Man rushed to hospital and purchasing centre evacuated after ‘van explosion’

A man has been rushed to hospital after a van explosion that prompted people to be evacuated from a shopping centre.

The casualty in his 60s was being treated for serious burns after the blast in a car park in the south-west London district of Wimbledon on Monday morning.

Paramedics, fire crews and police hurried to the scene near the Wimbledon Quarter shopping centre when the alert was raised shortly after 10am.

A picture showed damage caused to a van that had been in an underground car park at the shopping centre – including shattered windows and exposed interiors, while debris was seen scattered nearby.

Police said the injured man was the van’s driver, aged in his 60s – while Scotland Yard also said the incident was not being treated as terror-related.

The neighbouring Queens Road was closed in both directions following the incident, though Wimbledon Tube station and railway services remained open. 

The image of the van was shared on the social media platform Reddit.

The person posting it wrote: ‘Crazy! My other half heard this massive blast while in her car. Cue loads of dust and smoke. Then when exiting the parking saw this. Wild.’

A casualty in his 60s was being treated for serious burns after the van blast in a car park in the south-west London district of Wimbledon on Monday morning

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: ‘We were called at 10.06am on Monday 17 November to reports of an explosion on Queens Road, Wimbledon.

‘We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, a paramedic in a fast response car and an incident response officer.

‘We also dispatched paramedics from our hazardous area response team (HART).

‘We treated a man at the scene for burns and took him to hospital as a priority.’

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told how officers ‘responded to reports of an explosion on Queens Road, Wimbledon’.

They added: ‘Police, the London Ambulance Service, and the London Fire Brigade attended the scene and found that the contents of a van had exploded after the vehicle is believed to have struck the roof of a car park.

‘The driver, a man in his 60s, was injured and taken to hospital, where his injuries are being assessed.

‘This incident is ongoing and is not believed to be terror-related.’