An Islamic terrorist cell made up of two NHS doctors used rickshaws to flee the scene after leaving two car bombs parked in London’s West End, a jury was told today.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Kafeel Ahmed, 28, drove one of the vehicles outside a packed nightclub and the other in front of a late night bus stop in the hope of creating a “spectacular” attack that would leave hundreds dead and maimed, Woolwich Crown Court was told.

The cars, packed with nails, gas canisters and petrol, were left in the capital on June 29 last year but failed to explode because the initiation devices did not work properly.

On the second day of the prosecution’s opening, Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, said the two men were filmed on CCTV leaving the area in the early hours of that morning.

Ahmed, who later died in a suicide car bomb attack on Glasgow Airport, was photographed throwing an umbrella he was said to have used to hide his face from cameras in a bin.

At 1.39am he was filmed getting on to a rickshaw in Piccadilly Circus. Mr Abdulla was said to have taken the same type of transport to flee the area.

The men were then said to have met up in Edgware Road shortly after 2am, just 30 minutes after they had left the car bombs.

Ahmed died in hospital from severe burns after a second attempted terrorist attack on Glasgow airport the following day.

Mr Abdulla and Mohammed Asha, 28, are accused of conspiring to murder and to cause explosions likely to endanger life. Both men deny the charges.

Mr Laidlaw said Mr Abdulla parked a green Mercedes outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket at 1.24am on June 29. At the time there were 556 customers in the club as well as many members of staff.

The car bomb was discovered only because security staff had called an ambulance after a customer fell down stairs injuring his ankle.

A bouncer and the club's general manager spotted the Mercedes as paramedics arrived at around 1.40am. They saw vapour from the gas billowing out of the car and smelt liquid petroleum gas coming from the vehicle.

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