Taxi driver saved life of nurse from terrorists

Police officers walk at the scene of the terror attack on London Bridge. Picture: DANIEL SORABJI/AFP/Getty Images

Rhiannon Owen was on Borough High Street at a cash machine when a passing taxi driver shouted for her to run.

She said the actions of the unknown man saved her life and allowed her to find shelter in a nearby pub and to alert others to the danger in the process.

The 19-year-old from Nantwich, Cheshire said: “He swerved towards me and screamed ‘please run, you’ve got to run now, get back, get back.

“I turned around and saw this man with this huge blade and I just ran as fast as I could to the nearest pub.

“I shouted into the pub and said to everyone ‘you need to get inside’. We all went upstairs for, I don’t even know how long, and gunshots started and they went on for ages.”

She said the police eventually came and said those inside could leave, but that they had to do so with their hands on their heads.

Describing the scene outside of Applebee’s, the establishment in which she took refuge, Ms Owen said: “It was horrible, horrible. People were screaming and crying.

“Emergency services everywhere, blue flashing lights, armed police on every metre of road - it was completely packed.”

Quizzed on if she saw anyone with injuries, she said she saw a man “bleeding out”.

“The window was smashed and he was on the floor and he was screaming - I think he had been a victim of the stabbing,” she added.

Following her ordeal the student nurse said she wants to track down the taxi driver who alerted her to the danger.

In an emotional plea she said: “I don’t know who you are, but you saved my life. I could run away because you told me to. Whoever you are I want to say thank you so much.”

Ms Owen said there were 30 to 40 people hiding in the upstairs of the pub with her, that they were “terrified” and with the sound of gunshots “everyone jumped to the floor”.

She said she is “totally in shock” after what has happened, adding: “I’ve not even had time to cry because I’ve not processed anything properly yet.”