A group of tourists, including two London couples, has launched legal action against a South African safari park after being trapped by a pride of lions.
The group was surrounded by the lions for around 40 minutes after their Land Rover overturned when their guide tried to escape the pride.
One of them was left seriously injured and the rest were bruised and traumatised by the experience at the Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, near Cape Town, in March 2007.
David and Susan Shearman, of Highbury, and Richard and Sandy Cornish, of Wimbledon, are among the four couples suing for £582,000 for injuries and stress.
Michael and Patricia Hawker, of Knowle, near Solihull, and Charles and Fiona Buck, from Chiddingfold, Surrey, are the other couples
Mr Hawker, 71, said the main reason for their legal action was to make the park realise the seriousness of what happened and to ensure it would never happen again.
He said: "Our main objective, to be absolutely blunt, was as much as anything to try and get across to the people at the safari park that it was a serious incident. They treated it very lightly.
"What we thought was having had this experience ourselves we wouldn't want to see anybody else go through it."
Mr Hawker was on holiday with his wife and friends Mr and Mrs Buck
They decided to do a 24-hour safari and met the couples from London.
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