Hundreds lined the streets to watch members of the armed forces march through Harrow.

The Freedom Parade, returning for the first time in 18 years, saw serving soldiers from Independent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers and veterans of the Royal British Legion march with 1,454 Harrow Air Training Corps.

Cadets from the police force and St John Ambulance also marched in the parade, which ended at the Civic Centre.

The parade was led by the band of Royal Engineers, British Legion band and the Glen Trew Pipe band.

The event was last held in 1996 when freedom of the borough was granted to the Royal British Legion.

Richard Maylan, who lives near the civic centre, said he had not known about the event until he saw the traffic jams.

He said: “When we found out what was going on we came down here to see it. I’m really pleased we did, it’s been great.”

Civic centre operations manager Brian Wilson said the day had gone well. He added: “We would have loved to have a few more members of the public come down, but it’s been a great success otherwise.”

Eileen Holvey, of Stanmore, said: “I thought it was excellent, and it was nice to see our dignitaries out and about.”