A man has been arrested in north London for refusing demands from police to turn his gas off, which risked causing an explosion.

The Metropolitan police told British media the following:

“Police were called to Maybank Road, Woodford, at 9.54pm on Saturday, 29 December, following reports of a gas leak. It was reported that an occupant was refusing to come out or turn the gas off. He was removed from the building at 0.32am this morning and arrested."

Police were filmed at the scene with the London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade.

The police confirmed that some residents were evacuated from one end of Maybank Road near the North Circular.

They have since been allowed to return to their homes.

Serious incident that occurred in South Woodford. According to witnesses a suicidal Man was threatening to end his life with gas (Twitter user has gas canisters). After about 2 hours the man was caught by a mix of emergency service personal and taken away on a stretcher.

Local residents where evacuated with some waiting in a police van whilst the incident was occurring