Halloween trip to Walibi ends with a shoved conductor and a train taken out of service at Brussels-North

A group of young people returning from a Halloween day at the Walibi amusement park caused trouble on two trains on Saturday evening, VRT NWS reports. At around 11 pm the NMBS received a first report of problems on a train bound for Leuven, where local police intervened at the station. According to The Brussels Times, citing HLN, the same group then boarded another train to Brussels. That paper places the incident at around 10.53 pm on train 1544.

On that second train a conductor was surrounded and pushed. According to VRT NWS, the staff member also had wet toilet paper thrown in their face. NMBS spokeswoman Britt Monten speaks of physical aggression. The railway police arrived at Brussels-North, after which the conductor stopped working, which staff are allowed to do after an attack. The train did not continue and passengers had to change. The federal police confirmed that identity checks were carried out, but nobody was arrested. The investigation is ongoing.

Aggression against rail staff remains a major problem, according to Monten: the NMBS deals with an average of seven cases a day, both verbal and physical. The rail company uses security staff and has around 15,000 cameras in stations and trains combined, but says it cannot solve the problem on its own. The NMBS called the behaviour unacceptable and says it is supporting the staff member involved, The Brussels Times writes.