The Passenger travelled on the evening train from Manchester to Newcastle along with eight-year-old Tracy Langton when she ran away from home in October 1985. On alighting at Newcastle with Tracy, the briefcase-wielding man noticed that nobody was there to meet her at the station and offered to take her anywhere in his car, but Tracy was wary of strangers and told him to go away or she would tell a nearby policeman. The man then took his leave of Tracy.