Train stabbing 999 handler was two weeks into job
Shaun Whitmore/BBCAn NHS worker was just two weeks into her new role when she took the first 999 call on the night of a mass stabbing on a train that left 10 people injured.
Nicole Douglas, who works for the East of England Ambulance Service, spoke to a passenger on board the London-bound train and said it quickly became clear there were multiple casualties.
People on the LNER service from Doncaster to London King's Cross were seriously hurt shortly after the train left Peterborough on 1 November and it made an emergency stop in Huntingdon.
"You don't expect to take that kind of call ever, let alone two weeks in, but I think adrenaline was definitely there... it was quite scary," Douglas said.
She said when the call came in on the Saturday evening, it took about 30 seconds to realise they were not dealing with one casualty.
She told BBC Look East's Susie Fowler-Watt: "It went from being a stabbing to [realising] actually this is an active attacker".
She added the protocol which kicked in was one that was "very rarely" used.
Getty ImagesDouglas, who works at a control room in Norwich, qualified as an emergency medical technician in 2020 and had recently returned to the ambulance service after a career break.
"I've seen some traumatic things but to hear it over the phone is a whole different ballgame because they can't see you, you can't see them, it's really hard to build a rapport," she said.
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The team in the control room had to swiftly establish where the moving train was going to stop, so that emergency services and resources could be sent directly to the scene.
"I would never underestimate the job of a call handler again," she added.
"It's such an important job, because you're the first person that ever hears anything about what the crew is going to go to and what the nature of the call is."
Shaun Whitmore/BBCDouglas is now a finalist for Call Taker of the Year in the Control Room Awards 2026. The winners will be announced on 9 July.
She was helped through the call by a mentor who she said "deserves all the recognition as well because actually without him I would not have been able to get through that call".
Anthony Williams was arrested when the train was met by armed police at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.
The 32-year-old, from Langford Road in Peterborough, has been charged with a total of 13 counts of attempted murder, which also relate to other alleged attacks in Peterborough and east London prior to the train incident.
His trial date has been set for October.
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