Trinity Road in Tooting Bec has reopened after the dramatic collapse of a three-storey building on Tuesday afternoon.

The road was reopened by emergency services late on Wednesday after the area was declared safe.

Fire crews were alerted to the building - a shop with flats above it - on Tuesday, after a neighbour was worried scaffolding around it was unsteady and that the building was in danger of toppling over.

When building inspectors from Wandsworth Council arrived at the scene they realised the building, which was undergoing extensive renovation and refurbishment work, was in danger of collapsing. A few minutes later, at about 3.45pm, the whole building came crashing down.

The collapse caused rubble and scaffolding to scatter across the pavement, road surface and red route.

Trinity Road was subsequently closed between Bellevue Road, Burntwood Lane and Balham High Road, and some bus services were diverted.

A council spokesman said the remains of the neighbouring property left badly damaged by the incident had been successfully supported, after the party wall with the collapsed building had to be removed for safety reasons.

Chris Worrall lives in the damaged next-door building with his fiancée. He said that when the building collapsed, his own roof and bedroom wall came off.

"I got back from work just in time to see it," said the 33-year-old. "I was visiting a friend, and from their house I saw two cracks appear and then the whole thing fall apart.

"We were supposed to have the day off, so we should have been in. I don't know what would have happened if we had been.

"All my stuff is ruined now. I'm annoyed, but what can I do?"

He is now staying with friends and looking for a new place to live.

"The council has now reported the incident to the Health and Safety Executive which has the powers to carry out a statutory investigation into the circumstances that led up to the collapse, and could take legal action against anyone found to be negligent," he added.