Trespasser at Banbury - 15 Sep 14

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Services on FGW^▸ (First Great Western), Chiltern and Cross Country all being affected by a line closure at Banbury while a trespasser remains on a signal gantry.

XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are turning round at either Oxford or Reading for the south while Chiltern are running as far as Bicester North from Marylebone.

Line has been closed since just before 10am.

Updates here from the Banbury Guardian http://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/news/local-news/banbury-railway-station-closed-after-man-climbs-signal-gantry-1-6299131

[ChrisB]

Pax are tweeting that they've been stuck on southbound trains for over 3 hours now.

[ChrisB]

Further, I'm hearing this guy has been tazered by the police, which has annoyed him so much that he threw his bag at them, and is now into a major stand off.

Negotiators needed, not heavy-handed coppers....

[bobm]

If he was indeed tazered that may well have been an attempt to get him in the hands of the emergency services as he is reported to have lost a lot of blood rather than just get him down so everything can get moving again.  As always we should be careful not to jump to conclusions.

[ChrisB]

Indeed, he might have subsequently fallen from said gantry afterwards & hurt himself further. Whichever way you look at this, tazering was not the answer.

The station is in lockdown, and drivers are stuck in their rest room wanting to go home too.

[ChrisB]

I hear the suicidal trespasser is down from the gantry

[bobm]

Line reopened just before 3pm but part of the station still sealed off.

[SDS]

At first I thought it was BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) that had used a tazer on the suspect, and would have believed that with the gun crazy BTP met rejects, but it appears from the log that it might have been TVP.

Just hope the guy is in safe hands now and receiving the treatment that they need.



Core Incident message: 25

1515: No update

1455: Buses to stand down at 1530 with ticket acceptance still in place and to remain so until ICC^▸ (Integrated Control Centre) advise.

1435: Platform 1 will be closed UFN^‡(resolve). Declared a scene of crime. Platforms 2 and 3 will remain open.

1429: Platforms 2 and 3 at Banbury now open. Platform 1 will remain closed until further notice ([Message Sanitised])

1426: UPDATE: 1G40 1345 MYB^▸ (London (Marylebone))-BSW will be the first train through Banbury heading north (now approaching Haddenham and Thame)

1424: 1R42 1415 MYB-BMO will be the first train to run through Banbury as booked. It is hoped that a full service shall resume from between 1500-1530 although with delay on most services and possible part/full capes.

1415: 1H33 0809 KID-MYB has moved through the section on the UP and has now passed Banbury after passengers have alighted at Banbury. More when known.

1405: Suspect is now off the signal at Banbury and recieving treatment at Banbury on platform 2. More info when known.

1340: No further update from site. 1H33 is to procede forward to Banbury goods loop to detrain. All lines remain blocked:
Road Transport:
8 coaches currently shuttling BCS-BAN-LMS^▸ (London Midland Scottish - 1923 to 1948). Attempting to source more. Additional coaches being directed towards BCS as station have reported approx 250 passengers on site.

1255: Here follows service plan UFN:
All MYB- BAN & BCS services and return workings to be cancelled. 2TPH (XX15 and XX45) to run MYB-BCS and return, calling HWY, PRR^▸ (Princes Risborough) & HDM). XX12, XX21, XX25, XX42, XX52 services to run as booked from MYB.
2TPH BMO-LMS, XX15 & XX55 alongside the booked 2L/2R services. Snow Hill will not be served.

1235: 70 seater coach enroute to BAN tramway. ETA 10mins.

1225: NO further updates from site. Services continue to spin LMS and BCS. Road transport status: 6 X coaches shuttling LMS-BCS via BAN along with several 16 seaters. Attempting to source more, however, most companies need buses back on depot circa 1400 for school runs so currently proving difficult.

1210: No further updates from site. Permission has now been granted to move stranded trains forward to BAN to detrain. Line will remain blocked.

1140: No further updates from site. Tentative plans being made to detrain passengers from 1R15, which has been standing just south of BAN. Additional buses now being sourced to BCS, ETA 10mins. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have 2 buses running BAN-OXF^» (Oxford - next trains), ETA 15mins.

1120: This has now been declared a critical incident; male has lost a significant amount of blood. Services continue to spin at LMS and BCS.

1105: Local police have advised that male is very unresponsive to communication and are not confident of a speedy resolution.
Road transport LMS: 2 X 16 seaters ETA 5mins & 2 coaches ETA 1200. BCS 2 x COaches ETA 5mins.

1050: No further updates from site. Services at a stand on the up: 1O08 (XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise))), 1H35 and 1H37 (CR). At a stand on the down: 1R15 (CR) and 1M30 (XC). 1G17 is currently setting back to KGS to detrain.

1040: No further updates from site. Services presently being turned at BCS (from the south) and LMS (from the north).

1020: Negotiator onsite. Male continues to self harm. Attempting to source road transport, however, Banbury station has been cordened off by police.

1005: Banbury station now partially cordened off. At present 1R15 and 1G17 standing on the down, 1H35 and 1H37 standing on the up.

0955: Thames Valley Police on site. Male is armed with a knife and is asking for a negotiator.

0945: A suicidal male has been sighted atop signal post BN4 at Banbury. All lines blocked. 1R15 stands outside the station on the down. More info when known.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Banbury station reopens after man scaled signal gantry

Banbury train station in Oxfordshire has reopened after it was closed when a man scaled the signal gantry.

British Transport Police said the man, who is in his 20s, is now down from the gantry. He has been taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The incident started just before 10:00 BST with some passengers reporting being stuck on trains for five hours.

Officers have said they were aware of reports the man had a knife and trained negotiators had been talking to him.

Tom Hayes, was travelling from Birmingham to London. He was stuck on a stationary train for five and a half hours. He said: "We managed to keep up to date on Twitter and Facebook. We got a couple of updates from the driver, who walked through the train, but we didn't really know what was going on."

Having missed the filming he was travelling to London for, Mr Hayes decided to return to Birmingham. He said: "We've just arrived at Banbury station but I've given up now and I'm going home. Trains are running now, albeit in an ad-hoc way."

A British Transport Police spokesman said trains had been stopped while the incident was ongoing. He added that officers had voluntarily referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Jennifer Payne, customer service director at Chiltern Railways, said services were "heavily impacted" by the incident and apologised to customers. She said: "The line has now reopened but passengers may experience delays and short notice cancellations whilst we try and get services back to normal and trains back to their usual positions. Customers impacted by the disruption may be eligible for compensation and those affected should complete a form either at one of our stations or by visiting our website."

[Electric train]

The tazer would not have been used in gun ho manor, the Police Officer would only use it if there was a treat of injury themselves, a member of the public or the suspect; its unlikely they would have used it as a first choice of restraint high up on a signal gantry.

I believe if a tazer is discharged it is treated the same as if the Police Office discharged a firearm .......... = lots of form filling and report writing

[Chris from Nailsea]

Indeed: this incident has already been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, by the police themselves.

We should await the results of their investigation before commenting further. 

[ChrisB]

Do they publish their findings in every case they investigate?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Details should be made available on the website of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, at http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/investigations_and_reports

[eightf48544]

What surprises me is that people were trapped on trains for up to 5 hours. Surely it should have been possible to work them back wrong line one by one to say Leamington, Oxford or Bicester North

[ChrisB]

One assumes that there was an initial delay to see if the police could tempt him down quickly - by which time, there were trains being held at those stations as well as between & no way back....