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The Times & The Sunday Times
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Star Wars ‘stormtrooper’ escorted off train by armed police in gun scare

Dan Gillespie is well known in Aberdeen for dressing up as a character from the films, but his trip to a comic convention turned to farce
Sian Bradley
The Times
Dan Gillespie has even posed with officers in the past, though his latest encounter was a more serious affair
Dan Gillespie has even posed with officers in the past, though his latest encounter was a more serious affair
Sian Bradley
The Times

A Star Wars fan dressed as a stormtrooper was escorted off a train by armed police near Aberdeen after a passenger reported him for carrying a gun.

Dan Gillespie, 50, was travelling to DeeCon, a comic convention at Dundee University, when the alarm was raised. Dressed in a £1,000 stormtrooper outfit, with the fake blaster holstered, Gillespie was questioned by a ScotRail guard before the train was stopped and returned back to Aberdeen.

Armed police met the sci-fi fanatic at the station where he was questioned before being escorted home by officers.

Gillespie said he is now considering quitting his cosplay hobby after the incident. “Crazy world we live in,” he told The Scottish Sun.

The Grampian Stormtrooper says he might give up his favourite pastime
The Grampian Stormtrooper says he might give up his favourite pastime

“The train stopped not long out of the station. A guard came to chat asking about the blaster. Then asked me to go with him for chat.

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“Apparently someone reported it to police. The train went back to Aberdeen. I was met by two firearms officers, three Police Scotland and two British Transport Police.”

He added: “I had to chat to them all on train and then in an office. Then they took me home to get bag for it and back for another train. I was asked not to wear stormtrooper armour on train.”

Gillespie is well-known in the Granite City for patrolling the streets in his costume and goes by the moniker the Grampian Stormtrooper. The 50-year-old is also known to wear a kilt with his costume and has previously been seen posing with police officers.

He also claimed he took the bus two weeks prior wearing the outfit with “no issues”.

Gillespie said he became aware something was wrong when the train came to a halt shortly after leaving Aberdeen on Saturday.

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“I heard sirens from the train along with an announcement. Not knowing why we stopped,” he said. “I wondered why. I did hear the guard’s side of call from my seat so started suspecting maybe it was me.

“I’m sure passengers on the train were annoyed with me.”

A spokesman for the British Transport Police said: “Officers received reports of a man with a firearm entering Aberdeen station just before 9am on Saturday. Officers attended alongside colleagues from Police Scotland and it was determined it was a false alarm.”