A mock terrorist attack was staged at York Minster on Monday evening, to put emergency crews to the ultimate test.
The staged attack, which saw actors portray a fake knife and acid attack, as well as a staged hostage situation and lorry attack was the result of 12 moths of planning to test emergency service’s responses.
This explains why the area was sealed off at the time.
This comes as a result of the Manchester Arena enquiry, as there is now an expectation that venues like York Minster should commit to understanding the risks they face from terrorist attacks.
Tony Peel of North Yorkshire fire and rescue said these kinds of events are important to ensure emergency services can ‘work seamlessly’ together in the event of a real-life attack.
It follows a similar exercise at York Racecourse in 2023.
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