Train hold-up a "bad joke"?

Panic on SNCF train as young men try to stage a hold-up

At around 1.15pm, two kilometres from the Les Arcs near Draguignan, five individuals seized an internal telephone designed for announcements and told passengers to surrender their personal belongings including bankcards.

But the intended victims raised an alarm, stopping the train in its tracks. Police were quickly on the scene and arrested the men, aged 19 to 24 years and from Nice and Normandy. 

The incident delayed the train by one and a half hours.

A complaint has been filed by SNCF, France's national railway company, but it told media it may not look too harshly on the "bad joke", while reaffirming that the words were sufficiently frightening to scare the passengers.

A decision on whether to charge the men is expected to be made today. 

Emma Hawcroft