Martin Davis

We once made a 'citizens arrest' in the cab of a Wolverhampton - Euston train one afternoon. Immediately before the stop in Birmingham there is a tunnel and we drifted slowly towards the red signal which is inside the tunnel itself. I saw the signal apparently go out and light up again and then somebody silhouetted against the light from the tunnel mouth, running towards us. I just hit the brake and came to a stand in the middle of the tunnel. I phoned the signaller but before I had a chance to tell him what was happening he said......

"I'm sorry I've had to stop you there but we've got the police chasing a guy around the station and now they've lost him."

"He's here in the Tunnel coming towards us and I’m at a stand way short of the signal.”

"Right...stay where you are and we'll send the Police in after him"

I already had two trainees in the cab with me when my friend Paul who was travelling in the train came up to the cab of the DVT to see what was going on. So now there were four of us peering into the darkness trying to find him. Eventually we spotted him in the darkness just a few yards ahead of us. Paul shouted "Come here and put your hands up!" and amazingly he did !

“Whoa! That was a bit ‘Miami Vice’ wasn’t it? ....I said.

“I used to be a Special PC and I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t holding a knife"

To be fair that was something I hadn't even considered !

It was a lad in his late teens and I told him that the Police were coming up from the station (which was true) and that they were on their way from the other end of the tunnel too (which wasn't...but he didn't know that) Paul said to him “Come on, you've got nowhere else to go so you might as well get up here!" while I was thinking "What ? ........Are you out of your mind ?"

“Look...There’s four of us...if he’s any trouble we just pick him up and invite him to leave........he won’t want to go head first out the door!

“Ok...fair enough”

After all that he got up into the cab and just sat down quietly looking as though he was resigned to whatever was coming next. I thought I’d just end up driving him into New St. Stn. to deliver him into the welcoming arms of the law but by then the police had been given permission to enter the tunnel so we had to stay where we were and wait for them to come to us.

So......after ten minutes of awkward small talk a PC, a WPC, a dog handler and an Alsatian arrived. The PC got straight into the cab and while I was trying to tell him that our 'guest' had been no trouble, he slid past me without a word cuffed the lad and read him his rights there and then.....(hmmm..ok!)

Having walked through half a mile of tunnel the ‘police presence’ decided that riding with us back to New St. Stn. was the best option so now we were left with the problem of getting a large dog up the steps and into the cab......in the dark!

The officer who had made the arrest and yours truly had to pull the Alsatian up by his collar while the WPC and the Dog Handler shoved him up the steps from down at track level. This is when I discovered that being at the 'Pointy End' of a Police Dog while it's backside is being manhandled from below is probably not one of the brightest things you can do! Luckily (well, for me anyway) it was the PC who got the 'playful' nip on the inner thigh while the dog handler got a kick in the face for his trouble during that brief moment when the dog's entire body weight was being supported on its dangly bits. The dog obviously decided that sort of treatment wasn't in the job description and reacted in the only way he knew how......well, who wouldn't ?

Finally we got him inside, but now free from his ‘handler’ all thoughts of duty (and bruised pride) went out of his head when he got wind of the remains of a Bacon sandwich and dived head first into the litter bin ! Eventually we got everyone on board and the Dog Handler (never has a job title been so appropriate) made a grovelling apology to the dog bite victim who was giving him a look that would freeze steam! The 'Fugitive' had up until now been trying very hard not to laugh (probably worrying about the effect it would have on his court case!) but even he had to waive his right to remain silent and give in to it in the end !

Eventually we got everyone on board and they all went back into the luggage area behind the cab. We were finally able to drop down into the platform at Birmingham. When we stopped I opened the cab door just as the big sliding door on the side of the luggage area was opened. To a crowd of gawping passengers the Train Manager jumped out onto the platform, followed by the WPC, followed by the Officer now attached to the lad and followed by the dog now re-attached to his handler.

The whole spectacle reminded me of the scene in 'Butch Cassidy...' when the posse rides out of the train........some days can be SO bizarre!