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This is what it might look like if one of Europe’s biggest shopping centres were threatened by a terror attack.

In the early hours of Wednesday, Northumbria Police and other emergency services descended on the Metrocentre, in Gateshead, to test out their response to a major incident.

They focused on how they would fight an terrorist attack on the shopping centre — an exercise similar to others carried out across the country which, officers say, was not conducted in response to any specific threat to the North East.

The Metrocentre was closed at the time of the exercise and police and staff patrolled the area to prevent any potential false alarms.

(Image: Northumbria Police)

Assistant Chief Constable Darren Best has said these types of exercises are “routine” and give police and partners a chance to test exactly how they may respond in dangerous circumstances.

He said: “This is one of a number of routine exercises organised to test the response of the emergency services and other partner agencies. It is in no way linked to a specific or increased threat.

“We carry out exercises to test contingency plans and the co-ordination of the response to a major incident on a regular basis.

“The national terror threat remains at ‘Severe’ and recent events across the continent and in the country show that we need to ensure we are prepared in the event that something does happen in our region.

(Image: Northumbria Police)

“It is important that we continue to test our emergency response procedures to ensure the safety of our local communities.

“A huge amount of work and preparation was put into this exercise and I want to thank intu Metrocentre in particular for their support.

“We also enjoy a really positive working relationship with our partners and fellow blue light services and this exercise will allow us to improve those relationships further.

“The absolute priority of everyone involved will always be the safety of the public and we will continue to test our skills and processes to ensure we are in the best position to keep people safe.”

(Image: Northumbria Police)

The exercise enabled the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, the North East Ambulance Service, Gateshead Council, intu Metrocentre and NHS England to work together within a life-like setting.

Simon Swallow, head of resilience at North East Ambulance Service, said: “This was a great opportunity to test how we all work together in a major incident and without intu we couldn’t have created as realistic a scenario to work with.

“The exercise gave us the opportunity to really build upon our partnership working arrangements and in particular the fire service, with whom our collaboration with could make a significant difference to patients in a large scale incident."