‘I was shaken up… our platform was lined with police with rifles’: Moment armed officers ‘storm train’ at Manchester Piccadilly
Passengers had been left ‘shaken up’ after armed police ‘with rifles’ stormed a prepare at Manchester on Saturday evening (February 3). Officers descended onto the Northern prepare from Sheffield, which arrived at Piccadilly station shortly after 11.40pm.
A variety of witnesses reported that greater than a dozen armed officers had been seen after the prepare stopped at platform one. After officers stormed onto the prepare, they had been reportedly seen restraining one man who was then taken away.
One eyewitness instructed the Manchester Evening News ‘there was an actual commotion’ because the prepare was ‘stormed by armed police’ and passengers had been instructed to stay on board.
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Another passenger on board stated that the platform was ‘lined with armed police with rifles’ when the prepare pulled into the station and that they had been left ‘shaken up’ after being requested to maneuver carriages.
They stated: “As we had been pulling into Manchester Piccadilly station, passengers stood up and had been ready by the doorways to disembark. Suddenly we noticed that our platform was lined with armed police with rifles. As the prepare stopped, they had been trying into the prepare for somebody.
“Officers in pairs entered the prepare and instructed everybody to sit down down. It was very tense. There was a commotion additional in the direction of the entrance of the prepare on the opposite aspect of the bathrooms to the carriage I was on, and officers rushed to this.
“We heard someone being restrained. Officers told us to move down the train away from the carriage. Nothing happened for a few moments, then an officer came into our carriage and shouted for the train manager to get the doors open. We were directed up towards platform 14 instead of towards the barriers, where there must have been between 20-30 officers present. I was quite shaken up.”
Another eyewitness, who was on the prepare, stated: “Police went up and down the carriages shouting. They closed the doors, only opening the front to let police in, and kept us on the train for about seven minutes. At one point they shouted at the conductor, who was controlling the doors, to come and lock the middle carriage doors – the ones nearest the toilet.”
The eyewitness stated that passengers had been finally escorted from the prepare and out of the station ‘around the again’, as an alternative of via the ticket boundaries. She added: “I looked back and there were loads of police, maybe 20, as well as train staff and police dogs – who were going mad.”
Greater Manchester Police have confirmed they had been alerted to help British Transport Police with the incident. Both British Transport Police and Northern have each been approached for remark.
