A Dartford teacher who was near Las Ramblas at the time of the terror attack in Barcelona on Thursday night has described the 'surreal' scenes.

Shortly after 5pm a white fiat van sped through Las Ramblas, a busy tourist strip, ramming into people.

So far 14 people have died and the attack has left more than 100 injured as the driver ploughed into people along a 500m stretch.

Richard Gregg, of Phoenix Quarter, Dartford was walking towards Las Ramblas when crowds of people ran towards him.

He said: "It was really surreal. There are crowds of people on Las Ramblas, it is a heavily populated tourist area.

"I was walking down and people were running towards us. An American lady running said people had been hit and there was lots of blood.

"We were heading to where the van was, it was at the turning by where we are staying.

"Half the crowd knew what had happened and were running and the other half was just bemused, but within two or three minutes people were just running."

Richard, who is staying in Barcelona for a week with his boyfriend, said they took some backstreets to get back to their block.
 

From there, they could see the van and a heavy armed police presence in a nearby market who were searching for the driver, who had fled the scene.

The driver is still believed to be on the run.

Richard, a drama teacher, said: "We could see the van and people on the floor. The news started to trickle in from international stations, and we half expected something to happen somewhere else in the world so we waited for that.

"It was quite scary, tense and surreal. The police were obviously busy and searching for the attacker, people were confused. They had no idea."

Speaking to News Shopper today, Richard said the feelings of tension had eased.

He said: "The city seems defiant today. People are on Las Ramblas laying flowers, there are news crews and crowds.

"We are out today and reassured by the amounts of armed police. We come from Dartford, close to London, we could have easily been caught up in one of the attacks there. You could be anywhere in the world and experience this. We can't let them control our lives and dictate what we do."

The couple will be completing their trip and staying in the city until Monday.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Barcelona attack, the deadliest in Spain since more than 190 people died in the 2004 Madrid train bombs.

Catalan Police say four people have been arrested.