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Metro
22-04-2025
- Metro
Notting Hill Carnival 'at risk of a Hillsborough-scale tragedy'
Notting Hill Carnival is at risk of a 'mass casualty event' like the Hillsborough disaster, the Mayor of London has been warned. The London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee said there had been a number of worrying incidents around crowd density, with fears officers will be unable to respond to emergencies. Around 2 million people attend the festival every year, which celebrates Caribbean heritage. But the Metropolitan Police has consistently raised concerns about the festival which takes place every August bank holiday weekend. It comes after two people, including a mum-of-one, were killed at last year's event. Cher Maximen was stabbed to death in front of her daughter at the carnival's family day. Chef Mussie Imnetu was found unconscious outside of a restaurant in Queensway, and was pronounced dead in hospital. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Some carnival-goers agree that something needs to change. Lauren Daisy-Jones, who runs Luminosity Glitter which works at the event, said last year was the first time in 18 years she decided not to go. She told Metro: 'I love Notting Hill Carnival, I have even set up my business around on it, but I didn't go last year due to overcrowding. 'I went the year before, and parts of the route were extremely bottle-necked. I saw children at the centre of crushes and buggies being lifted over the crowds. 'I reached one of the bottle necks in my costume and suddenly realised I was very unsafe. I left early.' Susan Hall, chair of the committee, told the assembly: 'We cannot stand by and wait for a tragic incident to happen, action must be taken. 'Two people tragically lost their lives at last year's event due to violent crime, and it is absolutely essential that the Met is on hand to carry out its duties, and not fill in for a lack of stewarding from the organisers.' Last year, Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said: 'Even though there are crime risks, we are more worried about the crowd risks. 'We try to reduce the risk of a Hillsborough-type [disaster] but we're mitigating something that is unsatisfactory.' Notting Hill Carnival organisers said they use a number of experts to help run the event, and had 3,300 stewards on duty last year. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been urged to commission a review into crowd safety at the event Giving evidence to the committee in September 2024, the Met's Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: 'While we acknowledge the crime often gets the headlines, the thing that worries me most is the crowd density and the potential for a mass casualty event.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Passengers caught in 'ridiculous' Elizabeth line delays after works finish late MORE: Commuters are 'dodging' fares to save £50 on train tickets — and it's completely legit MORE: British teen won't be canonised following Pope's death
BBC News
22-04-2025
- BBC News
Met Police fear 'mass casualty event at Notting Hill Carnival
The London Assembly is calling for a review of crowd safety at Notting Hill Carnival amid police concerns about "a mass casualty event" at the two-day Hall AM, chair of the assembly's Police and Crime Committee, said there have been "a number of incredibly worrying incidents with crowd density" at the raised concerns about the Metropolitan Police's ability "to keep visitors safe or to respond to any incidents that occur".The committee said the mayor should conduct a full review of pinch points and there should be strict guidance for the number of stewards required across the carnival. The committee also noted the Notting Hill Carnival is a "unique celebration of Caribbean culture and history" and attracts around two million visitors each the volume of people also creates "a complex policing challenge".As part of its policing operation for the 2024 Carnival, the Met had around 7,000 officers on duty, drawn from local policing teams as well as specialist units, with a total of around 14,000 officer shifts across the whole evidence to the committee in September 2024, the Met's Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: "While we acknowledge the crime often gets the headlines, the thing that worries me most is the crowd density and the potential for a mass casualty event."Ms Hall said on Tuesday, after the publication of the committee report on public order policing in London: "We cannot stand by and wait for a tragic incident to happen, action must be taken."She added: "Two people tragically lost their lives at last year's event due to violent crime, and it is absolutely essential that the Met is on hand to carry out its duties, and not fill in for a lack of stewarding from the organisers."Cher Maximen, a 32-year-old mother and Mussie Imnetu, 41, who had been visiting London from Dubai, were both murdered at the carnival last year. The Notting Hill Carnival takes place over two days over the August Bank Holiday along a three-and-a-half mile (5.6km) route in north Kensington, west London, and has been running for more than 50 organisers, Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, have said they use "experts from all areas of event organisation" and had 3,300 stewards on duty in 2024 to help manage new report from the assembly's policing committee also says increased public order demand in central London is putting the Met under strain, and this has not been matched with an increase in funding from the said: "Officers who have undertaken specialist public order training are now stepping back from public order work in increasing numbers, due to the demand of regular weekend shifts and impact on family life."The Met continues to rely on 'abstraction', where local officers are taken away from regular duties at short notice to support public order operations in central London."Taking neighbourhood officers away from their regular duties is having a continuing impact on local policing services."
BBC News
12-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Metropolitan police officers on paid leave could cost 'tens of millions'
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has said that the bill for keeping rogue officers on paid leave, because the force does not have the power to sack them, could run into tens of millions of pounds a comes after a High Court ruling that the Met cannot fire officers who have had their vetting clearance removed - a background check used to identify unsuitable Mark Rowley told the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee that the force was preparing an Met began reviewing allegations against officers and staff following public outrage over the cases, such as Wayne Couzens, a serving officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard. Sir Mark said that urgent work was needed by the government to change regulations so he could get rid of rogue are currently 29 officers who have had their vetting removed who remain on paid leave and 96 who have been sacked or resigned."The current people who are on paid leave at home, I think the bill for them will run to about £7m a year, but if the regulations aren't fixed, as we put more people into the process, that number will tick up and up and up," he described the situation as frustrating but added, "You want to keep them off the street and away from colleagues."Sir Mark said he had been lobbying for action from the Home Office but that officials needed to "listen and roll their sleeves up"."I don't apologise for stepping into a legally uncertain and untested space, the most important thing is the integrity of the police," he said. 'Tough choices' A Home Office spokesperson has said it was "acting rapidly" to ensure police forces could "dismiss officers who cannot maintain vetting clearance".Sir Mark also told the Police and Crime Committee that the Met was still facing "very significant" cuts to frontline services, but that they would not be on the scale he had previously feared, thanks to more government year, he warned the force was facing a £450m funding shortfall, which he said could have an "eyewatering" impact, and the potential loss of 2,300 officers and 400 staff December, policing minister Diana Johnson announced that the Met would receive an extra £65m through the National and International Capital City grant, partly to cover the costs of policing protests in the commissioner told the committee that this meant that the force was now £45m better off than it had anticipated, but warned that "a large part of the tough choices will still have to be executed", including losing officers and repeated assurances that areas such as neighbourhood policing and public protection teams, which target violence against women and children, would be protected, but said he could not give any more detail on where other cuts would Met has previously warned that it may need to reduce the size of the Flying Squad, which tackles serious and organised crime; the dogs unit and mounted branch; and Royal Parks mayor's draft budget proposes raising average council tax bills by almost £19 a year to help pay for London's police and fire services, which is expected to raise an additional £54m in the police budget for Mark said that the Met was "part way through the budget process" and it would take a bit longer to get clarity.
