‘I could have died:’ Uber driver who was sitting charging his vehicle at Tesla station when a £120,000 Range Rover smashed tumbled onto a nearby railway track in a fatal horror crash reveals how he narrowly avoided being involved in the collision
- Man in his 50s was sitting alone charging his vehicle at the Tesla Centre close to Park Royal station in London
- An Uber driver was charging his Tesla car when the horror scene unfolded and he saw the dead passenger
- Range Rover veered off the road, crashed into a metal barrier and caused damage to the £50,000 car below
- A woman in her 20s, believed to be a female passenger in the Range Rover, died at the scene on Monday
- The male driver of the 4×4, which ended up on the tracks of the Piccadilly Line, is in a critical condition
- A40 and Piccadilly Line between Acton Bridge and Uxbridge set to be closed for ‘considerable period of time’
- **Did you witness the crash? Email [email protected] or [email protected]**
An Uber driver who witnessed the A40 crash, where a woman in her 20s was thrown out of the Range Rover in midair, has told how he ‘could have died’ after he initially planned to park next to a fellow driver who was injured in the incident.
At 3.48am on Monday morning a black Range Rover bolted down the A40 Western Avenue at 120mph before veering off the road, crashing into the metal barriers of the neighbouring Tesla Centre car park, where Uber driver Nawaf Ali, 40, had just parked his own Tesla.
Nawaf said: ‘I could have died last night, and my kids would not have a father.’
Nawaf told MailOnline he had planned to park alongside the Tesla that ended up being damaged and the driver, a man in his 50s injured but decided on a bay a few metres away. He had spoken to a colleague before the 4×4 came crashing through.
He said it was like ‘something out of a horror movie’, adding: ‘It looks like she had been almost ejected out of the car and collided with one of the charging stations and then gone into the side of the car.’
A woman in her 20s, believed to be a female passenger in the Range Rover, died at the scene off the A40 Western Avenue, West London.
The male driver of the 4×4, which is said to have flipped over into the station before it landed on the tracks of the Piccadilly Line at Park Royal tube station, is in a critical condition, while another female passenger is being treated for non life-threatening injuries.
All three Range Rover passengers are in their 20s. The man who was in the Tesla has been hospitalised for less serious injuries.
The crash happened in the early hours of yesterday morning with an Uber driver who witnessed the crash telling how he ‘could have died’
The horrifying moment the Range Rover slams through metal railings was captured by a remote camera on Mr Ali’s Tesla. Footage shows the moment the Range Rover crashes through the fence by the Tesla Centre, causing significant damage to a number of charging points.
Nawaf Ali told MailOnline: ‘Where I was standing was where the car came over the barrier. If I had been standing a few feet away then I would have been hit. I am still shaking thinking about it.
‘The other car did not hit the Tesla as it was much higher coming through the railings and was in mid air.
‘It was like something out of a horror movie, only much worse. I have never seen anything like it.
‘The ambulance control asked me to check if she was breathing, but she wasn’t. I still can’t get the picture of her out of my mind and am till shaking now.’
The Land Rover is pictured from above on the tracks as the Park Royal station can be seen in the background
A crane truck lifts the Tesla car out of the crash scene after a Range Rover collided with it near Park Royal Station in London
Tesla charges are pictured completely destroyed as smashed railings look like they are going to fall off at the Tesla Centre on the A40 near Park Royal Tube station in west London
This picture shows where the impact areas were before the Land Rover ended up on the tracks after the horror crash on Monday morning
Mr Ali had parked his Tesla at the charging station off the A40 Western Avenue after returning from dropping a fare off in Oxford having driven from Central London.
He decided on the spur of the moment to call in at the Tesla garage to next to Park Royal station to get an hour’s charge for his electric vehicle before returning to the home in Harrow, West London, he shares with his children aged 16 and 17.
He said he often used the charging base outside a Tesla showroom as it only takes an hour and is one of the fastest places closest to his home.
‘I had just parked up and went across to a white Tesla as I recognised the driver as someone who was also an Uber driver. We exchanged a few words, and I walked back to my car. I wanted to make sure it was charging ok.
‘Suddenly there was a noise like an aircraft crashing. It was so loud. I ducked my head down and this car came flying over the metal barrier. The noise was incredible, but then it was silent.
‘I jumped up and ran over to the other car and the driver was bleeding from his nose. He was in shock. I called for an ambulance straight away. He did not seem to know what had happened but did not seem that badly injured. I tried to tilt his seat backwards, but that did not work and did my best to stop the blood.
‘I looked around but could not see where the other car went. There was just silence. At the time I had no idea where it had ended up.’
Father of two Nawaf said he was asked to ‘live stream’ the scene to ambulance control before paramedics arrived.
He said: ‘There was a lot of debris all over the place. I was walking around, then I saw the body of the young woman. It was awful. I did not see her at first and wasn’t sure it was a body. It was only when I got closer that I could make her out.
Police are pictured at the scene this morning near the Tesla Centre close to Park Royal underground station as railings can be seen damaged behind near the railway tracks
Rescuers stand near the crash site where a Range Rover veered off the road onto the Piccadilly Line train track after colliding with Tesla, at Park Royal Station in West London
‘When I saw that I just ran back to my car. It was too much. I could not stand to look at it. It was like a horror movie, but only much worse. I do not want to see anything like that ever again.
Naswaf, who was uninjured but suffering from shock, said emergency crews were on the scene in a matter of minutes. After talking to police at the scene he was allowed to return home.
He said: ‘I was meant to get some sleep, but I can’t get the image of that girl out of my mind. I had to leave my car at the scene and am waiting for the police to tell me when I can go back to collect it. They also want to take another statement.
‘I always used the A40 charging station, but I will never use it again. I just can’t face going back there.’
The next of kin of the woman who died during the crash have been informed of her death.
One resident told the MailOnline they recall hearing a ‘mini explosion’ in the early hours of yesterday morning before police were called at 3.48am to the ‘mayhem’.
Almost 10 hours after the horror crash a specialist train arrived at Park Royal station to remove the wrecked 4×4 at around 1.30pm. The mangled wreck was loaded on to an open carriage and taken away. Engineers on site hoped to re-open the westbound Piccadilly Line between Acton Bridge and Uxbridge later that day.
A Tesla pictured yesterday morning as police tape is seen cordoning off the scene
Pictured is the Land Rover seen on the track as in the background benches can be seen at Park Royal station
Police stand at the crash site where a Range Rover collided with Tesla and then veered off the road onto the Piccadilly Line train track, near Park Royal Station in West London
Nada Alobaidi, 31, who also lives in the block of flats next to the station, said: ‘I heard a big crash. I came outside and saw a lot of police and an ambulance as well.
‘There was a lot of smoke. I didn’t see the car because it was during the night.
‘The A40 can be quite dangerous around Park Royal Station. Car accidents do sometimes happen.’
Officers said the Piccadilly Line and the A40 would stay closed for a ‘considerable period of time’ as they placed a cordoned around the scene.
**Did you witness the crash?**
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Officers await formal identification of the fatality and confirmation that next of kin have been informed.
A police source told the MailOnline: ‘The Tesla was parked off the road when it was hit by the other car that careered off the A40.
‘Unless there was some catastrophic mechanical failure we will be looking if drink was somehow involved.
‘The Tesla was not on the road and the Range Rover came at speed and crashed through a metal barrier and into the stationary vehicle.’
Another police source said that the Range Rover crashed through the Tesla garage and into Park Royal station.
They said: ‘The Tesla was stationary. The other car crashed into the Tesla garage and flipped into the station, landing on the tracks.’
The western section of the A40 – one of the main routes out of central London – remains closed to all traffic.
Local resident Mr Wood told the MailOnline how he was woken by a ‘mini explosion’ as the Range Rover careered off the road and on to the underground tracks.
The 61-year-old said: ‘There was a huge bang, like a mini explosion. Then it was silent for a few seconds and all you could hear was a car alarm going off.
‘I came out of my flat to see what had happened but assumed it was a collision in one of the roads nearby. I didn’t look at the track. A few minutes later all you could hear were sirens and a police helicopter overhead. It was mayhem.’
Mr Wood said the only way for the 4×4 to have ended up on the track was by becoming airborne and going over the flat roof of the waiting room at Park Royal underground station.
Photos taken at the scene from a roof overlooking the wreckage show a break in a metal fence alongside the platform. The shattered remains of a charging point can be seen about 60 metres away from the track.
The wrecked white Tesla, which had its rear passenger side badly damaged in the collision, was later seen being loaded onto a flat bed truck and taken away from the scene of the crash.
Another resident in a nearby block of flats said she was woken by the sound of sirens as emergency services converged on the scene.
Another picture from above shows the Tesla by a forensics tent and bits of debris nearby
This image shows the Tesla car park with a forensics tent beside the Tesla car which was hit in the crash as the fence by the railway is seen behind with a fence that has been destroyed
Almost 10 hours after the horror crash a specialist train arrived at Park Royal station to remove the wrecked 4×4 at around 1.30pm. The mangled wreck was loaded on to an open carriage and taken away. Engineers on site hoped to re-open the westbound Piccadilly Line between Acton Bridge and Uxbridge later that day
An image from the station shows the Tesla sign in the background, the smashed railings above the charging point then another fence destroyed (in front) close to the railway track
One woman, whose flat overlooks the A40, told the MailOnline:’ We didn’t hear the crash, but then we were woken by all the sirens.
‘When I looked out the window all you could see were blue flashing lights. It was quite scary.’
Nader Nemer, 34, also from the block of flats, told MyLondon: ‘We were sleeping when we heard lots of fire engines and helicopters. My wife woke me up but I couldn’t see what happened.’
He added: ‘I usually take my one-and-a-half-year-old son to watch the cars from that road and we stand near to where the accident happened. We last did it just yesterday.
‘Thank god we weren’t there this morning, it could have been so much worse. My wife has told me to never take our son there again. It’s honestly very scary. I wish I could do something about it. It’s so sad that woman died.’
Kamila Elmi said: ‘I didn’t know anything had happened, I always walk down there to go the gym, it could have been much worse. This is our area. Now it scares me.’
A fence is pictured broken just above the rail tracks as the scene behind shows police, debris and broken railings near the road
The railing smashed just above the Tesla Centre as police were also videoed near the scene during the early hours of yesterday
This picture shows the car below yesterday after it crashed onto the railway tracks from the road through to the Tesla Centre and then below
In a statement the Met Police said: ‘Police were called to a collision on the A40 westbound near Park Royal Underground Station at 03.48hrs on Monday, 22 August.
‘Officers attended along with ambulance colleagues. It was reported that two cars, a Range Rover and a Tesla, had been involved in a collision and the Range Rover had left the road and gone onto the railway line. It is believed that the Tesla was stationary at the time.
‘Despite the efforts of emergency services, a woman aged in her 20s – believed to have been a passenger in the Range Rover – died at the scene. Officers await formal identification and confirmation that next of kin have been informed.
‘The Ranger Rover driver, a man in his 20s, has been taken to hospital where his condition is critical. The condition of a second Range Rover passenger, a woman in her 20s, is not life-threatening,
‘A man, aged in his 50s, who is believed to have been with the stationary Tesla, was treated for injuries that have been assessed as non life-threatening.
‘Cordons were put in place following the collision and the Piccadilly Line was part suspended.’
A spokesperson for London Ambulance Service later clarified to the MailOnline that the two people injured in the Land Rover are being treated in hospital for serious injuries while the woman in the Tesla was not as seriously hurt in the crash.
Police were called at 3.48am yesterday to the crash on the A40 near Park Royal underground station after the Range Rover ended up on the railway track. Pictured: Met Police at the scene
One woman has died after a Range Rover and Tesla crashed in central London leaving three people also injured. Pictured: Traffic on the A40
Rescuers work to remove the Range Rover after it veered off the road onto the Piccadilly Line train track after colliding with Tesla, at Park Royal Station in West London
The Piccadilly Line and the A40 near Park Royal underground station (pictured) will stay closed for a ‘considerable period of time’ as officers place a cordon at the scene. Pictured: Police cordon off the station
Rescuers inspect the crash site where a Range Rover veered off the road onto the Piccadilly Line train track after colliding with Tesla, at Park Royal Station in West London
A spokesman from Transport for London said: ‘In terms of impact on the network, the A40 Western Avenue is closed westbound at the junction the A4000 Wales Farm Road (Gypsy Corner), the Piccadilly line has no service between Acton Town and Uxbridge and two bus routes are on diversion.’
The manager of London Underground and travel services in the capital also told the MailOnline that the Land Rover was not hit by a train as there was no rail services running at that time and no engineering works happening on the tracks either.
A spokeswoman from the Rail Accident Investigation Branches also told the MailOnline: ‘The incident has been notified to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch.
‘Having reviewed the circumstances, there is no indication that further RAIB involvement would lead to new safety recommendations.
‘It happened when no trains were running so we can confirm that the road vehicle was not struck by a train.’
It follows the travel problems suffered by rail passengers after tens of thousands of workers went on strike again in a long running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) and Unite walked out for 24 hours on Saturday, affecting Network Rail and a number of train companies across the country.
- Did you witness the crash? Email [email protected] or [email protected]
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