Four people have been taken to hospital after loose Household Cavalry horses caused mayhem on the streets of central London.

Both military personnel and horses have been injured while pictures and videos showed the animals colliding with cars and smashing the windscreen of a bus.

The Army confirmed that all the horses have since been recovered while a number of the animals as well as personnel are receiving medical attention.

The horses are believed to have become spooked during their daily morning exercise on Horseguards Parade in Whitehall.

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A witness told the Telegraph that they had seen a soldier fall to the floor after one of the horses ran into a car, with bystanders screaming as the animal raced towards them.

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Bashir Aden, 48, a construction worker, said: “The man hit the floor hard, he was screaming in pain. You could see blood all over the parked car.

“The horses come down this route every day, but today the horse looked stressed or panicked. I saw the horse run away after it hit a bus. People were screaming and running all over.”

Buckingham Palace Road has been closed after the incident and a cordon remains in place, with a blue tarpaulin tent put in place around the injured soldier.

One of the horses has been spotted as far away as Shadwell, which is around 3.3miles away from where the horses initially broke free.

Two of the animals were eventually contained by the City of London Police, who caught them on the Highway near Limehouse and kept them until an Army horse box transported them to veterinary care.

Over the course of their rampage, the horses smashed into a sliver Mercedes-Benz people carrier, causing damage to its side and rear windows, as well as damaging a double-decker bus.

LBC spoke to the driver of the Mercedes, Faraz, who was waiting outside the Clermont Hotel when he felt something smash into his car.

He said he saw three or four horses near the vehicle, and that one member of military personnel had been thrown off and injured.

Shortly before 11am, an Army spokesperson said: “A number of military working horses became loose during routine exercise this morning. All of the horses have now been recovered and returned to camp.

“A number of personnel and horses have been injured and are receiving the appropriate medical attention.”

A London ambulance service spokesperson said: ““We were called at 8:25am today (April 24) to reports of a person being thrown from a horse on Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W.

“We sent resources to the scene including ambulance crews, a paramedic in a fast response car, and an incident response officer.

“Our first paramedic was on the scene in five minutes.

“The incident is still ongoing and we are working with our emergency services partners.”