A Cumbrian mum who found herself just yards from the man responsible for the London terror attack said her first instinct was to simply run.

Jennie Allison and her husband Steve were attending the Countryside Alliance Awards at the Houses of Parliament and had gone outside for a photograph when the killer - named by police as Khalid Masood - walked towards them.

Three people - Aysha Frade, Kurt Cochran and Leslie Rhodes - died after being hit by a car driven by Masood on Westminster Bridge moments before he stabbed to death PC Keith Palmer.

Masood was shot by armed police outside Parliament.

"We'd met Rory Stewart and then we went outside with his aide to get a photograph in front of Big Ben," Jennie told the News & Star .

"When we were there, I looked up and noticed a man with a knife, I shouted and we just ran."

The couple, who own Low Howgill Butchers and Deli in Appleby, were whisked back into the building. "We heard the gunshots while we were in there," Jennie said.

"We were taken through a door that was for staff only and a couple of other people followed us."

In the chaos, the group bumped into Conservative MP Andrew Percy.

"He'd just left the House of Commons, where he'd been to vote," she added. "He took us straight up to his office.

"There were eight of us in there, sat on the floor with the lights off. He said that we would barricade the door if we had to. He seemed to know what the protocol was and the whole area was safe and secure."

After a while, the group were then able to turn on the television and watched as the aftermath of what had happened was broadcast to the world.

"The first thing we thought to do was to call our families and let them know that we were safe," Jennie said.

"Our little girl was back in Cumbria with her grandma so we wanted to let them know we were okay.

"Steve also got in touch with his family as well."

Jennie said she is still struggling to come to terms with what happened.

"It all still seems so bizarre," she said. "When we saw the man with the knife, our first instinct was to just run and get away from him.

"A lot of praise has to go to the police, though, because in seconds there must have been 20 people that appeared from nowhere. They seemed to have everything under control so quickly."