Car ploughs into crowd at Piccadilly Circus with 2 women pulled from wreckage as tourists watched in horror

A CAR ploughed into a crowd at Piccadilly Circus with two women pulled from the wreckage last night.

Emergency services were called to Coventry Street in London, where a black Toyota was left in a crumpled wreck on Tuesday evening.

Dozens of shocked passers-by gathered along the crowded path as a pedestrian was rushed to hospital for treatment.

Both the driver and one of the passengers, who witnesses say were both women, were also taken to hospital.

Dramatic video footage shows the number plate hanging off the front of the wrecked vehicle, with one of the airbags having been activated after the car collided with a wall.

The road was closed last night, with police taping off a large area just yards from one of London’s most popular tourist hotspots.

Witnesses said the vehicle smashed through a street map sign before hitting a building.

One eyewitness said two unconscious women had to be cut free from the wreckage by emergency services.

He said: "There was a big crowd that gathered around the car. Everyone was so shocked. Two women were inside and they had to be cut out, they were both unconscious.

"Firefighters had to cut the door off. There were loads of ambulances and police vehicles."

Another said the woman in the passenger seat "was badly injured".

He added: "She was screaming that she couldn’t feel her left leg. She was bleeding. It took them a long time to get her out.”

Witnesses claimed the vehicle “ploughed through a row of lime bikes” and towards a group of people during the “terrifying” scenes.

They also claimed a pedestrian was “flipped into the air” after being hit by the car, leaving them lying on the floor and “covered in blood”.

Pictures taken after the smash showed the car missing a door and shards of glass scattered across the pavement.

Two tourists staying in an Airbnb next to the Angus Steakhouse and looking over Haymarket where the crash happened said they witnessed the aftermath of the crash.

One said: “We couldn’t check in when we arrived at 7.40pm. It was about an hour after and we saw someone being carried away on a stretcher with their face exposed, they didn’t look seriously harmed."

Nelson Costa, who works at Wok and Fire about 20 metres from where the crash happened, said he “heard a loud noise, like a big bang” which he “knew immediately was an accident”.

“It was not like anything I had heard before,” he said.

When he went outside to see what had happened he “heard some people screaming” and saw a couple running from the scene.

“I’ve worked here for two years and this is the first time I’ve seen this,” he said.

It’s particularly peculiar given the area’s 20mph speed limit, he added.

A shop worker at a nearby gift shop who was working at the time said he heard a “loud bang which sounded like gunshots”.

He said: “I was on the phone outside and I tried to hide at the beginning. It was scary, I saw the car swerve into the pavement and into the black traffic light box. It’s lucky it was there because it would have gone into the brick wall otherwise.

“I went over and saw the driver, who was young probably in her 20s with dark hair, who looked like she had lost consciousness."

He added: “The girl in the passenger seat was screaming.

Police confirmed enquiries were ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the crash.

A police spokesman said they were called at 6.50pm on Tuesday to reports of a collision involving a car in Coventry Street, junction with Haymarket.

“Witnesses reported a car mounted the pavement before colliding with a building.

"Two people, a pedestrian and a passenger who was in the car, were taken to hospital for treatment.

"Their condition has been assessed as non life-threatening."

“The driver of the car was not seriously injured but was taken to hospital as a precaution.

“There were no reports of any other serious injuries. Road closures remain in place around the location.”

The incident is not being treated as terror-related.

A London Ambulance Service spokesman added: “We were called at 6:52pm on Tuesday 12 November to reports of an incident at Coventry Street, W1D.

"We sent three ambulance crews, an incident response officer, an advanced paramedic and a medic in a fast response car. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.

“We treated three patients at the scene. We took all three to a major trauma centre, two as a priority."