Shocked passengers say they had a terror train ride when a window in their carriage was shattered by a gunshot.

The incident happened in the dark on Tuesday during a journey between Sittingbourne and Sheerness.

A stunned Matt Lambkin posted on Facebook: "Wow! The 21:25 Sittingbourne train to Sheerness I was just on (maybe) got shot at!"

He said he and his partner were in a carriage when they heard a bang followed by a crack as the outside of a double-glazed pane of glass shattered.

The damage happened after the train had left Swale Halt and was travelling over marshes between the Kingsferry Bridge and Queenborough.

Matt, 43, who lives in Spalding, Lincolnshire, had been returning to Sheppey, where he was born and brought up, to visit relatives.

He said: "It was quite frightening. Luckily, the inside glass was undamaged and the bullet didn't come through. But if it had, it could have hit someone."

He said there were four or five others in the carriage including a man who was sitting at a table next to the window.

Matt said: "I hope the bloke was OK. He was right next to it. He looked as if he was in shock."

Matt added: "A guard came along, and another chap who said he was with the railway, and took photos. At Sheerness railway station several staff inspected the window on the platform after the train stopped."

He said: "I have no idea how it happened. Perhaps people were trying to shoot rabbits in the dark."

His girlfriend Caroline, who is partially sighted, said she heard a "bang" and then a "pop" as the glass broke. She added: "It didn't look like it had been hit by a stone. The impact left a perfect circle."

A spokesman for train company Southeastern said: "There are no reports of such an incident on our internal logs."

British Transport Police also drew a blank. A spokesman said: "We did not receive any reports in relation to this incident.”

But Steve Nixon of Minster insisted: "It definitely happened. I was the fella sitting at that table. Didn’t half make a bang!"

Another on social media guessed: "It was most likely a ball bearing fired from a catapult. Poachers use them all the time."

There is also a clay pigeon gun club nearby but it is not thought it operates at night.