The scene close to the Natural History Museum in London. Pic Sky News

Police at the scene on Cromwell Gardens in London, after several people have been injured after a car reportedly ploughed into people outside London's Natural History Museum. Pic Henry Vaughan/PA Wire

Police at the scene on Cromwell Gardens in London, after several people have been injured after a car reportedly ploughed into people outside London's Natural History Museum. Pic Henry Vaughan/PA Wire

Police at the scene on Cromwell Gardens in London, after several people have been injured after a car reportedly ploughed into people outside the Natural History Museum. Pic Victoria Jones/PA Wire

Police officers man a cordon close to the scene following an incident at the junction of Exhibition Road and Cromwell Road, between the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum and the Natural History Museum, in the South Kensington district of London on October 7, 2017. Pic Tolga AKMENTOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images

Two men hold another man down on the ground at the scene of the incident in London

Eleven people have been injured and a man detained by police after a car ploughed into pedestrians in one of London’s busiest tourist areas, initially sparking fears of a terror alert.

The incident happened near the Natural History Museum (NHM) in South Kensington shortly after 2.20pm on Saturday.

Video footage posted on Twitter showed a man being restrained on the ground in the middle of Exhibition Road in front of what is believed to be a Toyota Prius minicab that had collided with a silver Vauxhall saloon.

Pictures and footage from the scene showed street damage and a massive police presence in the capital's museum district, home to the NHM, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The area is a magnet for tourists, including lots of families with young children.

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According to reports, one witness saw "tables knocked over at restaurants and people were screaming".

Downing Street said that Prime Minister Theresa May was kept up to date with developments.

Scotland Yard later confirmed it was being treated as a road traffic collision and was “not being treated as a terror-related incident”.

The incident in #ExhibitionRoad #SouthKensington earlier is not being treated as a terror-related incident. It is a road traffic collision. — Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 7, 2017

Afra Wang posted a picture of emergency services on Twitter, writing: "A crime scene? Full armed police locked the whole area out outside of @V_and_A in London. The helicopter above us doesn't seem to leave."

Video footage on Twitter showed a man being pinned to the ground. None of the four people around him were in uniform.

Behind them is the black Toyota with its driver's door open.

An NHM spokeswoman said: "A vehicle has collided with pedestrians near the Natural History Museum entrance at Exhibition Road.

"The Museum's visitors and staff are always our first priority.

"We are working with emergency services to assess the incident and we are doing all we can."

There’s been a serious incident outside the Museum. We are working w/ @metpoliceuk and will provide an update when we have more information — NaturalHistoryMuseum (@NHM_London) October 7, 2017

An eyewitness at the scene said: "We were walking near the Science Museum and heard a bang, bang... at first I thought it was gunfire.

"Then we walked past the scene of the accident and saw a guy pinned down by other men and lots of people calling the police.

"There didn't appear to be many people hurt - a few sat by the side of the road but more looking shaken than anything.

"We were then ushered into the Science Museum and the area was quickly cleared of pedestrians."

The 11 people treated were mostly suffering from head or leg injuries, the London Ambulance Service said, with nine taken to hospital.

Expand Close A woman is treated by emergency services at the scene on Cromwell Gardens in London, after several people have been injured after a car reportedly ploughed into people outside the Natural History Museum. Pic Victoria Jones/PA Wire PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp A woman is treated by emergency services at the scene on Cromwell Gardens in London, after several people have been injured after a car reportedly ploughed into people outside the Natural History Museum. Pic Victoria Jones/PA Wire

Belfast Telegraph