South Wales Echo


CHAOS broke out when around 700 passengers were stranded on a train.

A heavily pregnant woman was rushed to hospital and 10 people needed oxygen during the two hour ordeal, which started when someone pulled the emergency cord minutes after leaving Cardiff Central.

Passengers unable to bear the conditions on the train:

* smashed windows

* wandered around the train tracks

* had to be rescued from the toilets


* and tried to steal from the buffet car.


The train was packed with fans leaving the Noise and Confusion all-day music festival at the Millennium Stadium.


Peter Jones, 35, a dad-of-two from Bridgend, who had been to see Oasis for the first time described the conditions on the train.


The factory worker said: "We were rammed in there like sardines.


"People couldn't breathe or move, and it was so hot. Some were breaking windows and running around on the track.


"It was terrible, completely unbelievable."


The 480-seater train stopped at Canton, Cardiff, when an emergency door was opened and the stop cord was pulled, automatically activating the brakes. The lines were closed for two hours.


A firefighter accompanied a heavily-pregnant woman off the train and took her to hospital and emergency services freed five people from train toilets. The train's progress was also hampered by an attempted theft from the buffet car.


And when the driver tried to get the train moving again, passengers onboard repeatedly pulled emergency cords.


A spokesman for train operator First Great Western said: "We will investigate what caused the delay and how we can ensure the situation is not repeated.