A fight broke put on a Thameslink Brighton to Cambridge train on Thursday night (June 2) after a woman asked a group of boys who were "throwing beer bottles" and "shouting abusive language" to be quiet.
A video uploaded on Twitter and sent to the British Transport Police (BTP), showed the youngsters attempting to attack the woman and her husband, who had been travelling with their two children.
An article in The Mirror online, (https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mass-brawl-erupts-train-before-27138474) said the woman had been the first to challenge the youngsters as they were using abusive language and throwing bottles around.
After they verbally abused her, her husband allegedly smacked one of them, after which a brawl ensued whereby the group attacked the couple.
Passenger, 20-year-old Summer Thomas filmed the argument, at around 10.10pm, and posted it on Twitter, tagging the BTP and the Met Police and asking if anyone recognised any of the boys.
Ms Thomas told The Mirror the fight escalated until the boys were "pulling knives out and threatening to stab everyone on the train".
WARNING: ABUSIVE LANGUAGE
Video credit: Summer Thomas
She added:
"They were shouting abusive language, calling people the C word, chanting and just picking fights with anyone. They clearly wanted to start trouble.
"There were two children in the same carriage, a family, so the mum of two kids went over to tell them to be quiet because they were swearing. She said it was really embarrassing and that she just wanted to get home peacefully.
"They started shouting at her, calling her the C word, that's when her husband walked over and gave the main instigator of the group a smack for swearing at his wife. That's when I started recording."
Ms Thomas continued:
"When I stopped recording the fight was broken up, but then they started threatening to stab everyone on the train and pulling knives out.
"People were on the phone to police but no officers were turning up. Someone had knocked on the driver's door. People were trying to find the emergency handle but no one could find anything.
"All of the boys got off the train at Three Bridges but one couldn't find their phone, and was saying to people that if they had his phone they would get stabbed, but no one knew where it was."
The BTP said they had logged the incident and were looking into it.
The boys eventually disembarked the train at Three Bridges in Crawley.
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