National press wrong to blame us for Tokyo World train danger

Irritated Bristol undergrads have hit back at the national press after claims Tokyo World festival goers were acting irresponsibly and unlawfully.

Hundreds of students ended up on the tracks on Saturday afternoon when a train en route to music festival Tokyo World stopped because of overcrowding.

The story was splashed across numerous national publications and party going Bristolians seem to be taking much of the rap.

The Bristol Post’s first report on the story made no mention of the dangerous overcrowding inside the 2.35pm First Great Western service from Avonmouth to Bristol Temple Meads.

Instead they described the passengers who forced the train to stop as “reckless”.

How the Bristol Post reported the story

While it was dangerous that the students walked down the tracks, many feel disgruntled that they are being branded as criminals rather than victims.

We spoke to some of the people who were on the train on Saturday and asked them whether it was

One Veterinary student said: “The train company should have prepared a lot better knowing that there was a festival on and knowing the train was the main transport to the festival. I wouldn’t blame it on the students at all”.

Other students agreed.

Third year History student Harry said “There was no communication and the train was unbearably packed. The public seems to be misinformed. I read somewhere they’re trying to find out who was on the train, I think that’s ridiculous, I don’t think the people on the train were responsible for what was going on”.

Some newspapers have claimed that students “tried and failed to smash windows” before pulling the emergency cord.

Second year student Thomas said “I saw no one trying to smash windows, the majority of the people on the train were told to leave by the police and those who jumped off originally did so because they were panicking and claustrophobic so pulling the emergency alarm was fair enough”.

Another vet student Laura explained, “It was really disorganised. There were no staff or police at Clifton Down station and with only one train an hour it was always going to be chaos”.