A man who was violently attacked by strangers near Clapham Common has voiced concerns after he was unable to get through to an operator when he rang 999.
The victim was returning home from a night out with work colleagues in the early hours of February 12 when he was attacked shortly after leaving Clapham South Tube station.
The man tried ringing 999 but said his call went unanswered for around two minutes.
He believes he was followed off the Tube by the strangers who attacked him in Nightingale Lane, beside Clapham Common, at roughly 12.55am.
He told the BBC he was struck several times causing him to fall to the ground, before he was dragged “ backwards on to the common where it was dark, away from the road".
He says the assault lasted around seven minutes, with his attackers repeatedly kicking him.
They demanded his phone which he refused to hand over. They reportedly left the scene when he cried for help.
The man told the BBC he suffered cracked ribs and a shoulder injury in the attack, and needed surgery for a bleed and fluid in his eye.
But when he tried calling 999 for help, he reportedly got no answer.
"I dialled 999 and then it said 'all our operators are busy, log on to this website and I thought 'I can't believe this'," he told the BBC.
"There was nothing except this recorded thing... there was no answer."
The man spotted a passing British Transport Police vehicle, which he managed to flag down.
BTP - which polices the nation’s railway and transport network - then radioed the Met police to say they were at the scene.
They relayed information from their crime report, and a Met officer reportedly arranged to see the victim the following day.
The victim told the BBC: “The fact [the attackers] laid straight into me, if they'd had a knife who knows what would have happened? That's the scary bit in a way.
"It must have been a couple of minutes trying to get through [to 999]...I could be dead by then...would anyone have even seen me?"
Expressing her concerns to the BBC, his wife added: "He calls 999 and there's no-one to help him. We need a 999 service that answers."
It is not clear why the victim’s call to 999 was not answered.
Detective Chief Inspector Dan O’Sullivan who oversees the Met’s South West robbery squad said: “I can confirm that we received a 999 call on the day, however the victim flagged down a passing British Transport Police (BTP) car nine minutes later, before officers arrived.
“The BTP officers then contacted the Met and an appointment was made to visit the victim the next day.
“This visit was then followed up by a specially trained robbery detective.
“Our investigation is still in its early stages and we are progressing a number of lines of enquiry. We are carrying out forensic enquiries and a full trawl of CCTV of the immediate and surrounding area.
“Unfortunately, this does take some time to complete however we are keeping the victim updated as the investigation progresses.
“I would also like to extend an invite to the victim to meet to discuss any concerns he has over the progress of the investigation.”
