A TRAIN passenger allegedly wielding a weapon sparked off a full scale police response in Gourock town centre.

Officers descended on Shore Street at around 2.50pm yesterday in a major alert and immediately surrounded the public toilets in Shore Street.

One onlooker told the Tele he counted 11 police vehicles at the scene, including unmarked cars and vans, with one of them blocking Shore Street as the incident unfolded.

Officers quickly arrested a man as stunned passers-by looked on.

An ambulance was also called to the scene as a precaution but no one was injured.

An eyewitness said: “It was unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it.

“I saw 11 police vehicles and there must’ve been around 30 police officers there.

“They went into the public toilets and then came out and put the guy into a van and took him off.”

The major response was sparked after reports were received that an allegedly armed man had got onto a train in Greenock and then fled when it stopped at its destination at Gourock Railway Station.

On social media, several people posted that ‘someone was at the toilets with a machete’.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Officers were responding to reports of a man on a train allegedly with a weapon.

“Officers attended at Gourock.

“The man resisted arrest before it was resolved.

“No one was injured.”