As the government minister stepped from his official car outside York Minster, he was greeted with cheers – and a few jeers – from the assembled crowd.
Seconds later, the scene turned to one of horror, shock and panic. As the politician approached the West Entrance, a terrorist launched an acid and knife attack.
The minister’s security detail fired shots at the attacker then bundled their VIP back into the car.
Moments later, cries of agony could be heard just yards away. As part of what was clearly a coordinated attack, a lorry had been driven into a group of people walking along the Minster piazza.
The victims lay crying in agony under the wheels of the HGV.
And as the emergency services responded to what was an emerging major incident, the terrorists were already inside York Minster – starting a siege in which all 300 people gathered inside for a candlelit concert were taken hostage…
Thankfully, of course, none of this was real. Instead it was Exercise Obtundity, a multi-agency operation to test the joint response of the emergency services to a series of terrorist incidents.
But often it felt real enough. The gunfire, the screams, the limbless figures under the wheels of the lorry were all too close to reality.
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That realism was the result of more than 12 months of planning. Some of those playing casualties were amputees in real life to bring another level of authenticity to the exercise.
And it was why the area around York Minster was sealed off last night so North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Counter Terrorism Police and York Minster Police could test themselves.
Following on from the Manchester Arena enquiry there is now an expectation that venues like York Minster should review their understanding of the risks they face from terrorist attacks and be ready to take proportionate measures to mitigate against them.
Strategic exercise lead for North Yorkshire Police, Chief Inspector Mick Roffe, told YorkMix: “It’s really important that we come together as a tri-service, and the Minster Police, to exercise in this way – because these incidents have happened, sadly, in the past, and we have to prepare ourselves for these eventualities in the future.”
None of the 999 crews taking part in the exercise knew what lay in store.
“It’s unfolding for them as real as it would be in real life,” Ch Insp Roffe said. “I’m really pleased to see blue light services pulling together as a team, and working hard to get through what is a really challenging incident for them.
“After tonight, we’ll come together and debrief this incident. It’s really important that we come together and learn from the things that haven’t gone so well tonight, and put plans in place to rectify that in the future.”
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David Colthup, chief operating officer at York Minster, said he was “not privy to any recent update of security advice” to suggest there was a specific threat against the Minster.
“I’m not going to say this is routine, because a big exercise like this is far from routine. It’s a once in a decade opportunity.
“But there’s nothing to be fearful of doing an exercise like this,” he said. It was all about investing the “the time, the energy, the resources that we’re all putting behind this, to make sure that we are going to be even better prepared in the future.
“So that if something does go wrong, we are as well prepared as we possibly can be.”
Tony Peel, of North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, agreed: “It is really important to have the opportunity to work with other emergency service partners to ensure that in the event of a no-notice hostile attack that we are all ready to play our role and work seamlessly with each other to keep the public safe and preserve life.”
Exercise Obtundity was supported by City of York Council and the city’s Protect & Prepare Partnership Group.
It follows similar multi-agency exercise at York Racecourse in March 2023.
The volunteers came from Wakefield College, the Ready for Anything group, the York Rescue Boat, the University of York, North Yorkshire Police (including cadets), and the North Yorkshire Volunteers.