Posted on 06/02/2007 7:01:08 AM PDT by BGHater
A commuter who put his feet on a seat during his train journey home has been prosecuted in a clampdown on antisocial behaviour.
Babiker Fadol was spotted by a security patrol after stretching out his legs and dozing off.
He was ordered to attend court under a 120-year-old bye-law which makes it a criminal offence "to interfere with the comfort or convenience" of fellow passengers.
He pleaded guilty and was given a one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £50 costs. This means he now has a criminal record.
Yesterday, the 45-year-old declared that his prosecution was a waste of money and said the courts should concentrate on tackling more serious crimes.
He said: "I am not happy about it. It is wasting the court's time, my time and taxpayers' money.
"Putting your feet on the seat is a bad habit but it's the least of the problems on trains. They should focus on real crimes."
But train operator Merseyrail - the only company to deal so strongly with passengers who put their feet on seats - said several passengers had been prosecuted for antisocial behaviour, including smoking in carriages.
A spokesman said: "We are tackling things that aren't the crimes of the century but which irritate the 99.9 per cent of passengers who find such behaviour unacceptable.
"We've reduced incidents such as robberies and assaults on our trains by 60 per cent and we're now tackling lower-level troublemakers.
"Passengers are informed whenever our security teams are on board their train, and if they choose to continue to behave in an unacceptable manner they will be dealt with accordingly."
Fadol was caught by security officials who were using headmounted filming equipment to record the incident, while his train home to Chester was at the station in nearby Capenhurst on March 29.
He took his feet off the seat when asked to, but was still given a court summons.
He appeared at Chester Magistrates' Court charged under the 1889 Railway Regulations Act with behaving in a disorderly, indecent or offensive manner that interfered with the comfort or convenience of a person on the railway.
His solicitor Erwin Bamforth told the court: "It's absolute nonsense. He did no harm and when he was asked to put his feet down he co-operated.
"Now he finds himself with a criminal conviction for the first time. He didn't appreciate it was an offence."
In February last year builder Rudolph Mills, 39, was arrested when he put his feet on a bench at Cambridge station.
Mr Mills, from North London, was taken to court accused of soiling railway property and preventing other rail users from sitting on the bench in contravention of railway bye-laws.
However, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case.
Leni
Nice allocation of resources there England.
L
Sounds like a good idea to me — the “broken window” sort of chain of events.
Which is a good approach toward dealing with crime, provided you're also willing to crack down on murder, rape, robbery, burglary, arson, etc.
Is it just me, or is Britain quickly turning into a dictatorship of unfettered Political Correctness?
And don't forget Bloomie's Revenue Nazis fining a tourist $75 for falling asleep on public transportation, and taking up two seats in a half empty vehicle.
Yes, civility was one of Britain’s strengths - a basis for its public safety. As long as Merseyrail sees to it that any crimes of vandalism, robbery and assault on its trains are prosecuted as well, instead of being swept under the rug as is so often done in Britain these days, it may be one last bastion there.
Mrs VS
They would stay real busy in anywhere, USA....... LOL
The problem here is not stopping “antisocial behavior” but going far beyond what is necessary or helpful to achieve that end.
The article says he took his feet off the seat as soon as he was asked, yet they insisted on making a criminal case of it. “He took his feet off the seat when asked to, but was still given a court summons.”
I agree that the conductors should keep order in the train. But the law only needs to be brought in if a passenger refuses to cooperate. This is the equivalent of sending a pair of six-year olds to jail for pointing their fingers at each other and saying “Bang, bang” in a public school.
The town where Asbos are for the elderly
Most of Eastbourne's adult Asbos are due to nuisance behaviour, such as the man who did DIY jobs too noisily or another who aggressively pushed his gardening business with door-to-door visits.
And of course the darling of 'conservatives' around here expanded it a few years back as well
Blair plans 'baby Asbos' to curb unruly under-10s
and last year wanted to go even further
Blair to target the ASBO babies
But please, let's mourn Tony's departure. After all, he's done so much for the UK....
This is direct from an episode of “The Prisoner” where UNsocial behavior was subect to mental treatment.
England has reaaaaaaly jumped the shark.
Sadly you have your finger right on the pulse, we have a Labour government that dreamnt of this kind of tyranny years ago but sadly the people here never saw it coming, or worse perhaps they didn't care.
Now even the Conservative party themselves peddle the same rubbish.
No one here speaks for freethinkers anymore or belives that responsibility and good manners start in the home, where are we supposed to turn?
At least he wasn’t eating french fries at the time.
So England arrests people who put their feet on a seat but lets the preachers of head-chopping go scot free!
“Is it just me, or is Britain quickly turning into a dictatorship of unfettered Political Correctness?”
You are right. It is exactly that.
FR , *bookmark*
Sometimes it makes me worry about the trend here in America to make minor offenses a felony. Another concern is the “hate crimes” band wagon.
Could some convicted felon (say, of some future hate crime as saying, “That’s so gay!”) be barred from owning firearms?
Question: Our 2nd amendment rights don’t apply to convicted felons - or do they???
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