A mum has been left horrified after a Northern Rail conductor allegedly threw her 15-year-old son off a train on his way to school.
Jennifer Hurrell, the mother of teenager Marley, said he boarded the Wigan train at Appleby Bridge with his twin sister Milly at 8.30am on Wednesday after buying their tickets on the Trainline app.
However, due to a poor wifi connection at one of the stations Marley was unable to show the ticket inspector his virtual ticket.
Following this development, the Northern Rail conductor can allegedly be seen pulling Marley and aggressively throwing him off the train as he tries to show the digital ticket to the conductor.
The entire shocking incident was captured in footage taken by Milly.
In the footage, Marley can be heard telling the conductor to not touch him and to get off him immediately as he appears to grab at his coat and shove him off the train.
The conductor can also be heard saying: “Off my train now. I asked you politely. On camera, I asked you politely.” At the end of the footage, Marley can be seen pushing the train conductor.
Speaking to the Echo about the incident, Ms Hurrell said: “It was absolutely shocking. Just brutal force, not even trying to guide him off.
“You can see Marley trying to load up his ticket – you can clearly see him doing it in the video. He wasn’t getting mad. But (the conductor) just picked him up and chucked him off the train.”
Ms Hurrell added: “They were stuck at the train station and Milly rang me crying, saying please come and pick us up.
“I don’t know what to do now because they get the train every day, but I don’t want them on the train if they’re going to come up against him.
“I’ve contacted Northern but there’s nothing being done right now, it’s a process. I’m worried now about letting them go on the train.
“I felt absolutely so shaken up. I was so upset and shaken. There was no need for it at all. It was shocking, and I feel even worse having contacted the police because they didn’t seem interested.”
Ms Hurrell said she was instructed to contact the British Transport Police and also reported the incident to Northern Rail.
She said that Marley had been severely shaken up by the incident and that the conductor “should not be working in a place like that if he is going to treat minors this way”.
She explained: “Marley is really shook up. Usually, he is a confident lad but he was really shocked.
“He didn’t expect it for one second. He’s worried about getting the train again and bumping into him.”
In a statement, the regional director for Northern Craig Harrop said: “We are aware of the incident at Gathurst station on Wednesday 22 November and have seen the footage that has been shared on social media.
“We are in the process of conducting an internal investigation and have already spoken to the conductor of the service in question and will be reviewing the CCTV footage from the station.”
A spokesperson for the British Transport Police added: “Officers are currently investigating reports of an assault on board a Northern Rail service toward Wigan in the morning of Wednesday, November 22.
“Enquiries into this incident are ongoing, with BTP liaising with Northern Rail. Anyone with information is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40, quoting reference 328 of November 22 2023.”
