  • GassageGassage Frets: 30826
    crunchman said:


    Conclusion: the perp is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
    This

    At least get a Land Rover or a van - something with some weight behind it that will do some damage.

    I'd use a late 70's strat or a Norlin era Les Paul myself....

    *An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.

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  • quarkyquarky Frets: 2777
    I don't doubt that it was terror related, but why not cooperate with the police in that case? 

    So if you perform a terror attack, it typically has a message behind it, you are trying to achieve something by doing it. So what was his message? We don't really know because he isn't telling anyone. So it definitely seems more of a "spur of the moment" thing rather than something that he has spent a long time organising. Or, he is just a bit thick..
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  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8176
    edited August 2018
    I watched the video a few times, and find it hard to conclude that this was deliberate.
    The car could have gone where it ended up by simply staying in the left lane of the road it was on.
    Instead, to me it looked like this:  it joined the 2 lanes turning right, and was suddenly overtaken by an ambulance, after which it started to move into the right lane, then suddenly swerved left to avoid the ambulance (or bounced off it), then hit the cyclists/pedestrians., and carried on over into the road. Then, it carried on and crashed. 
    If it was an accident, I have no idea what the driver was thinking then. Blind panic? Accidentally doing a hit and run and trying to get away? I know someone whose brother was killed that way recently, this happens.

    There's no way anyone intending harm would have crashed into that barrier, and he could have done it by carrying on in the lane he started in, so I think it's an accident followed by a panic.

    An accident. Well, we've all done something very similar at some point...

    p.s. Wibble.
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • It can't be a real terrorist incident because they hadn't found his passport in the car within an hour, nor have they shown a picture of an Isis flag in his bedroom
    Please note my communication is not very good, so please be patient with me
    soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
    youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
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  • BigLicks67BigLicks67 Frets: 766
    Looked deliberate to me. He is also refusing to co-operate with the police which wouldn't happen after a genuine accident. Nope, just another halfwit on a terror mission.
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  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15476
    I wonder if his intention wasn't to breach the barrier, but to hit the coppers guarding the barrier, they both had to jump out of the way pretty sharpish. That said, it was reported he didn't have any weapons on him,which they seem to normally carry. I guess the investigation will show more. 

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • jonevejoneve Frets: 1467
    edited August 2018
    I was at Millbank Tower yesterday seeing a client - they basically closed the road off about 50m after the tower heading towards Westminster. Was a bit unnerving to say the least! 

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  • robgilmorobgilmo Frets: 3358
    This isn't a "terrorist" attack, terrorist attacks in case we have all forgotten are usually atrocities carried out by terrorist organizations fighting for their cause whatever that may be, this was some arsehold in a car who lost the plot, it seems nowadays if it's a person not White and English it's a terrorist attack, if for instance it's the EDL smashing up streets it isn't a terror attack, I'm not defending this guy or any other attack such as this one, but the phobia in this country towards Islam, Muslims and more often than not anyone not White and English breeds this kind of thing.
    A Deuce , a Tele and a cup of tea.
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  • robgilmorobgilmo Frets: 3358
    See, even I am assuming this was done by a Muslim!
    A Deuce , a Tele and a cup of tea.
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  • My trading feedback

    is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?

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