A fast food worker has spoken of the “terrifying” moment a man was stabbed as he waited for a sandwich in a restaurant.

The 18-year-old victim was attacked by a masked gang in Subway in St James Street, Walthamstow, while another man was sprayed with an “unknown substance”.

Subway worker Jasvinder, 28, said he was making the teenager’s foot-long sub when the hooded gang burst in armed with a “huge” machete at around 6.40pm on Tuesday, November 14.

“I was terrified,” he said.

“I didn’t know what to do.

“There were so many people fighting I couldn’t do anything to help.

“This one guy wearing a mask swung this huge knife and stabbed him below the rib cage.

“He fell to the floor screaming.

“His friends gathered round and were holding his wound. They didn’t say anything to each other.

“I have no idea what it was over. They smashed the window with the huge knife on their way out.”

The family of the victim waited at the police cordon to seem him receive first aid from paramedics before his mother rode with him in the ambulance to the hospital, witnesses said.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “Four men and four male youths were arrested on suspicion of GBH.

“Enquiries continue.”

Police said the man who was stabbed was not in a life-threatening condition.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.