POLICE and politicians gathered at Ewood Park, Blackburn, last night to highlight the pressures emergency services face when tackling a potential terrorist incident.

ACT (All Communities Together) NOW is an interactive counter terrorism exercise that gives participants the chance to make critical decisions.

Labour MP for Blackburn Jack Straw, launched the initiative designed to encourage communities in the North West to help prevent extremism.

The exercise puts people in the fictitious town of Sandford, where they are faced with a situation where a terrorist incident is about to or has taken place.