[Applause] [Music] in a moment we're going to crash this truck into this [Music] Ballard why on Earth should we want to do that you might ask well let me explain it's a sad fact that one of the most thoroughly unpleasant uses you can make of a car or a truck is to turn it into a bomb you'll remember Ira attacks from the past like the one in the city of London in 1992 and Canary WARF in '96 they both used trucks filled with explosives Timothy McVey the Oklahoma bomber packed his explosives into a rented truck the blast killed 168 people and suicide bombers often use cars and trucks too driving them to the heart of their targets then instantly detonating their payload this is is the devastation caused by a suicide car bomb in Egypt fortunately we've never suffered a suicide car or truck bomb in the UK but in our current state of alert particularly following July's London bombings is a threat that needs to be taken very seriously so what can be done to protect us against it well as part of a long running research and development program run by the security service MI5 there's continuous innovation and test testing of a whole range of measures from a number of Manufacturers this is the Avon Rising blocker this is their drop arm barrier and there are some newly developed sliding Gates unlike in Hollywood movies where Gates always fly open these Gano Gates stay reassuringly shut for our test we've picked one of the most unassuming and surprising of these measures one perhaps not normally associated with Cutting Edge Innovation The Humble Ballard this one's made by a company called atg access they're a British firm founded by a former painter and decorator who became interested in the unlikely subject of ballards when his neighbor's car was stolen determined to do something to avoid it happening again he developed a security Ballard system in his garage which the company still sell today as an anti- theft device they now sell bigger ballards too for billionaires to protect their homes and for councils to control access to City centers ballards that work by remote control and raise up and down at the command of transponders in cars and buses but they now claim to have created an ultra high security Ballard that can withstand the force of a hostile truck attack we can't reveal the trade secrets that promis to make this Ballard so tough apart from saying it's all down to the special materials used and what's installed beneath the ground the stuff you can't see it can be lowered flapped to the floor when it's not in use but when it's needed it can be raised in seconds it's just a meter high and 35 CM across but its makers claim it's tough enough to stop one of those so tonight on fifth gear we've arranged for the first televised demonstration to see if leg claims are Justified here at Myra in niton we're using a high-speed winch to pull the truck into the Ballard and as a substitute for the potential explosive payload in the back we're using a slightly more inert substance bags of sand right let's do it [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the truck is is stopped dead though the cab and a shower of debris carries on forward there's no way it would be going anywhere after this the Ballard is enveloped in wreckage but how has it taken the impact amazingly it looks totally intact even more amazingly it still [Music] works the test is a complete success I never thought I'd be able to sleep more soundly because of a Ballard but now I do [Music] [Music] focus is obliterated on impact only the rear end escapes total Destruction and the passengers don't ask