London attack: Woman's act of restraining terrorists 'saves 20 lives'

The woman barred one of the terrorists from entering the restaurant as other customers managed to escape

A day after a terrorist attack in London killed seven people, a taxi driver detailed how one of his women passengers stood in the way of one of the terrorists, saving dozens of lives.

Seven people died in an attack by three assailants who drove a van at pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people in the nearby Borough Market area on Saturday.

Aksha Patel spoke of the heroic display by the woman, travelling in his cab, by using her body to bar the terrorist from opening the door of the Black and Blue restaurant, The Telegraph reported.

The few seconds that the woman successfully stopped the attacker helped other people in the restaurant to escape from the rear door. According to the driver, the door gave in and the woman managed to escape safely.



"There were two passengers, they came out of the Black and Blue restaurant," Patel explained. "How they described it to me was they were preventing the guys from getting into the restaurant."

"She knew they were bad people trying to break in," he said and added, "She managed to hold the door for a few seconds but they overpowered her."

Finally, Patel added, people managed to escape through the rear door so she saved maybe 20 peoples lives.

Another taxi driver described how he made an attempt to run over three suspected terrorists during the rampage. The man who wished not to be identified said he spotted armed men carrying 12-inch hunting knives and stabbing people.

"I thought, 'I'm gonna try and hit him, I'm gonna try and knock him down'," the man told LBC.

"I spun the cab round, I was about to ram one of them, but he side-stepped and three police officers came running towards them with their batons drawn," the driver explained.

The attack came just five days ahead of a general election and just minutes after the end of the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus in an area teeming with bars where many fans were watching the football on television.

Britain is on high alert only 12 days after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a concert in Manchester, northwest England and ahead of Thursday’s general election, in which security is a major theme.