Woman seriously injured after falling off Trafalgar Square lion

A woman was airlifted to hospital after climbing to the top of an 11ft bronze lion statue in Trafalgar Square and falling off, hitting her head.

The woman, believed to be in her 20s, was attended to by London's Air Ambulance after the fall on Saturday evening and was reportedly in a serious condition.

According to the BBC, on Sunday her injuries were no longer life-threatening.

Witness Martin Peaple, from Sidcup, saw the air ambulance arrive and told the Evening Standard: "There were a good thousand standing and watching what was going on.

"A lot of people were asking if it was here for a show."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "It was a person who fell from a lion and suffered a head injury.

"An air ambulance landed to take them to hospital. The injuries were being treated as life threatening at that time."

In 2011, a report suggested that tourists should be banned from climbing on Trafalgar Square's lion sculptures to protect them from being damaged.

The report said inspections found the bronze sculptures in good condition, but said: "The lions have suffered severely as a result of the public climbing on and off."

English Heritage was against banning tourists from the iconic attractions and said it would prove "deeply unpopular".

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