Harrow and Wealdstone chaos after man runs in front of train

Jun 1 2009 By David Baker

The Watford to Brighton service

WEALDSTONE was bought to a standstill this morning after a man ran on to the tracks at Harrow and Wealdstone rail station.

The 55-year-old from Pinner was detained by police officers after narrowly avoiding being struck by a train - having called the emergency services to report a fatality.

It is thought that the man, who has since been sectioned under the mental health act, reported multiple casualties but no one was injured by the 7.38am Northampton to Euston train involved.

An air ambulance landed at the junction of Ellen Webb Drive, Masons Avenue and the High Street just before 9am, while swarms of police and paramedics were quickly on the scene.

Passengers and commuters at the station were led to believe there had been a fatality and 27-year-old Nick Morgan of Chesnut Drive said: "I noticed there was a man wondering up and down the tracks to the side but everyone was saying that he had been helped on to the platform by staff and we assumed that was the end of it.

"But when I was on the train leaving the station the driver said we were delayed because of a fatality on the line.

"Everyone was a bit confused about what was going on really, it didn't make much sense."

A police spokesman confirmed that the man who had walked on to the tracks was the same person that called the emergency services.

He said: "We received a call at 8.40am this morning from a member of the public reporting that some one had been hit by a train at Harrow and Wealdstone Station.

"Numerous police officers from Harrow and British Transport Police attended the scene and on arrival it was cleared that all was normal.

"The person that made the call was spoken to by police and was later sectioned under the mental health act."

The line involved in the incident was handed back to Network Rail at 9.25am while the Bakerloo line was suspended between 8.45-9.23am.