Last-minute decision in London means Northlanders missed being in attack zone

Whangarei mum Siobhan Milton, right, with friend Ariana Schimmel minutes before visiting a dungeon in London rather than Parliament. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

A last-minute decision not to stroll across London's Westminster Bridge to visit the British Parliament saved Whangarei women Siobhan Milton and Ariana Schimmel from walking into a deadly terrorist attack.

Ms Milton, a Whangarei mother, is on a six-week holiday in the United Kingdom with her daughter, her parents and a brother and is counting her lucky stars she escaped the attack that left five dead and 40 injured.

Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old UK-born resident of the West Midlands in central England, ploughed a car into pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing a police officer with a knife inside the gates of Parliament.

He was shot dead by police within the perimeter of Parliament.

On the day the terror attack happened, Ms Milton was sightseeing with her friend Ms Schimmel who is also from Whangarei but now lives in Holland.

Ms Milton said the rest of her family decided to visit Milton Keynes, about 72km north west of London, while she and Ms Schimmel opted to go to tourist attractions in London.

"We were planning to walk across the bridge and go and visit Parliament but changed our plan and decided to visit the London Dungeon instead which is another tourist attraction," she said.

"We were inside the dungeon when police and security staff locked the gates and told us what had happened. I was like 'Oh my gosh, we just missed it'," said the 20-year-old.

"All of us that were visiting the dungeon ended up sitting there waiting for clearance to get out. I initially thought we would be in there for six hours but luckily we were out in about two-and-a-half hours."

Since there were no updates on what was happening outside while they were in the dungeon, the friends resorted to checking news on their phones.

When they came out of the dungeon, Ms Milton said scenes of police manning closed streets and ambulance staff tending to the injured were "really scary".

"People just looked shocked and a bit shaken up."

It was her second trip to London and said the terrorist attack has not put her off from visiting the city in future or changing her travel plans on the current journey. She returns home on April 6.

Two other Northlanders - former Northern Advocate journalist Alexandra Newlove and Whitney Channings - were working within 3km of the scene of the attack.