I lost baby in crush

A woman has told how she lost her baby after being hit in the stomach on a crowded train.

Janice Norman was six months pregnant when she was jostled on a packed train out of Clapham Junction. She was standing - because nobody offered her a seat - when a smartly dressed young man accidentally hit her in the stomach while pushing past.

Shaken, she went to hospital for a check-up but was told the baby was fine.

A month later she was rushed into theatre for an emergency Caesarean. Eliza, her first child, died five days later. A post-mortem found the baby had stopped developing at exactly the time of the incident.

Ms Norman, 34, said: "The train before had been cancelled so this one was absolutely packed. You know how everyone rushes on, so I was standing up.

"At the next stop a couple of people got off and people were moaning that everyone should move up. Then this bloke barged through and his hand punched me in the stomach.

"I said 'You wouldn't do that to your partner if she was pregnant', and he said Britain wasn't such a wonderful country as no one had given me a seat.

"He had a point - I had to stand pretty regularly. People with seats pretend they haven't seen you, although after our argument someone offered me a seat."

Ms Norman said both she and the man got off at the same stop. She said: "I walked round the corner and burst into tears. I wouldn't do it in front of him. I was upset and had a bit of pain in my stomach, so I went to hospital. They did a scan of the baby's heart but it was fine.

"But over the next few weeks I realised she wasn't kicking much so I went to hospital. They took me straight to theatre for a Caesarean because she was suffering foetal distress."

Eliza died on New Year's Day. Ms Norman said: "I don't know how I have coped. There have been lots of sleepless nights and lots of crying."

Now the financial controller, who left her job because she could not face the journey again, has enlisted the help of her MP to start a "considerate commuters" campaign. Today Tom Brake, Lib-Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington, will table an early day motion in the Commons to highlight the plight of pregnant women and vulnerable commuters.

If enough MPs sign the motion, legislation could be introduced this winter forcing able-bodied people to offer their Tube and trains seats to those who need them more.

Mr Brake said: "Janice's case is tragic but other commuters do that very British thing of hiding their heads in their newspapers."

Ms Norman, who lives with her partner Robert in Carshalton, said: "I have never asked anyone for a seat. People have been rushing about and are so moody you are scared to ask. But if women read my story, hopefully they will learn to say 'Can I have a seat'?

"If I'd got a seat this wouldn't have happened. I want the man to know what he did but he wasn't totally to blame.

"It's just manners to look round and make sure everybody is OK."