Two women have been arrested following a series of assaults, robberies and hit-and-runs in Romford and Hornchurch on Saturday night.

Police received a total of six calls relating to a series of separate incidents between 9.35pm and 10.23pm.

Officers were alerted first to the robbery and assault of a woman by two people in Lyndhurst Drive at the junction of Hornchurch Road at 9.35pm. The woman received minor hospital treatment.

They were contacted again at 9.41pm after a car was in collision with two pedestrians in Minster Way, Hornchurch. They did not need medical attention.

The London Ambulance Service contacted the police at 9.55pm after treating a woman, now discharged, at hospital following an assault.

Police were called again at 10.04pm following an assault and robbery by two women in Ramsden Drive, Romford, in which a woman suffered a head injury and required minor hospital treatment.

They were then alerted at 10.11pm to a collision involving a car and a male pedestrian in Collier Row.

The last call came in at at 10.23pm when a man was assaulted outside Upminster Bridge Tube station. He was taken to hospital and discharged following treatment.

At 10.30pm a silver Peugeot car was involved in a collision with a marked police car in Faringdon Avenue, Romford. No one was injured but two women aged, 31 and 32, who were in the car, were arrested on suspicion of robbery, assault and driving offences.

Supt Sean Wilson, of the East Area Crime Command, said: “This was a shocking series of incidents which resulted in four people needing hospital treatment.

“We believe that these incidents are linked, and we have arrested two women as part of the ongoing investigation.

“Incidents of this nature are thankfully very rare, and I assure Havering residents that we are working hard to fully understand what has happened, and establish the circumstances around these offences.”

The women are now in custody and police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

Superintendent Wilson added: “We are deploying extra patrol officers for public reassurance, and residents should continue to feel safe on east London’s street.”

Anyone with information should contact East Area Crime Command CID via 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111