Terrified star Roxanne Pallett tells of train thugs ordeal

Former Emmerdale star Roxanne Pallett today said she feared she would be savaged as train thugs terrorised her with a dog on a journey through Shropshire.

The 29-year-old star said she had 'never been so frightened' as a gang pinned her in a carriage and threatened to use a Staffordshire bull terrier to attack her.

The terrified actress described how she pulled the emergency cord in the carriage, adding: "I thought I was going to be bitten, beaten up or stabbed."

The incident happened on board an Arriva Trains Wales service from Carmarthen to Manchester Piccadilly on Monday afternoon.

Three thugs – all in their 20s and one of them female – began harassing the star after boarding the train at Craven Arms. They fled the train at Shrewsbury Station after Miss Pallett pulled the emergency cord.

The former Dancing on Ice contestant, who was on the train travelling home to Manchester after filming an episode of BBC1's Casualty, said: "They went mental. One picked up the dog and gestured that he was going to throw it at me.

"The others were just laughing and saying, 'Go on, get her . . . throw the dog at her'. He was thrusting it at me – using it like a weapon."

Miss Pallett added that when the conductor arrived in the carriage after she had pulled the cord he told her the assailants, who had fled the train, were known 'troublemakers and fare dodgers'.

The BTP has launched a probe into the incident. Anyone with information can call 0800 405040.

See also:

• TV star Roxanne Pallett’s Shrewsbury rail attack terror