Zara McDermott was left shaken up and emotional on Saturday night as four thugs attempted to break into her car whilst she was inside.
The former Love Island star, 25, had been shopping at Westfield in London before the terrifying incident, which saw the mob surround her vehicle down the side road on which she’d parked.
Taking to her Instagram Story, Zara relayed the ordeal to her 1.7 million Instagram followers and issued a stark warning to anyone who doesn’t lock their car doors.
‘I wanted to jump on here and talk about something quite serious that just happened to me,’ the reality star began. ‘I'm feeling quite shook up about it actually, and quite emotional.’
Zara set the scene, explaining that it was just getting dark as she left the shopping centre, and she recalled telling boyfriend Sam Thompson on the phone that she felt ‘unsafe’.
‘I put my shopping in the boot of the car, closed the boot. I got into the driver’s seat and obviously locked the door straight away,’ she continued, adding, ‘I always do this and I'm very conscious of doing this, especially after going shopping. It's a prime time for someone to target you.'
The star - who found fame on Love Island in 2018 - went on to reveal that the majority of the thugs were wearing balaclavas as they attempted to get into the vehicle and stop her from driving away.
She said, ‘Within a few seconds of putting my phone down, I dropped my car key on the floor so I bent down to pick it up and when I looked up there were four guys surrounding my car, most of which were wearing balaclavas. It all happened so quickly but the guy on the passenger side, he had a hood up and a scarf, and was trying to open the door.
'Then I looked back and someone was tapping on my window trying to get my attention and stop me from moving. I looked in the rear view mirror and I think someone was trying to get in the boot and then someone appears in front of the car, they basically surrounded the car.'
Detailing how she escaped the situation, Zara continued, ‘I didn't even think I just put it into reverse and put the accelerator down and just drove off. I am fine but it just made me release that the one thing I always do, locking my car is so important. I could have had everything stolen, the car stolen, they could have done something to me, they could have hurt me and it's just really scary.’
Zara ended the over four-minute clip by urging her fans to lock their car doors as soon as they get inside. ‘I need to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else,’ she insisted.