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Passengers evacuated a train before it had reached Wimbledon after a preacher "started talking about doomsday and panic spread in the carriage" on Monday morning (October 2).

The chaos happened as the train was waiting outside Wimbledon station for a platform - not far from Parsons Green station which was the site of the bucket bomb explosion - at around 8.40am.

Adam Brooks was on board the South Western Railway (SWR) train when someone started preaching, which he explained caused a "stampede" and someone to open the doors for people to jump out.

He said: "Alarm raised just outside Wimbledon as train waited for a platform, on the same route Parsons Green bomber took so understandable that people are a little jumpy.

"Person preaching about God and said you'd better pray doomsday is here."

Mr Brooks added that the "intense" noise of 50 people "stampeding" on a packed train sounded like an aircraft taking off.

(Image: Adam Brooks)

Mr Brooks praised the train driver for handling the situation well.

He said: "Train driver handled it well, including alerting people leaving the train to the danger of the live rail and the very real prospect of being killed by it.

"He was pretty calm and kept spirits up with 'me again' comments and confirming the nature of the delay which helped ease passengers rather than say 'an incident' for example.

"Don't know what became of the preacher, they disappeared in the melee," Mr Brooks added.

Twitter user @Styladelica tweeted: "What a journey - passengers on the front coach evacuated the train after mishearing someone and thinking he was a terrorist."

When asked for more information, she added: "The guard reported that there was a person in the front carriage talking about doomsday - woman misheard, panic spread in the carriage causing the doors to be forced open and passengers left the train.

"The guard investigated - people got back on and we're on our way," she said at 9.20am.

National Rail reported there would be delays of 60 minutes as services running through the station may be cancelled, delayed or revised, with disruption expected until 1pm.

A SWR spokesperson said: "South Western Railway's control centre received an emergency call from a driver in the Wimbledon area stating that a passenger got out of a train and on to the track, before it reached the station.

"Because of this it was necessary to turn off the current in the area, it has since been restored to most lines, however the London bound route for suburban trains is still blocked.



"Trains will be delayed, altered and possibly cancelled to manage the overall service."

Some lines have reopened and passengers have been told they can use tickets on London Underground and London buses. Disruption is expected to end by 1pm.

The ongoing disruption follows on from earlier problems at London Waterloo and between Purley and Gatwick Airport.

Engineering works overran near Coulsdon South which meant commuters faced delays and cancellation between Purley and Gatwick Airport on Monday morning.

Urgent repairs had to be carried out near Coulsdon South, which two out of the four lines between Purley and Gatwick Airport were blocked.

Both northbound lines are now open but one of the southbound lines remain closed.

Disruption is expected until midday and Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink services may be delayed by up to 20 minutes.

London Waterloo was also hit by a points problem affecting platforms 7-11, some lines have since reopened, but disruption is expected until 1pm while the service recovers.

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