A woman has been injured after falling into a hole in Fulham while pushing a shopping trolley.

A loud scream was heard when the woman disappeared down the hole outside a cafe in North End Road.

Passers-by and cafe staff rushed to help the woman, who stumbled into the 3ft (1m) wide crevice.

It came shortly after a man fell down the hole and twisted his ankle, locals said.

The area around the hole had been blocked off with tables and chairs in an attempt to stop people walking into it, nearby stallholders said.

But despite shouts by cafe staff, the woman is said to have squeezed through the chairs and fallen down the hole.

A flower stall owner, who asked not to be named, said: "The shop owner was shouting out to her 'Don't come through there'.

"We looked over and she was down, all the way down the hole. She had walked onto it and it had collapsed beneath her."

Kate Sissons posted pictures of the hole in the ground on her Instagram account and wrote: "OMG! Poor woman and pram just disappeared down this hole on North End Rd. She's stuck down there."

She added: "It just happened! Loud scream and all I could see was the pram. Ambulance and fire on way to get her out. Scary. V v (sic) scary."

Another stall holder, who asked not to be named, said: "I saw a man fall down the hole first.

"He didn't go all the way down, but he looked like he had twisted his ankle. He was hobbling afterwards."

Mohammed Atillah, who works in the cafe, said he was outside talking to the man who stumbled down the hole earlier, when the woman believed to be in her 40s and pushing a trolley rather than a pram walked through the makeshift barrier and fell down it.

He held on to her as she dangled down, and then lowered her down as the hole connected to a basement.

He said: "The man said to me his left foot, the back bone of it was broken. He said 'Look what happened'.

"I could see a small hole. I put the tables and chairs so no-one would come through.

"A lady was passing down the street, she came into the middle of the tables and fell down the hole. She had put her foot in and was in.

"She fell down, and I held her. I was scared to let go."

He said he lowered her down the hole and she walked back up to the cafe via the basement and stairs.

London Ambulance Service said: "The patient was shaken but not seriously injured and we took her to Charing Cross Hospital."