Barber Questions If Train Stabbing Could have Been Prevented

A Peterborough barber says police failed to act on warnings before a man later carried out a stabbing on an LNER train from Doncaster to London, injuring 10 people.

sarah

Nov 8, 2025 - 20:21

Barber Questions If Train Stabbing Could have Been Prevented

Staff members had come face-to-face with the man believed to be responsible for the stabbing incident on an LNER service from Doncaster to London King's Cross on Saturday, November 1, which left 10 people injured and requiring hospital treatment.

A barber shop owner, who had two encounters with a man wielding a knife, has questioned whether the stabbing incident in Huntingdon last Saturday could have been prevented if police had taken his concerns seriously.

This comes after members of staff at his barber shop came face-to-face with the man believed to be responsible for the train stabbing incident, which left 10 people injured and requiring hospital treatment.

Ibrahim Vanas, owner of Ritzy Barbers in Peterborough, said: "It didn't really sink in until several days later that we could have been victims too."

CCTV footage shows a man standing outside the barber shop on Friday evening before entering, brandishing a knife and terrifying staff members and customers in the shop.

Members of the Ritzy team can be seen running to the back of the shop trying to escape the man with the knife.

By the time Cambridgeshire Police arrived 20 minutes later, he was gone, and it wasn't until Sunday, two days after the initial call, that police themselves came to view the CCTV.

Ibrahim said: "That's when I think they realised it could be the same man. And that's when we realised that, yes, we could have been in that situation too."

"I feel like we weren't taken seriously."

He added: "It weighs quite heavily on us as a team because we feel that if they had taken us seriously, would they have been able to stop that man? And would that man have been in custody? That's what bothers us because the police didn't come quickly enough to respond in time." "Because if they had reacted differently, would the outcome have been different? Would he perhaps have gotten angry at them for responding?"

"It was just a shock because everyone was suddenly taken aback."

Members of the Ritz team could be seen running to the back of the shop to try and escape the man with the knife.

Ibrahim says: "I'm very proud of them because they handled it in the best way possible."

"Because if they had reacted differently, would the outcome have been different? Would he perhaps have gotten angry at them for responding?"

"It was just a shock because everyone was suddenly taken aback."

British Transport Police say they are now trying to establish whether three separate incidents in Peterborough before the attack on the Doncaster to London King's Cross LNER service at 6:25 pm on Saturday are linked.

Ibrahim says he wasn't in the shop at the time of the incident on Friday evening, and received a call from a member of his team who told him what had happened.

He says: "I thought the lads were joking with me because that's the kind of relationship we have in the shop... and it was also Halloween."

But he says the tone of the staff member's voice made him realize it was "serious".

He says: "So I went straight to the shop." Ibrahim says that after speaking to his staff and reviewing the CCTV footage, he called the police about 90 minutes later.

But because the suspect was no longer there, the police didn't arrive until the next day – when the alleged attacker returned.

By the time Cambridgeshire Police arrived 20 minutes later, he was gone, and it wasn't until Sunday, two days after the initial call, that the police themselves came to view the CCTV footage.

Ibrahim says: "That's when I think they realized it could be the same man. And we also realized that, yes, we could have been in that situation too."

"I feel like we weren't taken seriously." He further adds, "This weighs heavily on us as a team, because we feel that if they had taken us seriously, would they have been able to stop that man? And would that man be in custody? This bothers us because the police didn't respond quickly enough."