Paramedics have hit back at claims it took them 30 minutes to arrive at the scene of the Streatham terror attack.
After terrorist Sudesh Amman unleashed chaos on the streets of south London, one eyewitness said he waited with a victim who had been stabbed for half an hour before an ambulance arrived
In a Twitter post, Dave Chawner wrote: I had to stay with someone who’d just been stabbed in #Streatham for 30 minutes before a single ambulance arrived. I’m just over 1 mile from a hospital - I’m not having a go at anyone, but that’s not right. I just hope he made it."
However, in response to delay claims, the London ambulance service explained how they were actually on the scene within four minutes - before being kept at a "rendezvous point" as police secured the area.
In a statement, they said: "We worked closely with other emergency services and sent a number of resources including five ambulance crews, an advanced paramedic practitioner, an incident response officer and a motorcycle responder, and we also dispatched London's air ambulance.
"The first of our medics arrived in four minutes, and were initially directed to a rendezvous point until the Metropolitan Police confirmed it was safe for them to approach and treat patients.
"We treated three patients for injuries and took all three people to hospital."
Mr Chawner described how he was on his way to the cinema when a scuffle ensue across the road and he saw armed police pointing guns.
The 31-year-old then found a trail of blood leading to a man bleeding from his stomach on the floor.
Mr Chawner, who lives just a few hundred yards from the scene, handed over a blanket he had with him to compress the stab wound with the help of a female first aider.
Of the three people taken to hospital, one man, in his 40s, is no longer considered to be in a life-threatening condition following treatment, police said.
A woman, in her 50s, who had non-life threatening injuries has been discharged from hospital.
Police said a second woman in her 20s, who received minor injuries believed to have been caused by glass following the discharge of a police firearm, continues to receive treatment.
Police believe to be attack to be "Islamist-related" and Scotland Yard said armed officers were following the suspect on foot as part of a "proactive counter-terrorism surveillance operation".
A device found strapped to the body of the suspect was a hoax, the Metropolitan Police added in a statement.
It is understood Amman, who was jailed for possessing and distributing terrorist documents in December 2018, had been freed in the past six weeks.
Sam Armstrong, from the Henry Jackson Society - a foreign policy think tank - said Amman was thought to have been staying in a bail hostel in Tulse Hill.
He said the society had warned in December that Amman was due for release within the next two months and should not be let out of prison.
Amman, who at the time of his sentencing was 18 years old and had an address in Harrow, north-west London, had been jailed for three years and four months.
One witness described seeing the man apparently carrying a weapon with "silver canisters on his chest" being shot in front of a Boots store.
Another said members of the public came to the aid of victims, with one saying she had been stabbed.
People took shelter in nearby shops as the incident unfolded on the busy south London high street.
