Did Quick-Thinking Taxi Driver Prevent Mass Casualty Event in Liverpool Blast?

A Liverpool taxi driver has been crowned a hero Monday morning. Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised his “incredible presence of mind and bravery” for reportedly diverting what could have been a mass casualty event when a passenger he was carrying started acting suspiciously.

Just before 11 a.m. Sunday, while the nation held a two-minute moment of silence for Remembrance Day, a taxi blew up outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital. Video shows the moment the cab exploded as it pulled up to the hospital with the driver escaping the cloud of smoke.

Three men were arrested Sunday under Britain’s Terrorism Act in connection with the incident, and a fourth man was taken into custody Monday morning as police declared the event an act of terrorism. Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson told reporters, “Although the motivation for this incident is yet to be understood, given all the circumstances, it has been declared a terrorist incident and Counter-Terrorism Policing are continuing with the investigation.”

While police and counterterrorism officials have not confirmed the role of the driver, many others have speculated, including Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson, who said, “The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster at the hospital. 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.”

The driver, who The Daily Beast is not identifying until local police name him officially, reportedly locked his passenger in his car outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, touted as the largest advanced fertility research center in Europe, at 10:59 Sunday morning. Johnson told reporters at a COVID vaccine event on Monday that he could not comment on “what type of incident it was” or “what type of crime it may have been,” adding that, to him at least, “it does look as though the taxi driver in question did behave with incredible presence of mind and bravery.”

Local news media report that he suspected his passenger was wearing a suicide vest and rather than allow him to walk into the hospital, he did or said something that stopped him and caused the cab to explode. The driver suffered injuries, including lesions and burns, according to media reports. Anderson confirmed some of what has been reported, telling a local radio station, “Well, we knew that the taxi driver had stood out and locked the doors, we knew that early on,” she said.

In video of the blast, it is unclear what is going on inside the vehicle, but the car was still moving when it blew up just before the driver jumped out.

About three hours after the taxi exploded, three men—ages 21, 26, and 29—were arrested under Britain’s Terrorism Act, which allows them to be kept for up to 14 days for questioning before being charged. Police also evacuated several homes and sent negotiation teams into at least two other residences in Liverpool, where they remained in place Monday morning until a fourth man, age 20, was taken into custody.

Conservative party Co-Chairman Oliver Dowden told Sky News that more arrests could come. “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.”

Former counter-terror coordinator Nick Aldworth told BBC Radio 4 that it is common to make arrests and investigations under the Terror Act to ensure more access to investigative resources. He said that the car had more fire damage than blast damage, calling into question just what set off the explosion that killed the yet-unnamed passenger. “They’ll be looking at what sort of damage has been caused, trying to get an assessment of what might have caused that blast,” he said. “From what I’ve seen, there is very little blast damage—a lot of fire damage but very little blast damage. So whatever was in that vehicle was either a low-yield or didn’t work properly or was possibly an incendiary.”

Police have not revealed a motive for the blast or arrests, but the U.K. Attorney General tweeted a warning not to jump to conclusions. “We would like to remind anyone reporting or commenting on the explosion outside #Liverpool Women’s Hospital today to be aware of the law on Contempt of Court. The same rules that apply to journalists apply to social media users. #ThinkBeforeYouPost.”