Greatest Awards winning garden centre owners James Debbage and Michelle Evans came within minutes of being involved in the Westminster terrorist attack last week.  "Stopping to take this "selfie" quite possibly saved them from being near that car at the very moment it hit the wall!" James told GTN Xtra.

The couple had been visiting London having been crowned the East of England Champion in the Countryside Alliance "Rural Oscar Awards" for the "Farm Enterprise" category to attend the awards celebration at the House of Lords when the National Winners were announced.



James explained "We weren't lucky enough to win the National Award but we are still more than happy to have won what we did, we do have a certificate and aprons as regional champions.

They have since been on local TV and the Eastern Daily Press ran the following report:

James Debbage and Michelle Evans, who run Green Pastures, spoke of their shock as they heard gunshots ring out while walking outside of the Palace of Westminster and told to run by nearby police officers.

They had been presented with an award at the House of Lords and as they were leaving they “heard shots just a few yards ahead”.

Mr Debbage said: “A policeman turned to us and yelled at the top of his voice, “run, run away”. There were people in front of us who turned and fled. There was another policeman on one of the turnstiles into Westminster who told us to come in as it was safe.

“Before we knew it we were standing in the cloakroom of the House of Lords.

“We were locked in and we could hear lots of shouting outside. A lady came to us who turned out to be Shami Chakrabarti, who told us to come with her, and she actually took us to where all the Lords were. We got to talking to one person who said they had seen a body fall from the bridge into the river. “As we were there in a courtyard outside there were armed police yelling at someone to gets their arms up just underneath where we were standing. That was about half an hour after the shooting.

“My wife has been quite shaken up by the whole thing and she just wants to get home to the kids. “There was just complete carnage around. When we went into Westminster Hall there was an ambulance outside with all sorts of litter around it from treating people.”

The pair were taken into Westminster Abbey for their safety as police secured the scene. “The thing that stood out in my mind was the number of armed police,” added Mr Debbage. “There was an unbelievable amount of them.”

http://www.edp24.co.uk