by A rush-hour rail passenger this week made his way down into the middle of an otherwise packed train to allow fellow commuters to board, Newsarse has learned.
In a scene that might have been straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster, his quick thinking and heroic actions led to literally six more people boarding the morning train at Southall on the busy Reading to London Paddington service.
“Normally you can’t even get on the train,” said regular commuter Trevor McSingh.
“I thought I was going to be late to work, but then this man, with acres of space to himself already, moved even further into the middle of the car to let us on.”
“In all my years I’d never seen anything quite like it. I still tear up now just thinking about it.”
Movement
According to other passengers, the guard on platform asked people standing in the crowded area by the doors to move down inside the car, upon which a man not only acknowledged the request, but went to stand in a more convenient place, removing his bulky rucksack as he did so.
The platform guard from that day told us, “It was strange, it was almost as if he could actually hear the words coming out of my mouth.”
Commuters have already launched a Facebook group to track down the man, who is in his late twenties and is not thought to be British.
A fan-site, called “Movedown Man – We Just Want To Say Thanks”, already has three thousand members and is likely to spawn a book deal.
A spokesman for First Great Western trains hoped the idea would catch on, but added: “On the assumption this was an anomaly we’re still instructing our staff to bang on the windows like monkeys at a drive-through safari park.”
