At the end of June and the middle of August, Crowdguard worked in partnership with Doncaster City Council, UK Pride and Direct Traffic Management to secure the City’s Armed Forces Day parade, as well as the Doncaster Pride parade.

The City Council had previously taken on multi-agency support, which had included the use of vehicles to protect the parade routes, which was financially onerous due to the installation costs, as well as unsuitable, based on the level of threat and risk to the events. The use of the suggested assets would also have caused greater disruption to the town centre, due to the lengthy deployment and removal processes required for the suggested equipment.

Crowdguard were approached to suggest more cost-effective solutions for both events, and we were able to offer a more proportionate, rated temporary solution.

We secured the parade routes with a varied deployment of Husson H-Stop, Highway Care RB50’s, and ARX Stopper at key junctions and pinch points where the vulnerability to a VAW attack was higher.

Working with two individual event organisers (Doncaster City Council for the Armed Forces Day, and UK Pride for Doncaster Pride) meant that a joined-up communications strategy was imperative. Fortunately, as both event parades followed an almost identical route, only very minor adjustments to the HVM provision needed to be implemented across the two events – which saved both clients time and money.

Russ Phillips, Counter Terrorism and Risk Director at Crowdguard observed:

“With both the Armed Forces Day and the Doncaster Pride parades being predictable, well-advertised, and well-attended events that have vulnerabilities due to being held in the city centre where high vehicle speeds can be achieved, it was vital that the appropriate use of measures were in place, in proportion to the threat level.”

“We were able to create a security plan for the parades that included modular, temporary HVM solutions by implementing our threat, vulnerability and risk assessment (TVRA) process, which enabled the events to pass safely – and the organisers to sleep better at night!”

The overarching traffic management plan to direct vehicles away from the parade route effectively meant that the risk level was substantially reduced, and the threat to the public from a vehicle incursion was minimised.

By deploying rated, temporary HVM equipment to create pedestrianised areas for the parades to safely move through, we were able to ensure that the city centre quickly returned to normality after the events were over, allowing for roads to be re-opened and local traffic to resume.

Jenny Dewsnap, Service Manager for Events Doncaster said:

“Keeping everyone safe at events with parades can be a challenge. As an event organiser it’s my job to ensure those in the parade, the volunteers and security staff are protected but of course, also the public observing the parade, or just going about their business in the city centre. Doncaster is designed with many roads that feed into others and back entrances to parking and side streets to major roads and everything needs to be meticulously planned to make sure we keep the people protected from anywhere a vehicle can access.

“Securing spaces is never easy in a city centre, but the team at Crowdguard not only have great products that are in and out quickly, returning your city centre to normal with minimum fuss and delay but also know the industry, understand the needs and provide workable solutions at a good price. Their advice, knowledge and great products certainly makes my job a lot easier.”

If you’re planning an event (small or large-scale), get in touch with the Crowdguard team to discuss your requirements. We can give you the best possible advice and provide a turnkey service to help you plan and implement strategies to keep people safe and protect crowded places with market-leading solutions installed by experts, designed to help you mitigate risk.

Call us on: 0161 507 3434

info@crowdguard.co.uk