Residents warned to expect gunshots as emergency services are tested over three days in Scotland and north-east England

A three-day national counter-terrorism exercise in which a vehicle attack on the Royal Bank of Scotland’s HQ is being simulated is under way in Edinburgh.

The exercise, designed to test the cross-border response of the emergency services in England and Scotland to a high-casualty attack, will see streets cordoned off, blue lights and sirens wailing and even gunshots heard – albeit caused by blank cartridges.

The exercise began on Tuesday morning and included the home secretary, Amber Rudd, chairing a Cobra meeting in Whitehall and the Scottish government’s “resilience room” updating ministers.

The simulation is the result of a year of planning and will continue at sites across Edinburgh, Angus and across the border in north-east England. No members of the public will be involved but areas will be cordoned off and tightly controlled to minimise disruption.

The exercise tested armed response teams, paramedics and firefighters as well as police control room and organisational staff. Official observers watched the action unfold.

An assistant chief constable of Police Scotland, Bernard Higgins, said the exercise was needed to train emergency services to respond to a high-casualty attack carried out by individuals or small groups with vehicles or weapons.

“This is an exercise – it’s not because we know something is going to happen or we believe something is going to happen. There is absolutely no intelligence to suggest that Scotland is going to be a specific target of terrorism at any point in the future,” said Higgins.



“People in the Edinburgh area today and over the next few days, please don’t be alarmed if you see lots of blue lights and sirens or if you hear gunshots.

“It is blank cartridges we’re using, but it’s trying to recreate the pressure and the tension that the first responders will be feeling at the scene and the senior officers and staff will be feeling back in the operations room.”

He said the terrorist attacks in Britain this year had involved a lot of deaths and the threat level had moved to critical on two occasions.

“As these things have occurred, so have our plans evolved to try and recreate the threat that we believe exists within the UK.



“In previous exercises the attacks were more coordinated, so you have had two or three different cells attacking different venues at different times,” he said.

“What we’ve seen in recent times – particularly in the UK – it’s low-sophistication, it’s small numbers of people, often lone actors. They’re using vehicles, they’re using knives and bladed weapons, but the impact is high and the casualties are high. So it’s trying to recreate what we believe will be a likely scenario, should it occur.”

Rudd added: “The events of this year have shown why it is vital that the emergency services, government and agencies prepare and rehearse our response to potential terrorist attacks. The professionalism with which frontline services dealt with the atrocities in London and Manchester is in part due to the planning and practice that goes into exercises like this.”