'WHY WERE LORRIES ALLOWED AROUND US?'

Nearly a week after the horror at LFC trophy parade, questions are mounting about road safety measures

- By LIAM THORP

QUESTIONS are continuing to mount about the organisation of Liverpool FC's Premier League victory parade which ended with a car being driven into crowds of fans and injuring nearly 80 people.

A total of 79 pedestrians, ranging from children as young as nine to a 78-year-old, were hurt after fans were struck by a vehicle in Water Street after the victory parade on Monday, May 26.

The days that followed Monday's harrowing scenes have seen questions asked about various elements of the organisation, safety and traffic management protocols involved with the parade which saw around one million people line the streets of Liverpool as the team bus made its way around a 15km route.

Naturally, many have asked how the vehicle was able to make it onto Water Street, which was pedestrianised. But there have been many other concerns raised by those who attended about other parts of the route, where cars and larger vehicles were often on roads at the same time as large numbers of people.

A number of people have specifically questioned the decision to keep one side of Queens Drive open, despite the volume of people who were in attendance meaning that vehicles including Heavy Goods vehicles were in the road at the same time as many pedestrians.

The latest person to raise this is a dad who went to the parade with his five-year-old son and shared images with the ECHO of large lorries and coaches being able to travel along Queens Drive around 20 minutes before the team bus came through. The images clearly show people and children in the road at the same time as vehicles are passing through.

The dad said: “Looking at it now after what had happened, how on earth is a lorry allowed to drive through hundreds of people lined on both sides of the road?”