Video footage captures the moment a group of angry passengers form an alliance to stop a train from departing when ‘jobsworths staff’ won’t let them on – despite arriving ‘after the final whistle had blown’.
The disgruntled group – which included Lou Monrow and her wheelchair-using mother Susan Hackett, 64, – reached their platform at Manchester Piccadilly to find the doors ‘turned off’.
Lou, 34, says they and ‘four others’ were told they’d arrived too late and so they took matters into their own hands with one man ‘staging a protest’ while Lou and the others ‘passionately’ argued with station staff.
Footage shot on September 7 shows the man stopping the train moving by standing with one foot on the Transport for Wales carriage’s step and the other on the platform as he declares ‘we are here at 9.30pm and we are early’.
A member of station staff walks over to tell them ‘you’ve missed the train’ and adds ‘they did the second whistle as you were running down’ once they argue back.’
The man keeps his foot on the door to continue the argument with another worker while Susan, 64, and Lou shout ‘just let us on the train’ and ‘why can’t we get on the train?’.
Staff tell the pair there are other trains later that night but Lou, who had tickets for that specific 9.30pm train, asks the woman ‘are you going to pay for our fine’?.
Lou says the group were allowed onto the service ’15 minutes’ after the protest began, despite rowing with staff for so long.
The model, who was travelling to Crewe, claims the Network Rail staff at the station were ‘jobsworths’ and that she supported the angry man’s ‘protest’.
The model shared her chaotic clip on TikTok where it’s been viewed more than 1.2 million times – splitting users over whether the group had ‘missed the train’ or not.
Lou, from Reading, Berkshire, said: ‘They were jobsworths and should have let us on the train.
‘When we got to the train they turned the doors off.
‘I’m not normally someone who films that stuff because I’m not into drama but the man standing at the train told me to start recording.
‘He had his foot on the train and I think it was like a protest to say ‘we will get on the train’.
‘I back what he did 100 per cent because he just wanted to get home as well.
‘They kept saying we’d missed the train but we hadn’t because it was right there.
‘I think they thought we were being aggressive but I don’t think that comes across in the video.
‘I was quite hungry, it was getting cold and I just wanted to get my mum home safe.
‘[They] were telling us to go to the pub for another drink and get the next one but we couldn’t because we’d have had to buy another ticket.
‘They delayed the other passengers by 15 minutes because we were basically arguing. I don’t think it was disrespectful but it was passionate.
‘When I rewatched the video I noticed my mum was completely ignored in all of that conversation. I wonder if it was because she’s in a wheelchair.
‘At one point they just opened the doors and we all got on so we were saying “what was all that about?”.
‘As long as you’re on the platform I think you should be allowed on.
‘When they let us on it felt like there’d been all that commotion for nothing.
‘I understand protocol and safety but it wasn’t just me and my mum. There were five or six people there.’
Lou, who lives in Alsager, Cheshire, says she arrived at the station five minutes before the train was due to leave but spent the time pushing her mother to the platform.
She insists platform staff have stopped trains from leaving when she’s been on the last minute before.
In response to online criticism, Lou said: ‘Trolls don’t generally have empathy or life experience where they can put themselves in our shoes.
‘I think people should mind their own business.’
She captioned the viral video ‘this is the most ridiculous thing in the entire world’.
One commented: ‘You missed the train [face palm emoji].’
Lou responded: ‘I don’t think people know what logic is. Also why did the ticket people let us through?’
However one agreed with Lou and said: ‘The amount of time arguing they could have all been on it and halfway to the next station.’
A Network Rail spokesperson said: ‘We are sorry to the passengers for their experience. We have a policy in place where doors close 45 seconds before departure to make sure services run on time.
‘The passengers arrived just before the departure time and our station team were following protocol, advising they can’t board the train as it’s about to leave.
‘The whistle had already been given to signal departure. Safety is our top priority, and we take every precaution to uphold it rigorously.’
Transport for Wales declined to comment, while the British Transport Police and Network Rail, who operate Manchester Piccadilly station, have been contacted for comment.