Two young moped riders who crashed in Finsbury Park on Tuesday morning are recovering from their injuries.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is investigating the police’s role in the incident as standard procedure, today said one of the riders – whose condition was initially life threatening – is no longer in a life threatening state.

The other moped rider had minor injuries and has left hospital. One was a female and the other male. Both are 18.

After the incident on Tuesday, the Met said the moped had failed to stop for police officers. The force has not yet confirmed whether or not any arrests or charges have been made.

The crash happened at about 3.45am outside Finsbury Park station in Seven Sisters Road.

Documentary producer Darius Bazargan came across the scene at about 9am on Tuesday. He told the Gazette: “It looked like the moped had spun out of control when it clipped a white van in front of Barclays, then skidded towards the Arsenal shop.

“There was a double cordon and groups of detectives taking it very seriously. The whole junction and bus station was blocked off and the area gridlocked.

“It seems to me that the police were very tunnel visioned on the crash investigation. They were very concerned about getting this right and not thinking about the fluidity of traffic.”

He continued: “Every bit of debris was marked out on the floor. You could see the clothes of one of the moped riders had been cut off by paramedics. There was dried blood on the floor.

“But I only saw one crash helmet on the ground – this is really important. Did the paramedics not dare to to remove the second rider’s helmet, or had it been thrown off in an attempt to halt the pursuit? Either way, it suggests at least one of the riders was very badly hurt.”

He added: “And what were they doing on a moped at 3.45am? Was this a random incident or were they being targeted by police?”