Ex-soldier who stopped Paul Doyle’s car says he did not do ‘anything special’

A former soldier who brought Paul Doyle’s car to a stop when he climbed into the back seat and moved the gearstick to park mode has said he does not think he did anything special.

Dan Barr has been described as a “hero” who stopped Doyle, who injured 134 people, from continuing to drive through the crowds on Water Street in Liverpool city centre after Liverpool FC’s victory parade on May 26.

The 41-year-old, who suffered cuts to his head following a “scuffle” with the driver, said he only did what most other people on the street were trying to do.

He said: “I don’t think it’s anything special. I know it sounds mad.

“It hasn’t sunk in. Maybe it never will, but I’ll do it again.”

The builder’s labourer, who served for eight years in the Royal Engineers including in Iraq, said he saw the “opportunity” to get in when Doyle’s Ford Galaxy stopped with the rear passenger door about five paces away from him.

He said: “My intention was to punch the window through.

“Although this was a split second, there was other people around the car, and they were desperately, desperately, and rightfully so, trying to get in.

“So I ran up to that window with the full intention of punching it, whatever use that would do, because I assumed that all the doors were locked and that’s why nobody could get in and they were punching it.

“Just at the final moment I tried the door and it opened.”

Mr Barr, from Birkenhead, Wirral, crawled into the back seat and said once he was in the car Doyle accelerated away, causing the rear door to slam shut with the force.

His memory of his time in the car is “blurry”, but he said he remembered the contrast between the screaming, shouting and panic on the street and relative silence inside.

He said he got the impression it was a “family car” and remembered Doyle repeating words to the effect of “why won’t they move out my way?”.

He recalled looking for the car keys to stop Doyle and feeling that the car was “gliding through” the crowd “indiscriminately”.

He said: “Eventually, this could be like two seconds, I don’t know, I remember seeing the automatic gear stick so from the back seat I reached through, and I’ve pushed it as far as I could, as hard as could, into ‘P’ which has brought the car to the stop.”

Mr Barr remembers some sort of scuffle with Doyle, who kept trying to rev the car as he held the automatic gearstick in park mode.

He said: “He had no chance, he wasn’t going to move my arm.

“No way, he could try to chop it off or whatever.

“I remember that much.”

While holding the gear stick in place, he reached forward with his other hand and pressed Doyle’s seatbelt buckle.

“As soon as I pressed that he was gone,” he said.

“The crowd were trying to get him out, from what I remember, the windows were getting smashed, everybody was trying to get in, rightfully so.

“I pressed the seatbelt and off he disappeared.”

After leaving the car, Mr Barr carried on making his way up the road and later met his brother, who had also been in the city for the parade.

“I imagine I told him at a million miles an hour, something roughly that made sense, and then went for a pint,” he said.

Mr Barr’s actions have been praised by police and prosecutors.

Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald said: “There is no doubt in my mind that Doyle would have continued to drive and cause further injuries had Dan not acted with such bravery.”