Cork Liverpool fan describes ‘moments of panic' as car ploughed into crowd of supporters, injuring 47 people

Irish Independent

27-05-2025

John Isherwood, a broadcaster with Cork's Red FM originally from the UK, was in Liverpool over the weekend for the festivities and was among the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets of Liverpool for an open-top bus parade of the Premier League trophy.
Witnesses to the incident have said the bus had only just passed by the scene of where the car drove into the crowd. Merseyside Police have said a 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area was arrested.
Mr Isherwood said he is still 'a little bit shook up' after witnessing the incident which left 47 people injured, including four children.
'I managed to sleep through the night, but the thought of it all and the images of what I saw in front of me are still very much in my mind,' he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
'I was quite near the Liver Building for the actual parade itself, and I'd lost all my friends at this point, walked back towards Water Street and we were all quite jubilant.
'The area was buzzing with life until we got on to Water Street and literally as we turned on to it, it was directly opposite us. There was a static ambulance, and it was moments, literal seconds of panic, as this car just came out of nowhere.
'And it seemed to either hit the ambulance – I'm trying to piece it together from other eyewitness reports I've seen – It seemed to either hit the ambulance and catch someone between it and the ambulance and then reversed and headed off down Wall Street itself.'
Mr Isherwood said he and his friends then rushed to a person on the ground and others around them were 'panicking', and they 'couldn't believe' what they had seen take place.
He said it took just seconds for emergency services to arrive with an ambulance already at the scene and police not far behind.
'It was a very, very rapid response and our concern was for the person who was immediately in front of us on the floor, who did look in a fairly bad state.
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'But as soon as we saw that the crews were there, we backed off and tried to disperse as many people as possible, get out of the way, give the crews the space to work.
'And then we heard the commotion from further down the street and sort of saw the car weaving around so. I said to another friend, we saw way too much of something that should never have happened.'
There was an outpouring of offers of support from people in Liverpool on social media yesterday and Mr Isherwood, who lost a friend in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, said the city of Liverpool has come together following the incident 'just as it has done in the past'.
'I lost a close family friend at Hillsborough who was known in my local town, his family owned the green grocers, and the club came together then, they've come together in the past and the club and the city will come together again.
'I've urged Liverpool supporters or anybody in the city who saw my social media to get in touch with me if they need to. I'm here for them as well.'