Oxfordshire would not be able to cope with a major terrorist attack, the county's emergency planning officer has warned.

At a planning exercise for the emergency services, hospitals and councils, held in Abingdon on Thursday, November 21, John Kelly was critical of "confusing, mixed messages" from the Government.

The event in the Guildhall simulated a rail crash using a model railway.

Mr Kelly said: "We're capable of handling a major incident, such as the rail crash which we examined at this exercise, but the services are not up to dealing with a massive terrorist attack. Such an incident would stretch our resources to the limit.

"We can deal with an incident involving hundreds of casualties because we're trained to cope.

"But we would be really stretched if we were faced with a New York-type attack involving tons of rubble and thousands of casualties and evacuations."

He added: "The services are working together to counter the threat but we're getting confusing, mixed messages from the Government. The Prime Minister tells us that there's a terrorist threat around the corner, but in local government we're being told there's no threat and we do not need any more money to deal with major incident planning."

Assistant Divisional Officer Steve Harrison, of Oxford's Rewley Road fire station -- the fire risk manager for the city -- said: "We have concerns about a major terrorist attack and more Government funding is needed, but we're addressing the issues."