fears raised that a crowd crush at notting hill carnival is 'only a matter of time'

Crowds filling up the streets at Notting Hill Carnival last year (Picture: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Crowd crush experts are ‘gobsmacked Notting Hill Carnival can still go ahead’ as long-standing attendees vow they won’t feel safe going again.

One million people are expected to attend the annual event in west London this bank holiday weekend to celebrate Caribbean culture.

But the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor of London have expressed fears there is the real risk of a mass casualty event.

Lauren Daisy-Jones,who went to the famous carnival in west London for 18 years,said she decided to no longer go after seeing ‘babies in prams lifted out of packed crowds’.

She told Metro: ‘I last went two years ago,and it was just insane. It just all becomes a bottleneck,particularly around Westbourne Park

‘I vividly remember how packed it was,and seeing babies in prams being lifted high in the air as the parents tried to get out. The police were standing to the side not moving,but what could they do?’

Regular attendees have said they no longer feel safe going (Picture: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for RedBull)

And experts have agreed the likelihood of there being a serious crush is high.

Steve Allen,who has worked as an expert witness for major crushes including at Astroworld and Brixton Academy,said major injury or death at the carnival is ‘entirely possible’.

Heading to this year’s carnival? Click here for road closures and where you’ll find travel disruption.

He told Metro: ‘I hope it goes safely,and there are incidents at every kind of large-scale event.

‘But when a serious crush happens,experts have to determine whether it was foreseeable or not – and a crush at Notting Hill Carnival is 100% foreseeable.

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