The victim of an assault on a train pulled the communication cord - but says no one came to help him.

Bradley Long, 32, is furious he was left to fend off a gang of 11 youths despite raising the alarm as he took a volley of punches.

He suffered cuts and bruises to his face during the attack by two or three of the youths on the late-night Hove to Worthing service.

Only last week South Central rejected calls for tighter security on its trains, assuring worried rail users: "If anyone feels concerned about the behaviour of other passengers, they should pull the emergency cord."

Mr Long said when he took their advice, no one came to find out why the emergency alarm had been pulled. The train stopped but set off again a few minutes later.

Mr Long and his partner had stopped to change trains as they made their way home to Worthing after a night out in Brighton.

The trouble began at Hove station when the gang appeared on the platform.

Mr Long, of Queens Street,Worthing, said: "They started pushing people about on the platform and when we got on the train, the whole lot of them came flying down the carriage.

"They upset a lot of people in the carriage and then they turned on me.

"They started trying to grab my phone off me. I told my partner to stand back.

"Then two or three of them laid into me. That is when I pulled the emergency cord.

"They all jumped off the train at Shoreham when the train stopped. I waited for somebody to come but the train started moving again."

When he reported it to station staff at Worthing, he was told to contact the police.

"I reported it to British Transport Police and they said they were going to look into why nobody came.

"What if it had been a pensioner having a heart attack, or if I had been stabbed or someone was being raped?

"They couldn't have known why I pulled the emergency cord.

"All I have taken is a couple of smacks off a bunch of kids but driver and the guard were.

"When I called 999, the police were very interested in taking my name and address down but I was expecting them to be waiting at the station for me.

"From their point of view, an assault like this is probably not at the top of their priorities on a busy Saturday night but why did none of the train staff help me?

"What is the point of the emergency cord if no one is going to come to help you in an emergency?"

PC Bob Drake said: "These youths got off the train at Shoreham so CCTV videos there will be used with a view to making an identification.

"If they got on the train at Hove, then we will have videos of them going through the ticket barrie rwhich can be circulated to our intelligence departments and to Sussex Police."

The attack was reported to the British Transport Police just before midnight as police in Worthing were being inundated with reports of other incidents.

No one was available for comment at South Central.