THE MODEST HERO

'I could see the look on people's faces. I could see the utter disbelief as they were coming to get hit by him. I had to do something ... it was gonna get worse'

- By ADAM EVERETT ECHO Reporter

CCTV shows Doyle's car, circled, surrounded by people on Water Street

AN Army veteran courageously leapt into action to halt Paul Doyle as his car tore throught crowds of Reds fans on Water Street.

Modest Dan Barr now says: “I don’t consider myself important,’ just over six months on from the moment he jumped into the back of Doyle’s Ford Galaxy and heroically brought the car to a stop.

He fought to pull the automatic vehicle’s parking brake on, undoubtedly saving many more fans from injury and even death.

Dan, 41, who served eight years in the army before leaving in 2010, had taken the bus into Liverpool city centre earlier that May afternoon from his home in Birkenhead.

Dan, now a labourer, recalls: “The plan was to meet my brother and my nephew. It was obviously getting packed by then already.

“It was good, apart from the weather. It didn’t really matter to be honest. It was good to see all the lunatics on the scaffolding and the buildings, just taking it all in. It was good entertainment.”

Having watched the festivities from near the George's Dock Building, Dan left the Strand and headed back into town after the players open-top bus had passed by.

But as he neared Castle Street and the Town Hall, he saw Doyle’s car, “snaking through people, throwing them everywhere”.

He had barely seconds to process the mayhem and devastation that was unfolding in front of him, as Doyle ploughed his vehicle into 134 men, women and children.

Drawing on the professionalism developed on tours of Iraq in the 2000s, Dan showed exceptional calm. For a split second, the car stopped. There wasn’t a second thought in his mind.

“I'm not sure why or how, but he stopped momentarily, by the ambulance. That's when I took my opportunity. My thoughts were, I’m gonna punch that window through.