As it happened: London roadside emergency

Every day, London's ambulance service answers dozens of emergency call outs to road traffic collisions across the city.

Throughout 6 December, a team of BBC journalists will be alongside ambulance crews as they deal with a typical day on London's roads.

We want to get a sense of the scale of road casualties in the UK. Government estimates put the annual number of road casualties in Great Britain at around 730,000. That works out at about 2,000 killed or injured each day.

Last year, on average, five people died every day, while 840 were sufficiently injured to go to hospital. The rest were had minor injuries.

We can't cover the whole country of course but London represents a big enough area to be reasonably representative.

On a typical day, it's estimated that there are 100 road casualties in London. Dispatched to around 70 emergency calls to road collisions every day, the city's ambulance crews and paramedics treat the majority of those injured at the scene but take some of them to hospital.

Our team of reporters will be filing reports on each incident as it unfolds, giving you a detailed account of how the capital's emergency services deal with the daily toll of road casualties.

You'll be able to follow them on this page or on twitter using the hashtag #crash24.

BBC reporter Adrian Brown is at the London Ambulance Central control room monitoring 999 calls as they come in. BBC reporter Lucy Rodgers is on the road with paramedic Shaun, BBC reporter Dominic Bailey is out with paramedic Steve and BBC reporter Debabani Majumdar is with another paramedic called James. We are not using the full names of the staff working for the ambulance service.

Debabani and James have already been called out to the scene of a collision between a car and a cyclist. The cyclist, who wasn't wearing a helmet, has a swollen and bruised ankle. James, the paramedic, says the cyclist was lucky to escape without suffering any head injuries.

Lucy and Shaun's first call is out to the M4, where they are weaving through long queues of early-morning commuters to reach what they have been told is a collision between a car and a lorry.

Dominic Bailey's first call of the day, along with paramedic Steve, is responding to a reported motorbike accident in Bromley. However, the call is cancelled as they are en route. They are told an ambulance is already at the scene and will take the patient to hospital for treatment. There's just enough time to fill in the necessary paperwork before another call comes in for a collision between a cyclist and a car in Bexleyheath.

The BBC's Adrian Brown is in the control room of the London Ambulance Service. He's already heard all the calls to which our reporters have been dispatched as well as dozens of others, including a car that hit bollards on the A13.

The BBC London's Ian Ramsdale, who is accompanying paramedic Pete, is on the scene of the crash at the A13 with a young man trapped in a car. The fire brigade will have to cut the roof off the car to free him. The driver is complaining of lower back pain, but has no other apparent injuries.

Four fire engines have arrived. They're going to remove the roof of the car so he can be lifted out. The windscreen has been cut and the fire rescue unit has arrived. The doors are being cut off, while the patient is being held steady in the driver's seat.

Ian and Pete say the driver has been safely removed from the A13 crash. Peter, the paramedic, is seeing him into the ambulance. The fire service is cleaning up the slip road that is still closed and the Highways Agency is clearing up the A13 so that it can be reopened. Ian sent this picture of the car.

Adrian Brown in the control room gives us an update on a call out to Wembley. Paramedics at the scene say that they have been told that a 16-year-old girl was crossing the road talking on a mobile, a cyclist gave way so that she could cross, but a van behind didn't give way, hit the bike and the bike hit the pedestrian. The girl was taken to Northwick Park Hospital. She did not have any physical injuries but had suffered shock.

This live round-up of a day with London's ambulance service is part of a BBC series looking at accidents on British roads. Our coverage includes an interactive map showing the 36,371 deaths on Britain's roads between 1999 and 2010. You can type your postcode into our search box and generate a local snapshot of all the fatal road accidents in that area over that decade.

BBC London's Ed Davey says paramedic Rob has told him that he has only seen three fatal traffic accidents in his 10 years on the job. It's a reassuring reminder that - due in part to the quick response of the emergency services - most of the accidents on London's roads involve injuries that people recover from.

To provide a snapshot of the scale of road accidents in London, and the pressure this puts on emergency services, we have a live map of road accidents across the city today.

In a week when BBC News is focusing on the death toll on Britain's roads, we look back to the country's first fatal car accident. It happened on 17 August 1896, an era when there were far fewer cars on the road than nowadays. Labourer's wife Bridget Driscoll, 44, was walking to a fete in south-east London when she was struck by a car travelling at a reported speed of 4mph, which was described as a "tremendous pace" at the victim's inquest. The BBC's Andrew McFarlane recounts the whole tale.

Rushing to the first call in Chalk Farm. Doing 90mph and zipping through traffic made me feel a bit queasy. Paramedic James says he had to pass a three-week special driving course for the job. And it's not easy to pass.

Having a look around the kit carried in these fast-response cars. They are pretty much packed with what you'd find in an ambulance. This ranges from the ambulance first aid kit, with defibrillator, to a kit for infectious or unhygienic patients. There's also a suction pump for clearing airways, hazardous area kit and a handy little drill for getting fluids directly into bones when there is no intravenous access. It doesn't hurt, apparently.

The BBC's Adrian Brown tells us from the control room that there are now two ambulances at the scene of the accident in Chiswick and police have taken control of the traffic situation. It turns out the patient is a woman, rather than a man, and she had gone over the top of her bike. She's got an "isolated" leg injury and is safely in the back of the ambulance.

A reminder that it's not always road accidents that cause the delays on our roads. BBC Radio 2's traffic presenter Lynn Bowles has just given her half-hourly round-up and none of the incidents reported here are causing any major hold-ups. Her focus, in London at least, is on a long queue northbound towards the Blackwall Tunnel, which has been caused by a breakdown. You can contact her and the BBC traffic team on 03700 100200 anytime that you are in a position to provide information on an incident on the roads.

During quiet times Rebecca, the paramedic I'm with, generally reads newspapers, books or magazines - anything to keep her alert. It can be difficult to pass the time, especially as you can't really go far from the vehicle.

Another update from the BBC's Adrian Brown in the control room. An accident has been reported involving a car and a pedestrian in Earls Court Road, which is one of London's busiest roads. An ambulance is on its way.

The BBC's Emma Lynch, who is taking photographs while she accompanies paramedic Rebecca on her shift, sends us this picture from an earlier incident. A woman who was knocked down had her blood oxygen and pulse monitored in the back of an ambulance. It's a quick but important check.

Paramedic James has clocked up 75 miles since the start of his shift at 5am, and 50 miles since 07:00 GMT when we started off from the London Ambulance Service HQ in Waterloo.

BBC photographer Emma Lynch, who is accompanying paramedic Rebecca, sends us another image, this time of a cyclist receiving treatment by an ambulance crew after he was knocked off his bike and grazed his leg.

comments on the BBC News Facebook page: Perhaps all ambulances crews should take lessons from the way medics operate in Afghanistan and funding for more Heli-Med aircraft and crews.

Another quick update from the control room. Three cars have been involved in a crash in Shooters Hill, south-east London. A paramedic is on the way.

comments on the BBC News Facebook page: had to have paramedics out on Sunday nite, and i got to say a huge thank you to them they were so nice, kept me calm kept me talking and i felt totally safe in their hands, i was terrified thank you and to the guy on 999 stayed on the line with me till the paramedics got to me

BBC London's Anjana Gadgil joins the team on the road monitoring London Ambulance Service's response to accidents. She has been teamed with paramedic Martin and tweets she has her stab vest on and is waiting for the first call.

Adrian Brown has sent us this image from the London Ambulance Central control room.

Earlier, the BBC's Emma Lynch and paramedic Rebecca arrived at the scene after a car and lorry had a side-on collision.

The BBC's Debabani Majumdar arrives at an incident involving a biker in Bounds Green, north London. She says the man, who works for a courier service, came off his bike in the middle of the road.

To provide a snapshot of the scale of road accidents in London, and the pressure this puts on emergency services, our live map is showing road accidents across the city today. So far 21 accidents have been plotted on the map.

BBC London's Chirag Trivedi is replacing Adrian Brown in the control room at London Ambulance Service Central for a few hours. He tells us of two newly-reported incidents. The air ambulance has been sent to an accident involving a scooter and van in Dagenham. Response vehicles have been dispatched as well. And in Romford, there is a head-on collision between two cars. A head injury is reported there.

The call to the two-car incident in Romford has been cancelled. But now the control room has a report of a car in collision with a bollard in Wimbledon.

BBC reporter Lucy Rodgers sent this image of paramedic Shaun, who she has been with since 6am.

This image, showing the view from a paramedic's rapid response car, was taken by a BBC reporter en route to an accident.

While our study of a day in the life of London Ambulance Service is only focusing on the here-and-now, the effects of car crashes - particularly where a fatality is involved - are felt for many years by all those involved. On Sunday, Radio 4 broadcast a 15-minute feature called Coming Out which looked at the issue from the perspective of a woman who ran down and killed an elderly pedestrian when she was 17. The sensitive programme features a psychologist called Sara Rassool who has studied Kelly's case and specialises in how perpetrators handle the process following a serious road accident. You can listen to the show on the iPlayer here.

The BBC's Ed Davey is in Wimbledon where a car that hit bollards is being removed. Describing the scene, he says: "A bang, a crash and the Vauxhall is earthbound once more. It has seen better days though. Residents have watched the spectacle with rapt amazement. The driver of the crippled Vauxhall, who was in her 40s, was very quiet and shaken up. She's been taken to hospital for a check up. The car was left with a blown tyre and severely damaged frontal suspension. It's now been removed. Just 25 minutes after the crash and the busy junction on Wimbledon Hill Road is moving again. It's like it never happened."

BBC reporter Adrian Brown in the ambulance control room gives us a quick round-up: There's another lull. Post lunch, things have calmed down. Since midday, we have had six call outs. Two involving cyclists coming into contact with cars in Bethnal Green and Knightsbridge, two where motorbikes have crashed, one on the North Circular, the other in Dagenham, and a car that landed on top of a bollard and a three-car smash in east London.

BBC reporters Mario Cacciottolo, Andy Dangerfield and Tom Housden are starting the afternoon shift now. Here's a snap of them putting on their kit with the ambulance crews. They'll be working through the rush hour.

We head back to base in Waterloo after eight hours and eight jobs. The car has travelled 70 miles today, mostly around traffic-heavy inner london boroughs.

If you do find yourself at the scene of a road traffic accident, it's important to know how to respond so the BBC Health team have put together the following advice about how you should react

Mario and Pete Our paramedic car is weaving through the busy north London traffic. Currently in Wood Green, where Pete says he often attends to victims of knife crime. Still awaiting our first call today.

Here's a photo of paramedic Sam and our BBC reporter Tom Housden as they start their afternoon shift.

Andy and Spence: Arrived at scene at a primary school in Ealing. Another ambulance at scene. It appears a four-year-old girl was involved in an incident involving a van.

Mario and Pete Our car gets its first call - someone has fallen from their bike in the Finsbury Park area. Luckily we are just around the corner, so speeding there now.

Cyclists can feel very vulnerable on the streets of London but both drivers and riders can act to make them safer. Transport for London offers advice and training to help reduce the risks.

Here's a photo of Andy(left) and Spence before they set off.

Just one person to attend to so far for the V146 crew. Pete clearly has a broad knowledge of London's roads, barely glancing at his sat nav as he makes his way around the car-choked streets. His manner with the injured cyclist was efficient but relaxed, making sure the man kept calm while he was being treated. As the light and the temperature falls fast, we await our next call.

We waited in the Battersea Park with the cyclist and two park police officers for 25 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. Paramedic James said the case was the lowest priority case - listed as C4 - therefore the wait. It looks like a sprained wrist or possibly a fracture on the left wrist. The patient was agitated.

When you're being followed by an emergency vehicle, it's all too easy to panic. According to The Institute of Advanced Motoring, a charity specialising in safe driving, there are five key things to bear in mind.

The start of the rush hour has seen an increase in call outs. Our live map showing road accidents across the city now has 31 incidents marked on it.

Congestion can make accidents more likely. To check congestion before you travel, visit our live travel news page.

It was an exciting as well as a humbling experience. The sound of the sirens and the rush of adrenalin as we sped through the capital is indescribable. It was humbling because we were racing against time to reach somebody who has been in an accident and the paramedic doesn't know the exact condition of the patient until he reaches him or her. In addition to their medical training, they need presence of mind to calm agitated victims, at times explaining why their case is not treated as a priority, and try to forge a road through the solid wall of traffic during the rush hour. Paramedic James said: "Seeing what ambulance crews did inspired me to become a paramedic. The beauty of the job is you never know what's going to happen." Spending the day as "Victor 152" was an eye-opener about what a paramedic faces every single day, and we had a 'light day' attending three incidents - two cycle collisions and one bike crash. Thankfully none of them was seriously injured.

999 latest: Just heard sirens over the PA in the control room. That's Lucy and Shaun heading to a two-car collision. Two children injured.

Another paramedic treating biker when we arrived at the Croydon scene. Put left leg in splint, given oxygen and being taken to hospital. Lucky he wasn't hit by a car when he came off, says paramedic Martin.

Heading into central London now. Apparently there is a protest in Parliament Square that the London Ambulance Service is keeping an eye on.

999 another call - lorry and a car in N11, outside a tube station. No details on the condition of any occupants. "Two patients" we're told here in the control room, and paramedic Leroy and BBC reporter Chirag are on their way.

In the last half hour the control room has taken calls for several incidents. Thankfully most have turned out to be minor incidents with minor injuries. Radio just crackled into life. Another call. Again on the A13, car v bicycle. Paramedic Sam and BBC reporter Tom are on their way.

Here's a picture taken by BBC London's Debabani Majumdar earlier, after a 30-year-old man on a courier bike fell off his vehicle on Bounds Green Road in north London at about 1.20pm. He was taken to hospital with a wrist injury and bruising to the chest.

Andy and Spence are going out from Vauxhall to an incident in E3.

The BBC's Chirag Trivedi took this photo at the scene of an accident at Bounds Green. Thankfully no-one was hurt, but the car lost its rear bumper.

Tom and Sam: We find a shaken young man sitting on the kerb nursing his ankle and knee. An ambulance quickly arrives and he's assessed in the back. He doesn't think he needs to go to hospital; the bike has come off worst with a snapped stem.

Andy and Spence in Whitechapel, east London, say they have been through six red lights at 70mph. Heart-racing stuff.

Andy and SpenceArrived at scene in E3, where police and ambulance are also attending. A 30-year-old motorcylist has very minor injuries after coming off his bike. There were no other vehicles involved. He's currently being interviewed by police.

He says throughout the day the control centre receives about 4,000 calls and about 80 of them involve road traffic incidents.

He'll be speaking to Jason Killens, Deputy Director of Operations at the London Ambulance Service, shortly.

Mr Killens says that as the number of cyclists increases on London roads, they are seeing an increasing number of accidents involving them. His advice to drivers is to look out for cyclists and motorcyclists.

He also says that if you do come across an accident, call the service, ideally from a landline. And as winter approaches with darker conditions, be sensible. People need to take care, look out for the vulnerable, pedestrians and cyclists, he says.

Sitting in a paramedic's car waiting for a call to tell you someone has crashed their car is a rather peculiar feeling. It's something paramedics themselves are rather used to. On the one occasion where we got to our planned waiting location before "a call" came through, we were on the scene within two minutes as it was just north of the where we lay in wait. Lucky, definitely - but it shows how well positioned response vehicles can be. Thankfully none of the incidents I attended involved serious injury, but they were definitely some serious accidents; man cut out of car; three-car shunt on the North Circular road; and discovering an abandoned car in the middle lane of the A13 Canning Town flyover... they'd run out of petrol. Paramedics have to deal with a variety of situations, but having the privilege of seeing how they do it, first hand, really opens your eyes as to how they cope. I hope we've conveyed that to you throughout the day.

Tom and Sam After a brief pitstop back at base we're off to SE10 now - reports of a collision between a car and a motorbike.

Paramedic Sam says tailgaters - motorists trying to follow the path cleared by the fast response vehicle's sirens - can be a problem when it's busy.

Several hours in and it's clear that a shift with a London Ambulance paramedic involves high levels of concentration at a moment's notice, interspersed with periods of quiet. Snapping into action quickly and always being on top of your game when required are vital parts of the role. Pete has seriously good driving skills too, carving through London's traffic like a hot knife through butter.

And here's a photo of the BBC's Mario (left) and Pete during their shift together.

Tom and Sam In Woolwich, south-east London, a pizza delivery man has fallen off his moped after hitting a greasy patch at a junction. He seems okay, but the ambulance crew at the scene will take him hospital for a check-up.

Tom: Sam says it's a tradition that calls to pizza delivery mishaps result in a free pizza donation. We missed out this time though.

If you have any questions about road accidents, take a look at our guide, which talks about twin peaks, trunks roads and rush hours.

Paramedic Spence is certainly very calm and experienced at his job. The chocolate snacks have also been a great help in seeing us through the 10-hour shift. We've regularly been hitting 90 miles per hour on our way to incidents - certainly a novelty for me. Before today I don't think I've driven more than 10 miles per hour in central London.

Another accident involving a motorbike - this particular bike has collided with a car in Leyton.

A quiet start to my day with the LAS, but a very busy last few hours. We travelled to Croydon from HQ at Waterloo, and I used the opportunity to quiz paramedic Martin on the important aspects of his job: how does he manage to stay alert on a 12-hour shift; what does he do when he needs the toilet. But when we got our first call-out after 4 hours of waiting, I realised how professional he and his colleagues are.

He went from relaxed and chatty to fully focused; sirens on, navigating a safe route through after-school traffic at break-neck speed. We went to three jobs in three hours, in Morden, Croydon and Beckenham. Two people who'd fallen off buses, which I'm told is a common occurrence, and one man who'd come off his motorbike while swerving to avoid a car. All three went to hospital, but no-one was seriously hurt, and I realised that reassuring the patients was just as important as seeing to their injuries. But, as we raced around the city to get to the next job, I also realised I get far too travel-sick to be a paramedic's regular passenger!

I had a unique perspective on #crash24. I spent the first few hours in the control room; collating the information coming through, working with those deciding who goes where and getting a bird's eye view of the incidents from the "jam cams".

I was then thrust at short notice in the adrenalin-filled world of speed, blue lights and sirens. Speeding down Park Lane at rush hour watching the traffic part was an amazing experience.

But before that I had to watch an anxious father wait as the paramedics treated his 12-year-old son who had been knocked down by a car. The boy will be okay. But the paramedics, including the one I was with, Leroy, handled the boy and the father in a very stressful situation - in the cold, in the dark and in the rain - with care and compassion and with a smile on their faces. As they do every day. That was just as an amazing experience.

A few minutes of calm are broken by two incidents arriving at once. One is a van going into a ditch in Barnet, and the other involves three cars colliding in Ruislip.

Reports are coming in of a "multiple vehicle" accident in Hillingdon, west London. More on that as we get it - the ambulance service was alerted by the fire brigade, who are en route.

Paramedic Shaun, who I spent the day with, does some shifts for the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service in London - the air ambulance. The helicopter and its associated equipped cars act as a roadside emergency room when timing is critical. At its HQ, beneath the helipad at Royal London Hospital, the team tells me how they've dealt with 1,922 patients so far this year.

Their top call-outs are road crashes, falls and penetrating trauma (when an object enters the body). There have been 662 road crashes - of those 299 were pedestrians, 115 motorcyclists, 96 drivers, 81 vehicle passengers and 65 pedal cyclists - along with others.

Graham Chalk, the lead paramedic with the air ambulance, says the most difficult thing for the team is making sure they respond to the right calls - only those that are most critical.

"We only have one resource," he says, "and we have to marry the need with that resource." Paramedics and doctors spend a number of months with the air ambulance on a rotating basis. This is seen as crucial for their trauma training.

"For a paramedic on the road, they'll see one major trauma case per year on average," he says. "With us a paramedic will get 100 years of trauma training. We're then getting that training back out to the ambulance service and medicine is all about experience," Mr Chalk says.

Tom and Sam: No sooner than we hit the road again, another call - it's straight back up the road to SE1 with reports of a taxi in collision with a bike.

The cyclist in Lambeth is apparently complaining of rib pain and a wrist injury. The accident in Hillingdon has been confirmed as being the same one as reported in Ruislip. And the police have just informed the ambulance service of an incident in the City, involving a traffic accident. Two men are injured, one of which is a 36-year-old complaining of leg and arm injuries.

The BBC's Lucy Rodgers took this photo while out with a paramedic earlier.

Mario and Pete We're now in the City, with an illuminated St Paul's dome looming above the buildings. Pete says he wanted to become a paramedic after a childhood incident. His friend fell off some playground monkey bars and hurt her back. Paramedics came "and were absolutely brilliant," says Pete. "I went home and told my mum that's what I wanted to do when I grew up. But I became a qualified plumber first."

Tom and Sam Back in Whitechapel it's gone quiet again. We're contemplating a cup of tea - a guarantee, says Sam, that we'll immediately get another call.

Just had a call into the control room. "Multiple vehicle incident" on the M4. five or six vehicles. Several ambulances heading out there. Hems, the emergency helicopter service for London, has been alerted.

Earlier in the day, there was a call reporting a collision between a car and a deer in Romford. Apparently the car driver refused assistance. Ambulance was stood down. Hope the deer was ok.

Quick update on the M4 situation. Thankfully, not as serious as first thought. Five patients, four vehicles. The London Fire Service are at the scene.

Our live map showing road accidents across the city now has about 60 incidents marked on it.

"So often, the incidents that sound the worse turn out to be less serious," says dispatcher Steve as the M4 incident is being dealt with. "However, you have to err on the side of caution. Especially as the ones that come in and are a bit vague can turn out to be really nasty."

The BBC's Tom Housden took this photo at the scene of the taxi-bike collision in Millbank earlier. The diagnosis was a likely fractured wrist.

Calls coming in thick and fast again. One to a pedestrian outside new Scotland Yard who has come into contact with a car. Also a woman on Pentonville Road, Camden, who has had her foot run over by a bus. Ouch. Apparently she says she doesn't need an ambulance. And as I write, another to the British Museum. Again conflict between a car and a pedestrian.

Another car and pedestrian. Umpteenth car and cyclist collision today. This one in Woolwich... and another in Lewisham. Ambulance crews on their way.

Ajay Gulati, 14, from Slough, was a passenger in a car that arrived just after the crash on the M4. He says: "I'm shocked to see what happened. To see how the ambulances and police reacted is reassuring."

Tom and Sam: The woman injured outside New Scotland Yard has a broken arm and and some grazes, and she'll soon be going to hospital. Ambulance staff worked as a team to delicately move her into the ambulance. Now we need to delicately move around this police road block.

The BBC's Mario Cacciottolo took this photo of paramedic Pete in Hoxton with the injured rider. He's taking note of his blood pressure.

Sam says there are no hard and fast rules on how to deal with shaken accident victims. "Some are upset, some get angry, you just have to try and take it as it comes".

Tom and Sam Sam normally works alone, so tonight as the front-seat passenger I am sitting in her "office". Paperwork chores over, and we're about to get moving again. Temperature is dropping rapidly and the streets are emptying, although pub closing time is looming.

The police have set up an impromptu cordon here in Victoria. The woman seems to be in considerable pain. Ambulance staff are gently moving her onto a stretcher, but it's a tricky procedure.

Mario and Pete: Man with paint was apparently crossing the road when he was in collision with a car. He has some swelling and pain in his thigh, so an ambulance is taking him to hospital. Police officers are tip-toeing around the wet paint and investigating the incident. We leave them to it.

Update on the 30-year-old male knocked over in a collision with a car in a nasty incident on Kennington Park road earlier. He's been "blued" in to St Thomas hospital - meaning they've taken him there with blue lights flashing. Compound fracture to the leg and dislocated shoulder.

The BBC's Mario Cacciottolo took this photo of a man with a burst bag of white paint in Islington. He seems to have minor injuries.

Mario and Pete Pete says that road traffic accidents are often less serious these days because cars are much better made. "But we often get accidents where people are injured because they haven't worn a seatbelt. They tend to be younger drivers," he says. In 2010, of the 28,404 accidents dealt with by London Ambulance Service, about 25% were aged 21-30 and about 55% of the overall figure were male.

Tom and Sam We're being sent to Feltham way out in west London. It's a fair old way from Waterloo but lights on and we're off.

More details about the incident in Pentonville, involving a pedestrian and a car. A 30-year-old man was thrown onto the bonnet of the car as he crossed the road. Police are at the scene. The pedestrian was taken to hospital. Not too serioius, we are told.

We've hit a late rush hour on the A4. Slow progress west to Feltham, where a cyclist has been involved in a collision.

Here's a picture of the Hems team - in a helicopter by day, in a car by night. They drop in a mention that they're a charity.

Mario and Pete: The day has been hugely interesting. Pete has carried out his work with great professionalism and a friendly touch. Everyone he's dealt with has been pleased to see him and he's helped a few people out today. It's bitterly cold but he just gets on with the job. The warm reaction he gets from the general public and cafe staff show the great respect in which ambulance and paramedic staff are held.

Andy and Spence: Arrive at the crash scene involving two cars in Crouch End. We were called here by the police.

Andy and Spence We are first paramedics at the scene. Both cars have their fronts smashed up. One person has injured his arm.

Tom and Sam: Our Feltham cyclist was on his way home - and it's looking like this will be our last job of the night. He's having a quick blood pressure check, the back of our Volvo fast response vehicle displaying Tardis-like capacity for medical gear. He doesn't want to go to hospital, but Sam is checking that he has someone who can be with him at home should any signs of concussion emerge.

For us, it's been thankfully a night of relatively minor injuries but it's telling that the vast majority have involved bikes of one kind or another. We've covered a lot of south, east and west London tonight and now it's another long drive back to base. Goodnight from freezing Feltham.

Control room have just received this call: man fell off a bicyle five hours ago and thinks he's broken his lower leg. Yes, a 999 call five hours after the incident.

Two more calls just come in - a cyclist and pedestrian outside Barts Hosptial, N19, and a two car crash in Upper Holloway. Someone has a broken humerus bone - that's the large upper arm bone.

And another call just in about an incident in Farringdon between a car and a cyclist, with reports of a broken windscreen. Ambulance on its way there.

What a day. For last 24 hours we've been following the work of London's ambulance service as it responds to every road casualty on the capital's roads. The total for one day comes to 14 cyclists, 18 pedestirans, 11 motorcyclists with the rest being car occupants. A pretty average day as far as numbers are concerned. But a real eye opener into the work of the service and sheer complexity of the job they do scooping up the bruised and battered.

Thankfully, no one has died and there have been only a handful of injuries serious enough to be "blued in" to hospital sirens blaring.

Thank you for following us.