Britain is not prepared for car ramming terrorist attacks

At least two people have died and several injured after a car was driven down a busy shopping street yesterday in Mannheim, in western Germany. A 40-year-old man has been arrested.

It is not clear yet if this attack was ideologically motivated. But car attacks like this are becoming horrifyingly common in Germany. In Magdeburg and Munich either side of last Christmas a total of seven people were murdered in two separate car rammings. In both cases, the suspected attackers were foreign nationals.

Britain has fortunately manage to avoid any vehicle ramming terrorist incidents since the Westminster bridge attack in 2018 (in the previous year there were three attacks, in Westminster, London Bridge and Finsbury Park). But we should not be complacent – across Europe, cars are once again becoming the weapon of choice for crazed or radicalised assailants.