Train Attack Driver Had '10 Seconds' to Change Line

Andrew Johnson was driving the London-bound LNER service on 1 November last year when the train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. Johnson told jurors at Cambridge Crown Court he heard someone on the intercom "screaming 'there's a knifeman stabbing people'".

Johnson said the train was travelling at 122mph (196km/h) when the alarm sounded, indicating someone was trying to open a passenger door. He had five seconds to override the alarm or the train would have stopped immediately. He initially thought it was someone "messing around".

After hearing the intercom message about a knifeman, Johnson decided to get the train to a platform. He had "probably about 10 seconds" to switch to the slow line, which he did instinctively. He pressed the urgent button and told a signaller to get him to Huntingdon and the police.

Upon arriving at Huntingdon at 19:44 GMT, Johnson had to override the system to open the doors because it was not a programmed stop. He saw passengers on the platform who "sprinted like I'd never seen before". Johnson never had sight of Anthony Williams, who is accused of the attack.

Anthony Williams, 33, of Peterborough, denies 10 counts of attempted murder on the train. He is also charged with four other attempted murders following earlier incidents in Peterborough and London. Prosecutors allege that on 31 October he tried to kill three people in Peterborough and a teenager on a DLR train in east London. The court has been told that Williams carried out the attacks, but jurors must consider whether he intended to kill.