A Nottingham Forest fan tried to confront a knife-wielding man during Saturday’s stabbing attack on a train, according to an eyewitness account from the incident that left 10 people hospitalised, two with life-threatening injuries. Alistair Day, 58, from Hertford, was travelling back from Nottingham Forest’s match against Manchester United when he missed his connection and boarded the 6.25pm LNER service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross.
Sitting near the buffet car, Mr Day saw passengers running towards him and initially thought it was a joke. He told the BBC: “I thought it was like a prank – Halloween or students. Then they’re getting louder and louder.” However, whe he noticed blood on some of the passengers, Mr Day realised something was very wrong.
He and others tried to enter the buffet car, but staff were closing the shutters.
Mr Day said he then intervened, telling them: “No, you’ve got to let us in.” Once inside, he saw the attacker at the window with his knife.
A man wearing a Nottingham Forest tracksuit then said: “I’m going to go confront him”, Mr Day continued.
The group tried to talk him out of it, with Mr Day explaining: “He wasn’t the biggest guy and we tried to stop him.”
Mr Day later saw the man on the platform at Huntingdon station, lying flat and covered in blood.
Another passenger in the buffet car, who had been stabbed in the chest, remained calm as others applied pressure to the wound. Mr Day said: “I just want to know he’s OK.”
The attack took place shortly after the train left Peterborough station.
British Transport Police arrested two men, and the investigation continues with counter-terrorism support, though it is not being treated as terrorism.
