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A massive swarm of bees trapped shoppers and sent commuters running for cover near Victoria Station this morning.

Tens of thousands of the insects covered shop windows and landed on frightened passers-by making their way to work.

One woman told how she was trapped in Topshop on Victoria Street for half an hour as she ducked for cover afraid of being attacked.

Lara Buckle said: “All of a sudden there were thousands and thousands of bees flying around. You could hardly see the sky because there were so many.”

Topshop bee attack 10 show all Topshop bee attack 1/10 Topshop bee attack An unlucky shopper runs for cover outside the Victoria Topshop (PA) 2/10 Topshop bee attack The swarm of 5,000-strong honeybees were attracted to a discount sign on the window of Topshop in Victoria Street (PA) 3/10 Topshop bee attack The bees appared to be attracted to a bright green sign in the window (PA) 4/10 Topshop bee attack Bee experts were called to the Victoria Topshop to deal with the situation (Picture: Alex Lentati) 5/10 Topshop bee attack Store workers were trapped inside (Picture: Alex Lentati) 6/10 Topshop bee attack Thousands of bees descended on the spot (Picture: Alex Lentati) 7/10 Topshop bee attack One of the troublesome bees (PA) 8/10 Topshop bee attack The sight caused quite the commotion (Picture: Alex Lentati) 9/10 Topshop bee attack Swarms are a natural part of the life cycle of bees and occur when a colony splits, usually after a period of warm weather (Picture: Alex Lentati) 10/10 Topshop bee attack According to the British Beekeepers Association swarming bees could have come from a hive very close by (Picture: Alex Lentati) 1/10 Topshop bee attack An unlucky shopper runs for cover outside the Victoria Topshop (PA) 2/10 Topshop bee attack The swarm of 5,000-strong honeybees were attracted to a discount sign on the window of Topshop in Victoria Street (PA) 3/10 Topshop bee attack The bees appared to be attracted to a bright green sign in the window (PA) 4/10 Topshop bee attack Bee experts were called to the Victoria Topshop to deal with the situation (Picture: Alex Lentati) 5/10 Topshop bee attack Store workers were trapped inside (Picture: Alex Lentati) 6/10 Topshop bee attack Thousands of bees descended on the spot (Picture: Alex Lentati) 7/10 Topshop bee attack One of the troublesome bees (PA) 8/10 Topshop bee attack The sight caused quite the commotion (Picture: Alex Lentati) 9/10 Topshop bee attack Swarms are a natural part of the life cycle of bees and occur when a colony splits, usually after a period of warm weather (Picture: Alex Lentati) 10/10 Topshop bee attack According to the British Beekeepers Association swarming bees could have come from a hive very close by (Picture: Alex Lentati)

“At first people were just walking through it, it looked like dust particles and then all of a sudden people started panicking, hitting themselves, trying to get them off.”

The 28-year-old public relations worker from Northwood, north London, added: “They were just congregating on shop windows and so people ran indoors to escape them. It was so scary.”

Shopowners on Victoria Street closed their doors and commuters were forced to remain indoors until the swarm moved on.

In Topshop, people were led back outside through the back entrance to avoid the bees.

A commuter caught up in the chaos tweeted: “These are some kind of wasp or bees take a look covered top shop by Victoria station.”

Another wrote: “Just been attacked by a huge swarm of bees in Victoria.”

Warning others to keep away, a Twitter user added: “Beware the swarm of bees on Victoria Street in London today.”

Swarms are a natural part of the life cycle of bees and occur when a colony splits, usually after a period of warm weather.

According to the British Beekeepers Association swarming bees could have come from a hive very close by. They often stop to check they have the queen with them before moving on to their new home.

The likelihood of being stung by swarming bees is low, although they should be avoided and a swarm collector contacted.