There’s a serious police incident in York tonight (Wednesday).
It is centred on York College.
North Yorkshire Police said: “Emergency services are currently dealing with an incident on Tadcaster Road.
“A cordon is in place and the road is currently closed in both directions between York College and the Tesco roundabout.
“Members of the public are advised to avoid the area.”
Large numbers of police vehicles have been seen parked near the college.
The police helicopter is also hovering over the area.
YorkMix understands that some students were locked down within the college. Students and staff were then evacuated, with college buses allowed to leave the area.
The large Tesco supermarket has also been evacuated.
One witness told YorkMix: “It’s a complete lockdown. Traffic from the A64 entering York has been stopped.
“Every type of emergency services vehicle is here.”
Jerry Ibbotson was driving home on the A64 and got stuck in the gridlock caused by the incident.
He told YorkMix Radio: “I saw one of the unmarked police cars with every light possible flashing go past.
“By the time I got to York College, I think I must have seen six, seven or eight police vehicles, cars, vans of all shapes and sizes outside.
“The road coming the other way past Tesco was closed at the roundabout. Cars were being diverted off by police. I’ve never seen so many police vehicles in one place – it looked like every police car in York had converged on the college.
“The police helicopter was overhead, you could you could hear that.”
Jerry has friends who work at the college. “People who work there, they were told to actually stay in – or at least stay in the car park. Staff were sort of hemmed in and were told that they couldn’t actually leave the site.
“I’m not sure now if that’s still the case, but it certainly was around around five o’clock.”
Shortly before 9pm, York College released this statement: “We are working with the relevant emergency services in connection with the ongoing incident.
“We have decided to remain closed to students tomorrow (Thursday 15 March).
“We expect to be open as usual on Friday 16 March. In the meantime, students and staff are encouraged to regularly monitor their emails.”
[tptn_list limit=3 daily=1 hour_range=1]