Carjackers throw woman from BMW

Carjackers ambushed a lone woman driver on a busy road in the afternoon.

Two men struck at a junction of the A406 - the North Circular Road - in the heart of Temple Fortune.

Mother-of-two Tamara Rabin, a 59-year-old solicitor, was driving her silver £20,000 BMW 318 Series out of Bridge Lane when she was distracted by a man at her passenger side window.

Mrs Rabin thought he was asking for directions, but he opened the door and reached to grab her.

As he climbed in, another man opened the driver's door, pulled Mrs Rabin out and threw her to the ground. They then drove off.

She lay on the ground for several minutes until another driver stopped to help. Police were already in the area after local residents reported seeing youths behaving suspiciously, and were on the scene within minutes.

Mrs Rabin said: "I was very shocked but not really hurt, just bruised. I'm going to continue driving, I'm not going to let this destroy my life. It's not normal in that area at all, and especially not in the middle of the afternoon. It seems that these days you are not even safe in broad daylight in the middle of suburbia.

"I didn't have the doors locked. Because it was 3.30pm, I didn't see the need."

Police have urged caution after a spate on attacks on women driving expensive cars in London and the South-East. Last month a woman was tied up and robbed of £1,000 by a carjacker who drove off in her Mercedes near Luton.

Police believe carjackings are often the work of organised gangs paid to steal valuable cars to order.