Royal Navy veteran named as brave driver whose quick-thinking saved lives during train stabbing
A Royal Navy veteran has been named as the brave driver whose quick-thinking saved the lives of passengers on the train he was driving.
Peterborough man, Andrew Johnson, diverted the train heading to London to Huntingdon station within minutes of being told about the mass stabbing on Saturday’s 6.25pm service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross.
His actions have been praised after allowing a swift response for emergency services which helped to prevent the horror incident escalating. Ten people were taken to hospital with five having since been discharged.
Mr Johnson is understood to have finished his career as a Chief Petty Officer and worked as a weapons engineer. He had served in the Royal Navy for 17 years and deployed to Iraq in 2003 during the second Gulf War.
The veteran is believed to have served aboard a ship during the Iraq War. Mr Johnson was fundraising for the Royal British Legion at Waitrose supermarket just days before the attack.
Mr Johnson, who is understood to have been working as a train driver since 2018, said: “I was only doing my job. It was my colleague who is in hospital who was the brave one.”
Nigel Roebuck, full-time organiser in the north-east of England for the train drivers’ union Aslef and lead officer with LNER, said: “The driver did everything he was trained to do, at the right time and in the right way.
“He showed real courage, real dedication, and real determination in the most difficult of circumstances. Our thoughts tonight are with his colleague who is still in intensive care.”
Anthony Williams, 32, from Peterborough, has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm and one count of possession of bladed article following a knife attack on a train in Cambridgeshire on Saturday, British Transport Police said.
A 35-year-old man from London who was also detained has been released with no further action after officers established he was not involved.