Roger Stapleford, 56, felt so alone in a train packed with people during rush-hour this week.

He had just received a most humiliating verbal and physical abuse from two young girls, and not one passenger stood up to intervene and help him.

"Knowing what it feels like to be in that situation now, I would now have no hesitation to verbally intervene in a similar situation," he said. If tables were turned and he was the one witnessing the abuse, he said he would come forward to reassure the victim. "Stand up for them, tell them to keep calm and that I'm there for them."

The violent confrontation took place one busy evening at a train express from Flinders St. to Eltham.

Mr. Stapleford had just come from a long day at work, physically exhausted and suffering from tired knees. He saw one vacant seat but one of the girls had her feet resting on it, so he courteously asked her to remove her feet from the opposite chair. But the girl just responded to him angrily and swore at him.

He brushed her leg off and what followed after was a barrage of humiliating abuse on the elder man.

"It was like something I've never seen before," Mr. Stapleford said.

Speaking to the Herald Sun last night, the victim said: "The bigger girl got up and threw some of the contents of her energy drink at me. I was stunned, surprised."

The girl apparently hurled a 500ml can and hit Mr. Stapleford in the forehead that resulted to a 5cm gash.

A video shown here was obtained by the Herald Sun from one of the witnesses in the train.

"I hope you enjoy your shower. I hope you enjoy your shower. Free shower," the video recorded the girl saying.

"I'm not sitting next to a ... Don't touch me. Next time you touch me I'll kill you. Kill everything you f---ing love," she broke out in expletives.

The other girl then drenched Mr. Stapleford with a glass of Slurpee.

"I hope you enjoy that," the first girl ranted.

Mr. Stapleford was furious and in disbelief at what he had just gone through. "I was angry, shaking, but what could I do?" he said.

"I'm 6ft 4in and 110kg but just had to suck up what these young girls were throwing at me, in case I was seen as the aggressor."

The abuse stopped when one of the passengers alarmed the driver who immediately responded by asking the girls to leave the train.

The girls, according to eyewitnesses, had been swearing and abusing passengers even before the confrontation with Mr. Stapleford.

When they got off the train, witnesses said the girls then turned to the driver, yelling at him through his train window and spitting on the glass. They also kicked and punched several train carriages.

"It was so frustrating, because you just feel so helpless - you can't do anything in case it's perceived you are in the wrong," Mr Stapleford said.

The girls were apprehended by police officers who caught up with them at Clifton Hill. It is reported that one of the girls attacked an officer physically.

"It was embarrassing and I just wanted it to end. But more than anything else, I felt frustrated," Mr. Stapleford lamented.

"I love Melbourne. I brought my family to Australia six years ago because of my kids and their future.

"Most days I see school children giving up their seats for others. I don't want this one incident to overshadow 99 good deeds.

"But only by people standing up to this behaviour will this city continue to be a great, safe place."

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