A PLAGUE of crickets swarmed through a train in York station, forcing hundreds of passengers to evacuate.

The Virgin Voyager train travelling from Newcastle to Cardiff had to be cancelled when the train manager discovered a bag full of chirruping creepy-crawlies near the buffet area.

The buffet was closed for health and safety reasons, as train staff frantically tried to recapture the crickets.

British Transport Police were called to investigate the incident at York. The train doors were opened, and most of the insects hopped away.

The train continued on to Derby, where it was taken out of service to be fumigated. More than 150 relieved passengers were transferred to another train.

A spokesman for Virgin Trains said: "Between Darlington and Newcastle the train manager discovered a carrier bag full of crickets which had split open in coach D.

"Our staff were basically running around trying to recapture the crickets, which were jumping everywhere.

"But there were too many and it was impossible to capture them, so it was decided to take the train out of service."

The spokesman said he could only speculate as to why the crickets were on board Thursday's 2.21pm train.

He said the insects could have been destined to be food for an exotic pet, such as a snake or lizard, and played down suggestions they might have been left maliciously.

"Whatever," he said, "it's definitely a case of crickets without tickets."

Crickets are jumping insects closely related to cockroaches and grasshoppers.

Updated: 11:01 Saturday, December 04, 2004