Man arrested over Southgate tube station explosion

A man has been arrested after five people were hurt in a small explosion on Tuesday night at Southgate tube station in north London.

The 23-year-old from Enfield is suspected of “an act likely to cause an explosion to injure or damage property, and endangering safety on the railway”, according to a statement by British Transport Police.

He has been released under investigation pending further inquiries.

Three people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, and two more were taken to hospital.

Scotland Yard said it appeared the cause of the minor explosion was a battery short circuit.

A London ambulance service spokeswoman said: “We were called today at 7.02pm to an incident at Station Parade, N14. We sent multiple resources to the scene, including a number of ambulance crews, our hazardous area response team, a medic in a fast response car, an advanced paramedic and an incident response officer.”

James Ayton, 34, from Southgate, told the Press Association he was on the escalator when he saw a burst of flames at the top. He said the flames were “six-foot-plus” and that people fled. Ayton said: “It wasn’t a bang. It was like a very rapid whooshing sound.”

He said the escalator was packed because passengers had just alighted from a train. Ayton said: “A few people got trampled on the escalator. There was screaming. An old woman got trampled on. I had to carry a woman up the stairs. I think she was in shock, to be honest. She couldn’t walk, shaking.”

He said he saw a tube worker pick something up that was on fire and extinguish it, but he added: “I think that was secondary rather than the cause.”

Police advised people to avoid the area around the station. First reports to police said a suspicious noise came from inside Southgate tube station.

The Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command was initially brought in to help with the investigation. But British Transport Police said soon after that announcement that it did not believe the explosion was related to terrorism.

Repeated warnings about the severity of the terrorist threat after a series of attacks in Britain last year means there is now huge attention on such reported incidents.