A deer has been saved after bursting into a gym and attempting to smash exercise equipment for over an hour.

Kevin Beber, 39, said he was at Nuffield Health in Romford at 7am yesterday (June 15) when a muntjac deer leapt over entrance barriers.

The muntjac, a small deer native to Asia, reportedly ran into the gym and starting smashing into equipment.

Kevin, who has lived in Romford his whole life, said he has never seen anything like it.

"It was the oddest thing ever," said Kevin, a regular gym goer. "The first thing I knew was something flew past and it wasn't a dog.

"The gym is not a deer's natural habitat so it started smashing into things and its head started bleeding," he added.

With the help of Nuffield staff, Kevin caught the deer which thankfully had only minor injuries.

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Tom Lighten, a building service engineer, then carried the deer wrapped in a green blanket to a secure area at the back of the building.

But the trouble did not end there and the deer started jumping around wildly, according to Kevin.

"Unfortunately it was jumping around like a nutcase and buried itself in a pile of rubbish," said Kevin.

"I thought we can't let it jump around like this otherwise it will kill itself."

But with Tom's help, Kevin extracted the deer, pacified it in a container and called the police.

The police gave Kevin the number of a deer group who reportedly arrived just a few minutes after they were contacted.

Once the group arrived, volunteers were able to ensure the deer was safely stowed and remove it from the building by car.

"It all worked out alright in the end," said Kevin.

The deer was rescued at around 8.45am, Kevin said, 1 hour 45 minutes after it had stormed into the gym.

Kevin reflected on what had been an unconventional morning. "I thought I was seeing things," he said. 

"The look on people's faces was unreal."