See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy JAKE HOLDEN, UK NEWS REPORTER Published: 20:14 BST, 28 May 2026 | Updated: 20:15 BST, 28 May 2026
A man was hit and killed by a train after escaping a custody van on the way to court from a police station.The 40-year-old broke out of the van as it had stopped on the A1(M) motorway and ran off this morning, police said.British Transport Police (BTP) officers rushed to the scene to search the surrounding area.They discovered the man's body on train tracks near Welwyn North railway station at 9.40am, just south of Stevenage.Formal identification is yet to take place, but the man's family has been told, Hertfordshire Police confirmed in a joint statement with the BTP.The van had been driving from the custody suite at Stevenage police station when a fight broke out at around 9am.The forces said two members of transport contractor staff were injured 'during an altercation in the van' and had to be taken to hospital for treatment. In light of the man's death following his brief escape, Hertfordshire Police has referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Police swarmed to Welwyn North railway station where the man in his 40s was struck and killed by a train after escaping from a custody van on the way to court from the police station Police said that two transport contractors were injured in a fight in the van that broke out at 9am today before the man escaped. His body was discovered on the tracks at 9.45amA file has also been prepared for the coroner. Police are still working 'to establish the full circumstances and officers will remain in the area while initial investigations continue', a spokesperson said.David Elsdon, 82, was overwhelmed by the number of police swarming his usually quiet village of Digswell nearby. It 'was all a bit of a shock', he told the BBC.'We were just out the front ready to leave for the town and inundated with a number of police cars coming along,' he said.'I think we passed 10 in total before we got out onto the main road.'Thameslink, LNER and Great Northern trains from London through Hertfordshire, Peterborough and Cambridgeshire faced delays earlier, but the line has since reopened.National Rail warned that some trains on the line could still be cancelled. Thameslink confirmed that one of its trains had hit the man and advised those travelling by train to check their routes beforehand due to delays.
