Thornton Heath was gridlocked as emergency services responded to two serious incidents at the same time.

A motorcyclist suffered head injuries after a crash on the High Street, outside the leisure centre at around 1.20pm, which closed the road on Wednesday January 9.

Meanwhile, a woman made a lucky escape from a house fire in Livingstone Road which was  co-ordoned off as dozens of firefighters tackled the blaze.

The man appears to have misjudged overtaking a bus and then been hit twice by one car and then another as he fell off his moped.

The Air Ambulance attended the scene but the decision was made to take the injured man in his 40s to hospital by land ambulance.

The red scooter which had a delivery box on the back ended up on its side outside Poundland.

Police and paramedics were quick to attend the scene and administer emergency aid to the man who had injuries to his head and arm.

A spokeswoman for London Ambulance said: “We sent an ambulance crew, an advanced paramedic, three single responders in cars and an incident response officer to the scene. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.

“We treated a man at the scene for head and arm injuries and took him to a major trauma centre as a priority by road.”

The fire at a semi-detached house in Livingstone Road, spread from the ground floor to the first floor at 12.05pm on Wednesday  (January 9).

About 40 firefighters rushed to extinguish the fire and they brought it under control by 1.50pm.