Event Security in 2025: Vehicle Risk Mitigation and the Challenge of Crowded Spaces

Large-scale public events remain high-risk targets not only for antisocial behaviour or protest action, but increasingly for vehicle-based threats. As we move into a packed 2025 event season, the pressure on security teams to deliver safe, efficient, and visible protection is greater than ever.

But too many providers are still deploying static stewards and hoping for the best while vehicle mitigation is either minimal or absent.

1. Understanding the Threat: Why Vehicles Remain a Major Risk

• History of hostile vehicle attacks across Europe

• Current UK threat picture (inc. guidance from NaCTSO, NPSA, Martyn’s Law)

• Public events = soft targets

2. Common Failings in Event Security Planning

• Poor or no vehicle mitigation strategy

• Open pedestrian zones vulnerable to sudden incursion

• Lack of hostile vehicle awareness among staff

• Over-reliance on untrained stewards

3. Practical Vehicle Risk Mitigation Measures

• Use of HVM (Hostile Vehicle Mitigation) barriers, bollards, or concrete blocks

• Dynamic vehicle access control and screening

• Briefings for staff on spotting suspicious vehicle activity

• Visible deterrents (patrols, marked vehicles, signage)

4. Coordinating with Police and Local Authorities

• Pre-event planning meetings with CTSA and local police

• Emergency access/egress routes that don’t compromise perimeter security

• Multi-agency coordination: event security, traffic management, medics, fire marshals

5. Training and Briefing Your Teams

• Staff should understand vehicle threats not just crowd management

• Briefings must include: entry points, barrier procedures, “actions on” in the event of a breach

• Include SIA licensed staff with CT awareness or ACT training where possible

Final Thoughts

Event security is not just about presence it’s about planning. If your site or event hasn't considered vehicle threats as part of your strategy in 2025, you're behind the curve.

The stakes are higher, the risks are real and it's our responsibility to get it right.