A man has claimed he was knocked unconscious by a fellow train passenger for refusing to take his feet off the seat.

Sam Holland was allegedly travelling home from London to Leigh-on-Sea on a C2C train with his girlfriend when he was approached by a man and ordered to move his feet.

When he pointed out that his shoes were not actually touching the fabric, Mr Holland said the conversation became heated and the man allegedly punched him in the face.

His head was slammed into the window of the train and he blacked out, he said.

Mr Holland, 31, logged a complaint with the British Transport Police after the alleged incident last November but the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence.

He shared the statement he had submitted to the police on his Facebook page in a bid to encourage witnesses of the alleged attack to come forward.

He wrote: “[The] gentleman told me to ‘get your f****** shoes of the chair’.

“My shoes were not on the seat nor was I attempting to stop somebody sitting down. The train was not full and I was resting my lower legs on the chair.

“I explained, 'My shoes aren't on the chair'. And this was repeated several times. I turned to my girlfriend and said: 'Who the f*** does this guy think he is?'"

Mr Holland said the conversation continued along the same lines before his girlfriend interjected and “politely” asked the man to leave the carriage – which he did.

Mr Holland went on to say he “continued to nap” before becoming aware of someone “forcing” him to move his legs.

“My legs were forced off the chair followed by ‘I told you to take your f****** feet off the chair!’”

“He placed himself above me. My girlfriend stepped in to diffuse the situation and I stood behind her. Then it goes black - I was punched once very hard in the face.

“I remember my head hitting the window of the carriage. I remember an excruciating pain behind my right eye. And I remember hitting my head on the floor in front of me.”

He said his girlfriend began to scream and his body started “convulsing uncontrollably”.

The driver was alerted to the alleged incident and he was taken by ambulance to Southend Hospital.

On investigating the allegation from just before 9pm on November 15, BTP officers discovered the train’s CCTV had not been working.

As a result it was decided that no further action would be taken.

BTP officers sent Mr Holland a letter reading: “The reason is that, based on evidence available, including the independent witness account, the decision was made that [the suspect] had reasonable excuse to act in the way he did.”

A BTP spokesman told the Standard: “Officers have been investigating an allegation of assault. The case was No Further Action - this is subject to change pending new evidence coming to light.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact BTP by sending a text to 61016 or call 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 1600063985.