A 58-year-old man was stabbed to death and five other people were left fighting for their lives today after a man went on a random stabbing spree in a north London suburb.

The rampage has fuelled calls for a clampdown on Britain's worsening knife culture. A man was tonight being held by police in connection with the attacks.

An hour of carnage began at 8.20am when a 33-year-old man on the way to work was knifed outside the busy commuter train station in Edmonton moments after saying goodbye to his girlfriend.

Witnesses who contacted police said a man who appeared to be in his 30s pulled up at the kerb in a red saloon car and lunged twice at his victim, stabbing him in the back, before returning to his car and speeding away.

At first the wounded man thought he had been merely punched and walked along in shock, leaving a long trail of blood. He staggered up to the station and collapsed on the bench before police were alerted and he was taken to hospital.

Within minutes a stream of calls began flooding in to police headquarters as five more people were ambushed. Two men, aged 49 and 50, and a 33-year-old woman had also been stabbed and were taken to North Middlesex hospital.

The woman victim had been cycling when she was attacked, and initially carried on going, not realising what had happened to her. Surgeons at the London Heart Hospital were tonight battling to save her life, while the other four injured were in a stable condition.

Each person was stabbed once or twice each and the stabbings took place very quickly.

At 9.27am a 58-year-old man struggled into the offices of a delivery company in Advent Way, Edmonton, suffering from multiple stab injuries. The victim, who police say was married with children, later died in Whipps Cross hospital.

Delivery worker Dervish Dervish, 54, described how they tried in vain to help the man, using the office first aid kit.

"I felt like crying. He was just going to work and now he’s dead. I just can’t believe it. I didn’t know him but he seemed a likeable bloke.

"He looked like Father Christmas with his white hair.

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