A RAIL passenger has described feeling “real fear” as hundreds of people packed on to a train heading from Manchester to Bolton.

Mark Fry and his wife were heading back from a night out in Manchester to their home in Blackrod when they were squashed on to a train bound for Blackpool North.

The couple were forced to spend the entire journey trapped in the train’s small toilet.

The 43-year-old said: “I have never experienced anything like it, people were panicking and others were crying as more people crammed on — there was so much tension in the atmosphere and children were being squashed.”

Mr Fry claims that the problem was caused because of a lack of staff at Manchester Victoria.

He said: “There was nobody checking tickets, everyone was fending for themselves, it was bizarre and when we got to Bolton, literally hundreds of people got off the train — there was definitely a point where I thought someone could have got killed, we were like sheep in a pen and myself and my wife were forced into the toilet, we had no choice.”

On the day of the incident, the Rugby League World Cup final was held at Old Trafford on November 30.

This meant that thousands of fans flocked to Manchester and this combined with the start of the Christmas shopping period led to many more rail passengers. A spokesman for Northern Rail said they had made extra provisions.

A statement read: “We planned for, and provided, more than 6,000 extra seats to services in and out of Manchester to cater for Christmas shoppers and sports fans. We know that some people were unable to get onto their preferred train and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

“We will continue doing everything we can to provide as much capacity as possible with the fleet of trains we have.”

The Bolton News has launched a campaign to reinstate axed carriages from our overcrowded rail services.