The taxi driver who had escaped the vehicle explosion outside of Liverpool Women’s Hospital has been named as David Perry
Video shows the explosion at the Liverpool hospital took place almost as soon as the car pulled up at reception, with the taxi driver managing to run from the vehicle before the fire took hold.
The taxi driver who escaped the car explosion outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital has been named as David Perry – with the prime minister saying it appears the cabbie acted with “incredible presence of mind and bravery”.
It is understood Mr Perry has been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home.
The male passenger of the car died at the scene in Sunday morning’s incident, and three men, aged 29, 26, and 21, have been arrested under the Terrorism Act.
A video shows the cab – a black estate or people carrier – slowly pulling up yards from reception and a violent blast sending white smoke and debris shooting into the air as soon as it stops.
This comes after three men who are aged 29, 26, and 21, have been arrested under the Terrorism Act in connection with the explosion involving a taxi at Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday.
Emerging from the smoke, the cabbie runs from the driver’s side door as a man in a yellow hi-viz vest dashes to help.
The vehicle is then engulfed in flames, but luckily, the area appears deserted apart from some parked cars at the moment of explosion.
On Monday morning, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that it appeared Mr Perry had acted with “incredible presence of mind and bravery”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Liverpool mayor Joanne Anderson also praised his actions.
“The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster at the hospital,” she said.
“Our thanks go to him and our emergency services, and authorities have worked through the night to divert anything further, and we’ve all been on standby and in constant contact to provide any support that’s needed.”
She added: “Well, we knew that the taxi driver had stood out and locked the doors, we knew that early on.”
Phil Garrigan, chief fire officer of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, said the blaze was “fully developed” when his crews arrived and that the driver had escaped before it took hold.
He told reporters: “The operational crews extinguished the fire rapidly but, as has been reiterated by the police chief constable, there was one fatality.”
Following the explosion, armed police swooped on several terraced houses in Sutcliffe Street in the city, where the three arrests were made.
Sections of Sutcliffe Street and Boaler Street have remained cordoned off this morning, with a heavy police presence at the scene.
This comes after the PM tore up the independent system for combating sleaze within parliament on Wednesday as he threw the government’s weight behind protecting a Tory MP who was found to have repeatedly breached lobbying rules.
A similar police scene had been in place at Rutland Avenue in Sefton Park, where a number of residents had been evacuated overnight from their homes.
A convoy of seven unmarked vehicles, three vans and four cars, entered the cordon in the early hours of the morning.
Counter-terrorism officers are currently leading the investigation “out of caution” but detectives say that they are keeping an “open mind”.
Earlier, Conservative party co-chairman Oliver Dowden told Sky News that it was a fast-moving investigation.
“It is an emerging situation and the home secretary is being kept briefed on it,” he said.
“It is a reminder to us all that the threat of terrorism hasn’t gone away and how much we depend on our police and security services.”
