The Mercedes was parked outside a central London nightclub

The Mercedes was packed with petrol, gas cylinders and nails outside Tiger Tiger in Haymarket.

The two-man crew, who were on a routine call, said they noticed a jet of smoke in the car and a "funny smell of gas" so alerted the police and fire service.

"We acted on it," one of the paramedics said. "I am just glad that we managed to do that before it was too late."

The paramedics, aged 37 and 27, were also on duty at the time of the 7 July London suicide bombings.

We can't have been inside for more than a few minutes and as soon as we got outside we smelt gas again Paramedic

They had been called to the central London nightclub shortly after 0125 BST on Friday to deal with a man who had suffered a minor head injury after a fall.

"As we pulled up outside Tiger Tiger, we came to a stop behind a Mercedes car, which was parked rather badly about 3ft from the kerb," said the 37-year-old paramedic.

"We thought it was a bit odd and that led my crewmate, who was driving, to pull around the car and park just in front of it.

"As we got out and walked past the car we realised it had its lights on, but the engine was off."

Control room

It was then that they noticed the smell of gas and the jet of smoke coming out from between the front seats.

"At that stage our priority was to find and help the patient we had been called to," said the paramedic.

"Once inside, we treated a man who had suffered minor head injuries after a fall. He did not need to go to hospital so we sorted him out quite quickly and headed back outside to our ambulance.

"We can't have been inside for more than a few minutes and as soon as we got outside we smelt gas again.

"Then we saw the jet of smoke was still there so we got straight on the radio to our control room and asked them to call the police and the fire brigade."