http://twitter.com/#!/freudhasdreams2/statuses/52469111279730688
It’s not clear exactly what happened, and I’m sure others will fill in the story later, but as I type the Kent-bound platform at Westcombe Park is closed, and about half-an-hour ago I saw a policeman retrieve a kitchen knife from the track. Hopefully it isn’t a serious incident.
All of which prompts me to ask – when was the last time you saw police or security guards on a Southeastern train after 8pm? Maybe twice in the past year, for me – and one of those was New Year’s Eve.
11:05PM UPDATE: Thanks to Michael Ephraim, who tells me via Twitter: “I was on the train. A gang of youths were fighting and one of them a big kitchen knife. not what I was expecting on the way home.”
Well I would have been absolutely terrified to get caught up in something like that on my way home. Grim.
As I Tweeted last night, in light of this incident it’s not very encouraging to know that Westcombe Park’s local police station is essentially an office area of some description, not a public-facing station. Even then, it’s in such a poor state of overgrowth and external disrepair that it looks like it’s completely out of action.
If anyone *had* information about a crime, needed to make a plea for help, or had some lost property to hand in, they have to go elsewhere. Nearest stations are at least 30mins walk away – hardly convenient or confidence-inspiring.
[…] there was the incident a couple of nights ago at the local train station, with trains diverted while a knife was apparently recovered from the tracks. It’s not terribly encouraging to know that quite a nasty fight apparently took place in […]
Interested in what Abstractnoise has to say about the general state of Westcombe Park Station – about which I could write several very large volumes!!! Can I encourage Abstractnoise to contact me (mary.mills@greenwich.gov.uk) if he/she is not already one of the regulars on this subject.
Here’s an article about it from the News Shopper website:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8939531.Teenager_injured_after_fight_on_train_near_Westcombe_Park/
Teenager injured after fight on Cannon Street to Dartford train
Lets be clearer – both the police station and the railway station