A MAN arrested after a car crashed into gates at Downing Street, the British prime minister’s London complex, has been released under investigation but was charged with an “unrelated” offence, police said today.  

The 43-year-old was detained at the scene of the collision on Thursday on suspicion of criminal damage and dangerous driving and “has since been released under investigation in relation to this matter”, London’s Metropolitan Police said.  

Police also said he was charged with “an unrelated matter of making indecent images of children” and is due to “appear in custody” at a London court today.   

Video footage on Thursday showed a silver car driving at low speed across London’s Whitehall, where many government ministries are located, having emerged from a gated area next to the Ministry of Defence, opposite Downing Street.  

It appeared to then mount the footpath and came to a halt after hitting the large metal gates that guard the entrance to Downing Street.  

Police said there were no injuries reported and the incident is not being treated as “terror-related”.  

Large gates were put up at the entrance to Downing Street in 1989 as a result of IRA bomb attacks in London, and the Irish republican group launched three homemade mortar shells at the prime minister’s residence in 1991.  

The gates are the first line of security, with armed police stationed at the entrance. Official cars entering the street normally have to be checked before strengthened bollards are lowered to allow them through. – AFP, May 27, 2023.