The kindness of strangers: on an emptied train carriage, a man rubbed his hand on my thigh then another passenger intervened

"Completely focused on me, he told me he loved my hair, admired my clothes, asked me where I was from and then started to rub his hand up and down my thigh. Scared, I tried to stand up, but he pushed his hand down hard on my leg to stop me, his other hand moving to my shoulder."

"That young man plonked himself opposite me and cheerfully said: Hey, Mandy, how are you? I haven't seen you in forever how's uni? My name is Alison, not Mandy, and I attended drama school, not university. Just as I was thinking there was a second lunatic on the train, I registered that the young man was smiling and nodding encouragingly as he spoke. Then the lightbulb went off. I realised what he was doing throwing me a life raft."

"As the conversation continued, the hand was withdrawn from my leg and I felt the man next to me move away a little. Eventually, he got up and walked to the other end of the carriage, leaving me to chat with my pretend schoolmate. As that happened, the train pulled up at my station."

A 19-year-old drama student experienced sexual assault on a train when an older man sat beside her, complimented her appearance, and began touching her leg without consent. When she attempted to stand, he forcibly restrained her. A young man walking through the carriage recognized the dangerous situation and intervened by sitting opposite her and engaging her in a fabricated conversation about university, pretending they were old schoolmates. His deliberate actions and encouraging demeanor signaled to the victim that he understood what was happening. As the conversation continued, the assailant withdrew his hand and moved away. The victim escaped at her station and watched the train depart, attempting to thank her rescuer through the window.

Read at www.theguardian.com