City workers and tourists worked to free woman whose leg and pelvis were pinned under cab’s wheel after she was knocked down near the Bank of England

A woman who was knocked down and trapped under a two-tonne taxi in central London on Monday was freed after a crowd of City workers and tourists lifted it off her.

In dramatic scenes caught on camera, about 30 passersby are seen lifting the taxi, a white version of a traditional black cab, to free the woman, whose leg and pelvis were pinned under a wheel.

Laura Fares, an Argentinian who has lived in London for 18 years, witnessed the incident. She said “English politeness” meant that initially no one helped the woman after the taxi hit her, on King William Street near the Bank of England.

Fares, 37, said: “There were two paramedics and she had a pillow under her head. The cab driver was actually leaning on the cab with his phone in his hand just waiting.

“I could see she was blinking. She had a friend with her, who was hysterical. I heard her friend say she was crying. I thought: ‘She is still alive and no one is doing anything.’ There were people just watching and taking photos.”

Fares asked one of the paramedics if it would be safe to move the cab and when they agreed she started shouting for help. “I went for it,” she said. “I got really bossy. I started shouting: ‘Hey everybody, we have to push this car now. Hurry, she is dying.’ In 60 seconds we had 30 people lifting the car.”

A London Ambulance spokeswoman said: “We were called at 1.10pm to King William Street to reports of a road traffic collision. We sent a number of resources to the scene including an ambulance crew and London’s air ambulance trauma team by car.

“We treated a woman reported to be in her 40s for leg and pelvic injuries. She was taken as a priority to hospital.”