A man is fighting for his life after being hit when a sofa fell 130 feet onto him outside a West End hotel penthouse.

Witnesses said the pedestrian, aged in his 20s, suffered serious facial injuries after the sofa fell from scaffolding outside the W London Hotel off Leicester Square.

Tourists looked on in shock as the man lay in a pool of blood after he was hit when the sofa came crashing to the ground at rush hour on Friday morning.

A witness told The Sun: “The sofa came flying over the top of the hotel’s flat roof. I can’t understand how something that big and heavy came to fall over the edge.

“The man was a smartly-dressed guy just walking past.”

The witness added: “It was raining and where the drops were hitting his face it was making him scream in agony.”

The paper said the man was airlifted to hospital after a two-seater sofa is thought to have fallen from one of 11 penthouses at the five-star hotel, where suites cost up to £2,800 per night.

Executive penthouses there – known as the W Residences – are rented out privately by Knight Frank. Those living there have access to the hotel’s spa and restaurant, as well as a large roof terrace.

The sofa which crashed to the ground on Friday is thought to have been part of the roof terrace’s furnishings.

A spokesman for the hotel told The Sun there was an accident outside but said it was related to furniture from a privately-owned lodging. Knight Frank said it would cooperate with the police investigation.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Police were called at 08.54hrs on Friday 30 October to reports of a pedestrian injured in Wardour Street W1.

"At this early stage it is believed he was injured by a piece of furniture which fell from scaffolding.

"The man aged in his 20s taken to an east London hospital by London's Air Ambulance. 

"His condition is critical but stable.

"The Health and Safety Executive has been informed."