Armed police search train to Penzance after passenger reports man with a gun

Armed police searched a crowded train for two hours yesterday after a passenger reported seeing an armed man on board.

The woman called 999 on her mobile telephone to say she had seen a man with a gun in her carriage on a Great Western Paddington-Penzance service.

A police firearms team boarded the train, with 500 passengers on board, at Newton Abbot, south Devon, at 1pm and the woman pointed out the man. Officers from Devon and Cornwall Police searched him and his luggage but nothing was found. They then searched all of the baggage on the coaches before they allowed the train to leave and continue on its journey to Cornwall at about 3pm.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokeswoman said: "One of our firearms teams went to Newton Abbot station as a result of a call from a female passenger reporting her suspicions that a man on the train may have a gun. We boarded the train and the man was pointed out and searched but no firearms were found. As a precaution, the rest of the train was also searched and this also proved negative.

"We are sorry for any inconvenience caused but when we receive a report of this sort we have a duty to take it seriously and act accordingly."