Police swarmed a London overground train station to tackle a “serious incident”. Passengers were quickly evacuated as an emergency alarm sounded through the building.
Travel chaos was expected as trains weren’t able to call at the station, National Rail confirmed.
A huge cordon was erected around the busy North London station as emergency services rushed to the scene.
Eyewitnesses have claimed that Metropolitan Police officers are “kicking down a door” in the station, however, these reports are unconfirmed. Another eyewitness took to X, formerly Twitter, and said the incident appeared to be “serious”.
A spokesperson for National Rail said on X: “NEW: Trains are currently unable to call at #WestHampstead due to the police dealing with an incident at the station.”
A spokesperson from the British Transport Police told Express.co.uk that a man has been arrested for arson and two officers suffered smoke inhalation as a result of the incident.
They said: “At 3.31pm today (Saturday 9 March 2024) British Transport Police officers were called to an incident of anti-social behaviour at West Hampstead Station.
“A man has been arrested on suspicion of arson and taken into custody.
“A small fire was contained, and two officers suffered mild smoke inhalation.”
They added: “Other than a short delay, trains continued running throughout the incident.”
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https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1875639/West-Hampstead-incident-latest-london-overground
