Man spotted free climbing to the top of The Shard

A man was spotted free climbing The Shard this morning (4 September).

Police were called to central London in the early hours, with reports of an unidentified male clambering to the top of the huge building.

Footage shared on social media showed the man scaling the side of The Shard, as crowds of people watched on from below.

Three men were arrested following the incident; one on suspicion of trespassing and two others on suspicion of causing public nuisance.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: "Police were called at 05:38hrs on Sunday, 4 September following reports of a climber on the Shard.

"Officers, London Ambulance Service and London Fire brigade all attended. "A number of cordons were in place while emergency services responded to the incident. "A 21-year old man was arrested on suspicion of trespass. "Two other men were both arrested on suspicion of causing public nuisance."

An ambulance was also called to the scene but the crew confirmed that there were no injuries sustained by anyone involved.

"We were called at 5.40am today (4 September) to reports of an incident at The Shard, London Bridge Street," London Ambulance Service said in a statement.

"We sent an incident response officer to the scene but there were no casualties."

Since the event this morning, it has been reported the man behind the climb is believed to be Adam Lockwood, who took to Facebook to post a picture of himself standing at the top of the building, and tagged his location as The Shard.

Lockwood is a notorious free climber, having previously climbed the 262ft San Siro Stadium in Milan, done pull ups off the end of a 1,115ft tall beam at a power station in Croatia, and pretended to be a workman to get past security and scale a 1,200ft crane in Dubai.

Standing at an enormous 310 metres, The Shard is the tallest skyscraper in the UK, and the 96th tallest in the world.

But this isn't the first time the building has been climbed.

In 2019, George King, who describes himself as a 'stuntman and urban climber', shared a video of himself scaling the building to his Instagram account.

Here it is:

Just 19 at the time, the teenager said he had wanted to climb it since he was 13 years old.

And he shocked onlookers as he pulled himself up the building with no ropes, harnesses or safety equipment of any sort.

Speaking to LADbible at the time, George said: "I didn't feel scared... an hour before, obviously there were nerves but as soon as I was walking towards The Shard and I knew that this was what I was going to do, all the fears subside and it's just pure focus. The purest form of focus you can possibly have."

Revealing what inspired him to tackle The Shard, he said: "I see it as an expression of my passion and a statement against conformity. I am trying to encourage people to be passionate, be unique and follow their dreams."

George was later sentenced to 24 weeks in prison for breaching an injunction imposed by the building's owners.