Former England football captain David Beckham surprised a paramedic and her elderly patient with a hot cup of tea and coffee when he spotted them in the cold waiting for an ambulance.

Senior paramedic Catherine Maynard had been called out to help a pensioner who had fallen near Endsleigh Street in central London.

Ms Maynard, who works with London Ambulance Service's Cycle Response Unit, said: "I was waiting with my patient for an ambulance to transfer him to hospital and although I was keeping him warm it was very cold outside.

"All of a sudden, I looked up and saw someone who looked like David Beckham walking past us. He said hello and got in his car. I said to the man I was treating, 'I think that was David Beckham'. Ten minutes later, he came back with a cup of coffee for me and a tea for the patient.

"We were both very amused, and flattered. It was awful cycling around in the cold and I couldn't believe it when he came back with some hot drinks - I was so chuffed."

Beckham even stopped to pose for a picture with Ms Maynard.

The happy event was in stark contrast to Ms Maynard's experience at work just a year ago when she and a crewmate were assaulted by two separate patients within two days.

She was spat and sworn at by James Macky, 50, of Neasden, north west London, who then went on to assault her. He then wedged himself underneath the ambulance before police were able to arrest him. Macky pleaded guilty to five charges of assault and criminal damage and was sentenced to 28 weeks in prison at Hendon Magistrates' Court on 19 January 2015.

Ms Maynard said that she and a colleague were assaulted again that weekend as they responded to a call near Cromwell Hospital in Kensington.

Ms Maynard had said: "I'd only been assaulted once in five years and then I'm assaulted twice in one weekend. It's frustrating that we are sympathetic to so many people, and then we're treated like this."

A London Ambulance Service added that Beckham had shown he "respects the service's hard-working paramedics and even a gesture as small as buying a cup of coffee makes our crews feel appreciated".

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