The Attorney General’s Office has received requests to review the prison sentence handed to Paul Doyle, the man jailed for driving into crowds during Liverpool FC’s Premier League victory parade, after claims the punishment was too lenient.

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said it had received “several requests” for Doyle’s sentence to be considered under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. “The law officers have 28 days from sentencing to carefully consider the case and make a decision,” the spokesman said.

The Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme allows anyone to ask the Attorney General to examine a Crown Court sentence they believe is “very low, or unduly lenient”, provided the request is made within 28 days of sentencing. If the Attorney General or Solicitor General agrees a sentence may be unduly lenient, they can refer it to the Court of Appeal, which can keep the sentence the same or increase it.

Doyle, 54, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 16 December to 21 years and six months’ imprisonment after admitting 31 offences arising from the incident on 26 May, when 134 people were injured on Water Street in Liverpool city centre. His victims were aged between six months and 77.

Prosecutors told the court Doyle “used his car as a weapon”, and said he acted in anger rather than panic, with dashcam footage played to the court showing him accelerating into supporters and shouting at them to “get out the f****** way”.

Sentencing Doyle, the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary KC, said: “Your actions caused horror and devastation on a scale not previously encountered by this court.” He said the “sheer scale of offending” justified a sentence significantly above the guideline ranges and added: “A proper balance must be struck between the acknowledgement of your multiple and very serious offending and the imposition of a just proportionate sentence.”

In a separate account of the sentencing, Judge Menary was reported as describing footage of the incident as “truly shocking” and said Doyle had acted in “inexplicable and undiluted fury”.

The court heard Doyle had travelled from his home in Croxteth to Liverpool city centre to collect friends who had been at the parade. Reports of the prosecution case indicated that investigators and prosecutors rejected suggestions that Doyle was acting in fear, instead presenting the incident as a burst of rage.

According to reports from the sentencing hearing, Doyle’s vehicle was a Ford Galaxy. Footage shown to the court was described as capturing the car swerving into crowds in an area that had been closed to traffic, with people struck and thrown to the ground as the vehicle forced its way through supporters.

The attack was brought to an end when a former soldier, Dan Barr, climbed into the back seat of the automatic vehicle and held the gearstick in park mode, preventing it from moving. ITV reported that Doyle continued trying to accelerate after the car was stopped but could not move further, with people trapped underneath at that stage.

Accounts from the hearing said Barr’s intervention was credited with preventing the incident from continuing for longer in densely packed streets, and the absence of fatalities was described by police and others as remarkable given the scale of the crowd and the nature of the driving.

Doyle pleaded guilty moments before his trial was due to begin to dangerous driving, affray, 17 charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, nine counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and three counts of wounding with intent.

The seriousness of the offences, and the number of victims, formed a central part of the sentencing judge’s approach. Judge Menary said the offending created devastation on an unprecedented scale for that court, while also stressing the need for proportionality in the final outcome.

Public reaction to the sentence has been divided, with some people arguing it should have been longer and others saying it reflected the gravity of the offences. The Attorney General’s Office said only that it had received several requests for the case to be assessed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, and did not say how many requests had been made or by whom.

If the law officers decide the sentence should be considered by the Court of Appeal, the judges there would review whether the term imposed was outside the range of sentences reasonably available to the trial judge under law and guidelines. The Court of Appeal has the power to increase a sentence if it finds it was unduly lenient, but it can also leave it unchanged.

The case has drawn particular attention because the incident took place during one of the city’s largest public gatherings, with Liverpool’s title parade attracting huge crowds in the centre. Reports from court described the crowd as tightly packed, including families with young children, and detailed a wide range of injuries and trauma suffered by those hit or caught in the crush as the vehicle drove through supporters.

As the 28-day period for consideration runs, the Attorney General’s Office has said the case will be carefully reviewed before any decision is made about whether to refer it to the Court of Appeal.