West End Lane: Woman rushed to hospital after being trapped under car that crashed into cafe

The scene in West End Lane Picture: Cllr Phil Rosenberg (Image: Archant)

About 20 firefighters armed with cutting equipment were on the scene to free the woman, who a witness believes was either sitting down in Lena’s Cafe 2 or walking along the path outside when she was struck by the car.

She was taken to a nearby hospital’s major trauma centre with a leg injury after medics rushed to help her.

A second person was treated for minor injuries and also taken to hospital.

Cllr Phil Rosenberg said he heard a loud bang and screaming while hosting his surgery in West Hampstead Library before stepping outside to see the crash scene.

The scene in West End Lane Picture: Cllr Phil Rosenberg (Image: Archant)

He said: “It’s really shocking – you don’t expect that when you’re sitting down having a cup of coffee in the afternoon.

“I just hope the woman is okay. They are doing the best they can.”

Cllr Rosenberg said a car appeared to “swerve off the road” and “smash right through the front” of the cafe.

He added the emergency services were on the scene very quickly and praised their professionalism.

He said: “Those of us who were around did what we could to help, and some people tried to calm the woman.

“The driver is clearly very shaken.”

West End Lane was closed in the area while emergency services worked to free the trapped woman.

The London Ambulance Service was called at 2.51pm and arrived within eight minutes, a spokeswoman said.

She added: “We sent two ambulance crews, a single responder in a car, an incident response officer and our Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) to the scene.

“We treated a woman at the scene for a leg injury and took her as a priority to a major trauma centre.”