Breaking news: Streets around Houses of Parliament in London including Cycle Superhighway in lockdown as police respond to major incident

Streets around the Houses of Parliament in London, including a section of the East-West Cycle Superhighway, are in lockdown as police respond to a major incident at the Houses of Parliament which has left four people dead, including one police officer, and others seriously injured.

The Metropolitan Police have advised the public to keep away from the following areas due to the incident: Parliament Square, Whitehall, Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, Victoria Street up to the junction with Broadway and the Victoria Embankment up to Embankment tube.

Eyewitnesses have described how at around 2.40pm, a driver turned across the Cycle Superhighway on Bridge Street and crashed into people, apparently leaving several seriously injured, in what seems to have been an attempt to use the vehicle to force entry to the grounds of the Palace of Westminster.

Shooting and people getting run over by a car @ Westminster pic.twitter.com/hwbE4LWMlc

— OllyAston (@OllyAston) March 22, 2017

The Telegraph reports that the driver was said to have wielded a knife as he ran towards police officers guarding the complex, who are reported to have opened fire on him.

The London air ambulance is in attendance as are a number of ambulance crews  and there is now a huge police presence including armed officers in the area.

If you commute along the East-West Cycle Superhighway, you will need to find an alternative route given the road closures between Embankment Tube and Parliament Square. Possible detours include heading up Northumberland Avenue towards the Mall, then turning onto Horseguards Parade and  then rejoining the route (or vice-versa, as the case may be).

With street closures also in force from Parliament Square to Lambeth Bridge, anyone who would normally travel west along Millbank will also have to find an alternative route.

More to follow.