Mother's horror as nine-year-old left on railway platform in the dark

A mother has spoken of her horror as she became stuck on a train after the door broke and her nine-year-old daughter was left alone in the dark on a railway platform.

The Daily Mail reports that Stephanie Richards claims her daughter Eve was stranded at Gowerton Railway Station in South Wales when the conductor refused to stop the train and go back.

She says they were returning from a family day out in Cardiff and were using different doors to get off the train because a food trolley had blocked the aisle between them.

Eve got off but her mother was stuck on the train for another seven miles until the next stop in Llanelli.

According to This is South Wales, Miss Richards claims the conductor refused to take the 18.04 train back to Gowerton, meaning she was forced to continue to Llanelli, leaving her daughter stranded.

Miss Richards said: 'We got the train from Cardiff to Gowerton, and my daughter saw a friend sitting a few rows behind us, so went to talk to them. As we were approaching Gowerton, I said to my daughter to come to me so we could get off together.'

'I asked if the man could move the trolley so she could come through, and he said no, and told us we'd have to use different exits,' she claims.

'We used different exits, and as we were pressing the buttons to get off at our exit, they wouldn't open. We then squeezed past the trolley to try the other doors, when the train started moving.'

'It's such a dark area where the station is in Gowerton, I think I went into a panic,' Miss Richards said.

'I did not know what to do, I was thinking of the danger of a 9-year-old girl in darkness in the middle of nowhere near a train line, strangers who could have abducted her.

'I asked the guy using the trolley to go and stop the train, or to see the conductor, but he told me it wasn't his job, and that he just served food.'

Miss Richards was eventually reunited with her daughter after a couple contacted her saying they were looking after her.

A spokesman for Arriva Trains Wales, which operates the service, said: 'We apologise for any inconvenience or upset caused to Miss Richards and her daughter.

'Our customer services department has received her complaint, and is carrying out a full investigation in line with our complaints procedure and will respond to Miss Richards directly.'

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