Doomsday Preacher Delays Waterloo-Bound Train

A disruptive train passenger shouting about doomsday caused some passengers to evacuate themselves from a Waterloo-bound train Monday morning.

The passenger grew rowdy as the train was waiting outside the Wimbledon, London train station. Passengers panicked when he began reciting Bible verses and screaming about doomsday. The man was quoted as saying, “Raynes Park is not your final destination.” According to passenger Adam Brooks, other passengers the South Western Railway (SWR) train stampeded.

Conflicting reports during the time of the chaos had some believing there was a terror threat. A few people forced open the doors of the train and jumped on the tracks to escape. They mistakenly believed the man was going to kill other passengers after another passenger spread misinformation. Electricity was turned off on the rest of the train, which was traveling the same route the suspected Parsons Green bomber took.

Twitter user @andypiper created a Twitter Moment about the incident, compiling various users’ tweets describing their view of the situation, the delays they were experiencing on their way to work and their opinions of SWR service.

Hayley Barlow, Channel 4’s head of communication, was on the same train and tweeted about the incident while it was occurring.

“Some idiots on my train have forced open carriage doors between stops & fled down the track and now the whole line into Waterloo is down! According to train driver, passenger near front of train was chanting ‘you’re all going to die’ which is why people forced doors and fled,” she tweeted between 8:39 and 9:00 a.m. BST.

“After an hour our train is finally on move again after security search carried out for the ‘we’re all going to die’ chanting individual,” she added at 9:10 a.m. BST.

Twitter user @cyclingbetting also live-tweeted the incident, referring to the disruptive passenger as “some nutter.” He explained the train was delayed as officials discussed the possibility of evacuation. Once the passenger was escorted off the train, police met him outside and some people offered to be witnesses for him. Twitter user @cyclingbetting said the guard on the train “dealt with the guy with compassion, restraint and bravery.”