Late evening last Monday, 14th August), a conductor on a Northern train in East Yorkshire has been praised for saving a child from potential harm.

The incident took place on one of Northern’s last services of the day, the 23:06 service from Bridlington to Hull.

At Driffield station, a 14-year-old girl boarded the train, and the conductor who wishes to remain anonymous immediately noticed that she was under the influence of drink or drugs.

After asking her where she was travelling to, she replied “Don’t know, anywhere.” The conductor then immediately contacted British Transport Police and arranged for them to meet his train at Hull where they took girl into protective care before reuniting her with her mother.

Last year, Northern began training its 7,000-strong workforce on how to spot vulnerable people on the railway and have the confidence to intervene. The training formed part of Northern’s part of ‘Safeguarding on Rail’ accreditation.

The training is provided by the ‘Railway Children’ charity, which aims to identify individuals at risk, and to help with early forms of intervention.

Last month, Northern highlighted how some of the crime that has occurred on its network could have been avoided if people had reported suspicious behaviour.

To help people report such behaviour, Northern is encouraging its customers to download the Railway Guardian app, which is an all-in-one safety app being made available by British Transport Police. It enables users to report crimes or concerns about the rail network, share journeys with trusted contacts, and get access to news, guides and support.

British Transport Police can be contacted via text message on 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40.
Commenting on the actions of the conductor, Andrew Williams, head of trains and stations for Northern in the region, said: “This conductor responded as any one of our staff would do when getting the sense that something wasn’t ‘quite right’ – and I applaud his actions.

“Northern works closely with British Transport Police to ensure the safety of everyone on board our services – and this just goes to show those moments when action is required can happen anywhere at any time of day.”