Elder Alan Wakeley with his wife Ronda outside the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in Exhibition Road

MISSIONARIES have warned people are at risk of being run over outside their church because many don’t realise they are walking on a road.

Exhibition Road in South Kensington – home to the Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum – is so busy that South Kensington tube station can see more footfall than Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

But its unconventional grey-tiled layout and low-drop kerb is confusing for some people, according to the missionaries at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Elder Alan Wakeley claimed he nearly got hit by traffic when he accidentally stepped onto Exhibition Road.

The 71-year-old said: “I almost got skittled when I was standing out here talking to someone.

“I stood back and didn’t even realise I was on the road.”

Another elder, Don Stapley, said that a woman was knocked to the ground by a taxi performing a U-turn “right in front of us” earlier this year, while another missionary claims to have seen a schoolgirl hit by a taxi.

The missionaries say tourist coaches also park on the pavement, forcing people into the road.

In February Kensington & Chelsea councillor Emma Dent Coad claimed supercars sped down the road because its lack of high kerbs and unique grid patterns made it “look like a video game”.

The road is also a hotspot for “rev heads”, according to Alan Thomas, who manages 59-61 Princes Gate.

He said “hundreds” of people had turned up with cars outside a block of flats to rev engines until late at night, and added: “Everybody has moaned and groaned when they park their cars here and they are all different types of cars.

“They come here with their cars that go bing and bang all the time outside.”

He added: “This road is dangerous. There are many run-ins and people walk down this road and have no sense.

“We have had accidents over the years with cars colliding into each other.”

The data said that the stretch of road outside the church registered two incidents between 2018 and 2019. One was classified as “serious” and involved one “casualty”.

The Natural History Museum said the majority of groups who visit arrive via public transport and that their security team is not aware of any road traffic collision in recent months.

They said there is a coach “drop-off” point outside the museum in Exhibition Road and coach parking in Warwick Road, Bayswater Road and Park Lane, which they say is highlighted on their website.

The council said it had no records of pedestrians being hit and injured by traffic on the street directly outside the church since 2019.

A council spokesperson said: “The current layout has been in place on Exhibition Road since 2011 and there were no reports of personal injury collisions involving pedestrians in the vicinity of the church between 2020 and 2022.

“We would encourage anyone involved in an accident to report it to the police, so the council is notified and we can continue to monitor the street.”