Eleven hurt in car incident near London museum

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Eleven people were injured after a car mounted the pavement near London's Natural History Museum on Saturday and ploughed into pedestrians in an incident police said was not terror-related.

London’s Metropolitan Police described the incident as a "road traffic collision" and the driver, a man in his 40s, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of dangerous driving.

The incident happened at about 2:20 p.m. BST (1320 GMT), when a black Toyota Prius mowed down pedestrians outside the museum before crashing into two cars. The driver got out of the car but was soon pinned down by several passersby, according to one witness.

A man is being arrested by police near the Natural History Museum, in London, in this still image from a video taken on October 7, 2017, obtained from social media. /Reuters Photo

Oliver Cheshire, the fiancé of British pop singer Pixie Lott, told the Daily Mail newspaper he was one of those who had helped detain the man. He said three female passengers in the car told him it was a private hire taxi.

"He was driving down the pavement and hit 11 to 12 people. Then the guy was screaming," he told the paper. "He looked at me and I was really in shock. I got out of my car and grabbed him —three of us grabbed him — and someone phoned the police."

Nine people have been taken to hospital and two people were treated at the scene.

Police officers near the Natural History Museum, after a car mounted the pavement, in London on October 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo

"We treated 11 patients, mostly for leg and head injuries, and took nine of them to hospital," said Peter McKenna, deputy director of operations for the London Ambulance Service.

British Prime Minister Theresa May took to Twitter to thank those who acted to contain the man.

"My thanks to the first responders at this incident this afternoon and the actions of members of the public. My thoughts are with the injured," she wrote.

The streets around the museum were cordoned off in the wake of the incident, but police later declared the area safe.

Britain has witnessed five terrorist attacks this year, three of which involved vehicles. The country is already on its second highest security alert level, meaning that a terrorist attack is highly likely.