Man and woman killed as police responded to reports of aggravated burglary in Harrow

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Two people have died after a car collided with a coach during a police pursuit in west London.

The Metropolitan police said officers responded to reports of an aggravated burglary in Harrow, north-west London, at about 8.40pm on Sunday. As part of the response a pursuit began, with a police helicopter also called to assist.

At about 9pm, the vehicle being pursued moved on to the wrong side of the carriageway on the A40 and crashed into a coach near the junction of Kingsdown Avenue in Acton.

A man and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene; a second man was taken to hospital for treatment. All three were occupants of the vehicle being pursued.

There were no reports of other serious injuries and details of the number of people on the coach have not been released.

The Met said the police cars did not follow when the vehicle drove on to the wrong side of the road.

Antoine Eid, 47, who witnessed the crash from his home, said: “I was shocked because the police were involved with chasing them, it wasn’t like a normal car accidentd.

“The police put blue sheets around them and didn’t allow anybody to see. I’ve never seen something like that. I’ve been here since 2001 and never saw anything like it.”

Eid added: “There was big damage because the bus was probably coming up on the other side and there was no chance of slowing down.”

Road closures were in place in the area, and the London ambulance service and London fire brigade were at the scene.

Scotland Yard said the directorate of professional standards and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) had been informed of the incident.

Last month, the IOPC said fatalities and serious injuries after pursuits were “thankfully rare”. It investigated four separate fatal incidents involving patrol cars across the country a week, it said.

Holly Burke, a police community support officer, was fatally injured by an alleged hit-and-run driver who struck her car while being chased by police in the West Midlands on 22 January, while a 26-year-old woman from Eritrea died after being hit by a police car responding to a 999 call in east London on the same day.

Jessie Whitehead, 74, was riding a mobility scooter when she was hit by a marked squad car as it responded to an emergency in Bedworth, Warwickshire, and Paul Radcliffe, 18, was killed by a car which had failed to stop for police in Oadby, Leicestershire, on 19 January.