A man was arrested in London on Thursday after his car crashed into the heavy Downing Street gates that close off the street where the Prime Minister’s residence and offices are located. However, the police did not report any injuries.
A vital safety device was installed after the incident before traffic could be restored in the late afternoon.
“Around 4.20pm a car crashed into the gates of Downing Street in Whitehall”, the avenue into which Downing Street flows. “Armed officers arrested a man at the scene on suspicion of damaging property and dangerous driving,” the police said in a statement.
“No injuries were reported. “Investigations are ongoing to find out what happened,” added London Police.
According to the BBC, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was at Downing Street. He left after the incident.
BBC footage shows a light colored car driving through Whitehall at low speed. She then climbs onto the sidewalk and stops after gently bumping into the tall black railing.
The latter do not appear to have been damaged by the impact.
“I heard a bang and looked and saw a crowd of cops with tasers yelling at a man,” said Simon Parry, a witness to the scene, quoted by the PA agency.
The driver “didn’t look upset. He seemed to have had an episode (…). He wasn’t driving fast and didn’t look like he was about to break through the gate,” another passerby, Dean Parker, 36, told AFP.
Downing Street is in London’s Ministerial Quarter and just a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament. Safety is always very present, with roadside cordons along the sidewalk.
Much of Whitehall was closed to traffic and the public before services resumed around 5.45pm, the time of day when many officers leave their offices in this also tourist area.
The incident “is not considered at this time to be linked to terrorism,” police said in a new press release late in the afternoon, adding that “light (security) protection remains in place outside Downing Street”.
The gates that close access to the famous street were installed in 1989 for security reasons. Previously, the public could walk up to the famous black door that marked the entrance to the Prime Minister’s official residence, and before which many of them spoke.
In 1991, during the violence in Northern Ireland, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary group fired three mortar shells at the residence of then Prime Minister John Major.
Guarded by armed officers, the gates are the first line of security protecting Downing Street. Official cars entering the street are carefully screened before removable bars are lowered to admit them.