Newcastle Metro passenger uses 'Kung Fu moves' to stop woman being attacked

When a man on his way home from a martial arts class saw a woman being followed onto a train he used his Kung Fu skills to defend her.

Tony Pinkerton, 60, was travelling home from the class in Newcastle City Centre at around 9pm on 8 March when he saw a woman being followed by a man onto the metro train at Wallsend.

He then stepped in to defend the woman when the man began to attack the woman.

Mr Pinkerton said: "This young guy started to get really aggressive.

"The vein in his neck was sticking out, his face was going red. The woman was screaming down the phone to the police.

He added: "He lunged at her and kicked her and I stood up and got in between the pair of them. He said: 'Don't be getting involved old man because I will smack you out.'

"I said: 'You're not going to be punching anybody else today and if you do go for me, you're going to get a fright.'"

Mr Pinkerton said as the man pulled back his arm to punch him, he managed to block it and prevented him from kicking the woman, who was on the phone to the police.

"I used some of my Kung Fu moves," Mr Pinkerton said.

"When he went to kick her, I stopped that and then he went to swing for me and I blocked that.

He added: "He seemed surprised that I had intervened and began pressing the buttons on the doors to get off at North Shields.

"I told the woman to stay on the phone to the police because he was going to be leaving in a minute."

The man got off at North Shields, and Mr Pinkerton made sure he did not get back on the train before resuming his journey to Tynemouth, which was also the woman's stop.

"I'm not Mr Tough Guy - I just thought how would I have felt if she had been badly injured and I did nothing," he said.

"I felt I had to do something."

Kevin Storey, Metro operations director, said that Nexus works with Northumbria Police to target anti-social behaviour and said that it has its own security team that patrol trains day and night.

He said: “This was a disturbance that spilled over onto a Metro train.

“We are determined to ensure that Metro is safe and secure for our customers and staff. This is our top priority."

He added: “Annually Nexus already spends £1.2m on a dedicated police unit for Metro, and we have put a further £1.2m into our dedicated security team. We have invested £4m in improved CCTV and issued body-worn cameras to our frontline staff.

“Northumbria Police is also running Operation Maple in North Tyneside, which will see more officers on Metro, this will involve high visibility patrols and more officers on board the trains in plain clothes."

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