'A man got attacked and nobody responded to the alarm'

Renée Alleyne witnessed an attack on a man in a DLR carriage at Stratford Station on 22 August

"I heard these young women just screaming, 'get off him, get off him'. I could see these two men violently kicking and punching another man that was on the floor.

"All I kept thinking was just stop the train so we can get these men off that other man."

Renée Alleyne recently witnessed an attack on a man in a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) carriage at Stratford Station.

But she told the BBC that no one stepped in to help, despite the alarm being raised from an emergency panel.

"I kept pressing the alarm," she said.

"We were shouting and waving down the platform for the man to help and nothing. There was no response on the alarm.

"The member of staff didn't act and I just saw the train doors closing.

"It was like something out of a horror film."

Siwan Hayward, Transport for London's (TfL) director for security, policing and enforcement, said: "It appears the customer's call through the help point was answered but there were difficulties in communicating because of the level of noise at the station."

TfL said Renée's call was answered but there were difficulties communicating because of noise at the station

Ms Alleyne, from Newham, told BBC London even when the train left the station, she continued trying to get help, but got no response.

"We found a member of staff who was waiting further down the platform and he said to go speak to colleagues behind him, in the main atrium, and that's where we could see those two other members of TfL staff and two police officers," she said.

She then got help from the police, but said she was so upset about what happened she took to social media to vent her frustrations and her post was viewed by thousands.

The British Transport Police (BTP) said they were called to Stratford International DLR at around 22:00 (BST) on Friday 22 August following reports of an assault. Officers attended but both the victim and suspect had left the scene.

Ms Alleyne added that improvements could be made, including a clearer procedure of which alarm to press, or if an alarm is pressed that it gets responded to, and to ensure staff are better equipped to respond to an emergency.

Ms Hayward, who responded on behalf on TfL, said: "Everyone should be safe and feel safe when travelling in London and we're very sorry for the experience that our customer had when seeking help at one of our stations.

"We are supporting the British Transport Police in their investigation – which is underway.

"We have tested the help point at Stratford and can confirm it is working.

"We train our staff to support customers and to help report incidents to the police and this should have happened during this incident in Stratford. We are carrying out further investigations."

The BTP has since released images following the assault

On Friday, BTP officers released CCTV images of men they said they would like to speak to regarding an alleged assault on board a DLR train approaching Stratford International Station.

Anyone with information that could help the investigation was asked to contact the BTP.