Sex predator takes advantage of Elizabeth line chaos to assault commuter on packed train while passengers were trapped in coaches for hours

A sex predator allegedly groped a fellow passenger during the Elizabeth line chaos last night after taking advantage of the train being plunged into darkness.

Travellers were stuck on the pitch black and cold carriages for four hours after damage to overhead electric cables in the Ladbroke Grove area of West London.

And a policeman told passengers at the scene that there had been a 'few incidents' including detectives arresting one person on suspicion of sexual touching.

The officer added that the process of getting everyone off the train had been delayed 'because someone decided that they wanted to touch someone up'.

Two people were injured when thousands of passengers including James Blunt and Rachel Riley were stuck on packed trains in the evening rush hour without power.

Passenger Jacek Broniszewski tweeted a video of an officer telling the frustrated passengers that they would soon be evacuated to the nearby North Pole Depot.

The officer said: 'We haven't just left you, I appreciate that's… unfortunately we've had a few incidents. We've had one arrest of sexual touching and things like that.

'So things have taken longer than possibly what they should have done because someone decided that they wanted to touch someone up.'

Accompanying the video, Mr Broniszewski said: 'Stuck on an Elizabeth line train for three hours, we were promised 'buses and taxis'. All seemed like official protocol.

'After finally being let out, turned out there was no transport provided and we were stranded alone. Quite the mess. Also told of arrests for 'sexual touching'.'

Mikey Worrall posted footage of passengers in the dark and said they were opening up the doors to get onto the line, adding: 'The Mayor of London needs to sort it out.'

He said the rush hour service lurched to a stop before a multiple-hour wait in semi-darkness as the driver drip-fed what little information they had to passengers.

Eventually, the battery backup running the heating and lighting ran out, and those on board were left in darkness for another hour and a half until the evacuation came.

MailOnline has contacted Scotland Yard and British Transport Police for more details about any arrests relating to the incident last night.

A London Ambulance Service spokesman told MailOnline: 'We were called at 7.38pm yesterday to reports of a large number of passengers delayed on trains between Paddington and Ladbroke Grove, west London.

'We sent a number of resources to the scene including an ambulance crew, a paramedic in a fast response car, an incident response officer and members of our Hazardous Area Response Team.

'We treated two patients for minor injuries and discharged them at the scene.'

It comes after worrying new TfL data revealed last week that crime on the Tube had skyrocketed by 56 per cent in a year, fuelled by a major rise in theft and robberies.

The number of crimes committed between April and September this year across the Underground network was 10,836, compared with 6,924 in the same period in 2022.

It included an 83 per cent rise in the number of thefts recorded from 2,935 in 2022 to 5,378 this year. The number of robberies soared 107 per cent from 164 to 340.

Muggers are said to be targeting young London Underground passengers for their expensive Canada Goose and North Face winter coats worth up to £1,500.