Armed police officers evacuated and searched a London Underground train on the Central Line on Wednesday morning following a report of a man with a firearm. The train was met by armed officers at Stratford station, where passengers were removed and the carriage was searched. No firearm was found, and no one matching the description was located.
Incident During Rush Hour
British Transport Police (BTP) received a report of a man with a firearm on board a Central Line train at 7.44am on 12 August. The incident occurred during the morning rush hour commute on the line, which runs from West London to East London. The exact location of the report was not specified, but officers were deployed to Stratford to meet the train.
One passenger wrote on X: "My central line train @TfL has just been evacuated with all these armed police looking for someone with a weapon…. Great." Another user posted: "Armed police patrolling the platforms at Stratford station."
Search and Ongoing Enquiries
Officers evacuated the train and searched it for the firearm and the man described in the report, but did not find anything. Further enquiries are being carried out into the initial report made to BTP, with the investigation ongoing.
A BTP spokesperson said: "We received a report of a man with a firearm on board a Central Line train at 7.44am today (12 August). The train was met by armed officers at Stratford station where it was evacuated and searched. No firearms were found, nor anyone matching the description. Enquiries into the report are ongoing."
Minor Delays on Central Line
Transport for London (TfL) confirmed the incident caused minor delays on the Central Line heading eastbound. In an update on its website, TfL said: "Minor delays eastbound between North Acton and Leytonstone due to an earlier police investigation and minor delays North Acton to Ealing Broadway / West Ruislip and Leytonstone to Epping / Hainault due to train cancellations. Good service on the rest of the line."
