A man has told how he was standing at a bus stop in Hounslow when an office block collapsed behind him, sending plumes of dust spiralling into the air.

David Lawrence was returning from work to his home in Isleworth when a large chunk of the building crumpled, sending debris crashing to the ground below, yesterday (Tuesday, July 15) at about 4.40pm.

He said he had been taking photos of the dust created by an earlier collapse when a much bigger section crashed down, sending him running.

"There was this almighty roar and I just ran. When I turned round all I could see was a huge cloud of dust. It was so thick you couldn't even see to the other side of the road," he said.

"It's amazing no one was hit by the falling debris and the dust didn't cause a serious crash. If the bit left hanging had also come down, it probably would have crashed through the hoarding and landed on the pavement."

David Lawrence, who was stood at a bus stop beside Hounslow House, in London Road, Hounslow, when a large section of the empty office building collapsed

Despite the noise of the collapse and the huge dust cloud it created, only a small amount of rubble appeared to have landed outside the demolition zone, mostly just inside the wall of the bus garage. No one was injured.

Other people have told getwestlondon how they had been complaining for weeks about demolition at the site, which is being cleared to make way for a housing development, including a 21-storey block dubbed Tesco Tower.

Mr Lawrence, who works in the merchandising department at Harrods, said the work appeared to have been carried out in a 'haphazard' manner.

"My partner and I have seen bits chopped off before and sending dust onto the streets below, and it struck us as weird they were doing it this way so close to a busy road," he said. "Usually you see them taking buildings apart from the top down but here there was a big mechanical digger just hacking into it."

London Road was closed at the junction with Kingsley Road until late yesterday evening, but was open as normal again this morning.

The incident has been referred to the Health and Safety Executive. getwestlondon has approached Tesco and is awaiting a comment.