A mum who died in a horrific car crash that saw a Range Rover smash into a Tesla and end up on underground tracks could have been caught up in a race challenge.
The 33-year-old woman died at the scene of the horrific incident in Park Royal, West London, in the early hours of Monday morning.
The mum was thought to be a passenger in the vehicle, along with another woman and a friend said who was getting a lift to jump start her broken down car.
During the fatal trip the car smashed into a barrier, hit a parked car, flew over a footpath and ended up wrecked on the train tracks of the Piccadilly Line, just before 4am.
Residents claim the woman, mum to a 12-year-old daughter, could have been caught up in a racing challenge.
The car slammed into a Tesla charging station and smashed into a parked Tesla where a 56-year-old man was sitting inside.
He suffered non-life threatening injuries.
After flying over the footpath, the wreckage of the SUV landed on the London Underground tube station Park Royal.
The driver remains in a critical condition at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, and another female passenger, 26, was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Residents of Baronet House, which overlooks the crash scene, say people race cars on the roundabout outside the block at night several times a week.
They allegedly heard racing in the moments leading up to the accident, just before 4am on Monday morning.
Some residents claim to have have seen vehicles "drifting" - where drivers intentionally oversteer so the car makes a controlled skid sideways through a turn, often causing smoke to come off the tyres.
Police have not confirmed the circumstances leading up to the deadly crash.
The mum has not yet been named, but a friend said she was returning from a birthday party in Chelsea with friends, at the time of the smash.
At around 2:30am that night she was driven to Wish Lounge shisha bar near the station where her car was parked, so she could jump start it, before being driven home.
Her friend, who did not want to be named, today said: “I told her to get an Uber, go home and tomorrow, sort the car out - it’s 2.30am.
“The driver came to pick them up to take them to the car so they could jump start the car.
“Wish Lounge is a private events venue they put on events around two or three times a month.
“They host anniversaries, engagement parties, banquets- that sort of thing. It is not a business that opens every day.
“The person that was driving wasn’t in the venue. The girls had been at a private party in Chelsea which I was at and they said to me ‘can you drop us back, we need to get the car sorted’.
“The driver then came and met them here. The woman who died and the driver are known to each other.
"They are all known to each other. Everyone in the Middle Eastern community around here knows each other through family, friends and school.
“She wanted to jump start the car and she was adamant she would do it that night. She was a mum with a 12-year-old daughter.”
One local resident, who did not want to be named, recalled being woken up by the fatal crash.
They said: ‘’I heard a thud that shook me awake. I thought it was just a one off sound.
‘’Five minutes later the sirens were outside and I heard sirens seven times.
‘’It is just frustrating because cars always race by the shisha lounge.
"We only moved in at the start of July and they are here three times a week illegally, just around the roundabouts and drifting.’’
Simona, 33, who did not want to give her last name said: ‘’On Sunday evening cars were spinning around the roundabout and the brakes were squeaking.
‘’The racing happens near shisha lounges which this area is famous for, and because there are no speed bumps.
‘’This happens all the time. I didn’t hear anything on the night and I don’t know if these cars were involved in the crash but it is very annoying.’’
One woman, who did not want to be named, added: ‘’They do it all night, there are always racing cars downstairs at weekends and sometimes in the week as well.
‘’Sometimes it starts early at around 9pm, but mostly it is from midnight onwards.
‘’I have heard the people involved in the crash come from that group, but I am not completely sure.
‘’Of course we are all angry about these people. It has been going on for at least two months.’’
