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Western Telegraph
27-05-2025
- Western Telegraph
Pembrokeshire woman caught up in Liverpool parade crash
Leah Bower was among those at the parade in Liverpool on Monday, May 26, and watched the celebrations along Fenwick Street. However, she and her father were met with chaos when they turned onto Water Street and were caught up in the aftermath of the car crash which saw dozens injured. Ms Bower told BBC Radio Wales: "We had absolutely no idea what was going on because we turned the corner and we were among the aftermath of people screaming and running away. Leah Bower was one of the thousands to attend the parade (Image: Owen Humphreys) "We ended up closer than we probably should have been to the aftermath of it and saw everyone injured on the floor and at varying different levels." She saw people with varying degrees of injury, from cut knees to people desperately needing medical attention, "One thing I can say was the speed the emergency services got there was phenomenal despite the amount of crowd there." Four people are still 'very, very ill in hospital' after the incident, which saw a car plough into crowds of people on Water Street on Monday evening. A 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area was being held in custody. Ms Bower described the moment they accidentally became caught up in the aftermath. She said: "We saw people running away and police running past us, but your mind doesn't go to the absolute worst. "You just think we'll cut through that to go back to the hotel. She described not knowing what was happening as people were running in the other direction (Image: Danny Lawson) "It had been a long day, we were soaked through, so we just thought we'd get back to the hotel, and you just don't think that the worst can happen. "You hear rumours that a car had driven through and you think 'no way, that can't happen.' "There was no understanding of how that could have happened and it was only when we took a second to ring our family to let them know that we were ok, they had no idea what was happening. "That was when we realised how quickly we were actually in the incident." Footage shared on social media appeared to show people in the crowd attempting to approach the driver of the car, with some kicking the vehicle and smashing the back window. Liverpool City Metro mayor Steve Rotheram told BBC Radio 5 Live: "There are still four people who are very, very ill in hospital and we are hoping of course that they pull through very, very quickly." Four people - including a child - were trapped under the car and rescued by firefighters. They were amongst 27 people taken to hospital, with a further 20 treated for injuries at the scene.
Wales Online
27-05-2025
- Wales Online
'There were people screaming and running away from the Liverpool parade crash, carrying their children, covering their eyes'
'There were people screaming and running away from the Liverpool parade crash, carrying their children, covering their eyes' Leah Bower, from Pembrokeshire, said she was 'numb' as she tried to get to the safety of her hotel after being caught in the aftermath of a car ploughing into supporters at the Liverpool parade Emergency services confirmed 47 people were injured after a car drove into crowds of people on the streets of Liverpool (Image: PA ) A woman from Pembrokeshire who was caught up in the aftermath of a car driving into supporters during the Liverpool FC parade on Monday evening (May 27) said she saw "people screaming and running away, carrying their children, covering their eyes". Leah Bower was attending the parade and celebrating with her family just a street away from Water Street, where a car ploughed into supporters, injuring 47 people, including four children. On Tuesday morning, Liverpool City Metro Mayor Steve Rotherham said there are "still four people who are very, very ill in hospital". A 53-year-old white British man from Merseyside, believed to be the driver of the vehicle, was arrested at the scene. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here Speaking to BBC Radio Wales on Tuesday morning, Ms Bower, who had travelled to Liverpool from Pembrokeshire from the parade, said she was very nearly on Water Street at the time of the incident and saw hundreds of supporters running away from the scene. Live updates from Liverpool here. She said: "We were on Brunswick Street, which is the street that runs parallel to Water Street. When we were then reflecting on everything, we realised that we were nearly on Water Street for the parade - it was only because we were behind some trees that we moved further away towards the city centre. "As we left the parade, turned onto Fenwick Street to cut across to Water Street and that's when you noticed people running away and police overtaking us." Article continues below She said she had "no idea what was going on" at the time, but could see that lots of people were distressed. Parts of Liverpool city centre are still a crime scene on Tuesday morning (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo ) Ms Bower said: "We turned the corner and we were amongst the aftermath - people were screaming and running away, carrying their children, covering their eyes, frantically on the phone to try and contact loved ones. "We could see everyone injured on the floor in varying conditions - there were people with cut knees, but then there were people needing desperate medical attention. The speed that the emergency services got there was phenomenal despite the amount of crowd there." Although they could see the injured and people were talking about what happened, Ms Bower explained that what happened didn't sink in until much later. She said: "You saw people running away and police running past us but your mind doesn't go to the absolute worst. We were just thinking 'we'll cut through here to get back to the hotel'. It had been a long day. We were soaked through. "You're hearing rumours that a car had driven through, but you just thought 'No way - that can't happen. All the roads are closed.' There was just no understanding of how that could have happened. "We took a second to ring our family to let them know that we were ok, but they had no idea what was happening, so that's when we realised how close we must have been to what happened. We were back at the hotel by the time it was actually coming through on our phones that something had happened." She added that there was still "celebration" in the city before people understood that something horrific had happened. Ms Bower said: "The more you walked away from Water Street, the less people knew, so there was still so much celebration, still so much of the atmosphere coming off the parade. Article continues below "We were walking through to get back to the hotel almost shell-shocked at what we'd just seen and so numb."
