Big Man on Train

You may have come across the YouTube clip of an incident on the 9.33 Edinburgh to Perth train on Dec 9^th:

http://youtu.be/eKKADFIEX84

Basically a conductor asked a 19 year old student to leave the train as the latter did not have a valid ticket. The student refused to leave and was then subsequently thrown off the train by another passenger.

Since then, the other passenger, Alan Pollock, has been charged with assault while the student has been reported for fare dodging.

These are the facts. 

Now for the issues.

The student, Sam Main, has not shown any remorse for his actions, launching a litany of excuses for his behaviour, blaming his long day and his diabetes and claiming that he’d been sold the wrong ticket.
This is a classic example of not taking responsibility for your actions. It was up to Main to make sure that he had the right ticket for his journey on the train. Below is an extract from the Government Website –direct.gov.uk: 

Your responsibilities when you travel by rail

Along with your rights, you have certain responsibilities when you travel on the railways.

Have a valid ticket

Make sure you have enough time to buy your ticket. Don't get on a train without a ticket, even if there's a long queue at the ticket office. If you do, you may be asked to pay the full 'anytime' fare or a penalty fare.

You must have the right ticket for your journey. Make sure your ticket:

• shows the correct details for your journey

• can be used on the routes, trains and during the time you intend to travel

• isn't damaged or changed

• is kept safe - if you lose it or it's stolen, you can't travel

Show your ticket when asked. If you bought your ticket with a Railcard, you must show this too. 

Had a mistake been made, as Mr Main claimed, then he should have explained this and arrangements could have been made. Instead he decided to throw abuse at the conductor.

The fact that Main felt that it was OK to throw that abuse, shows what regards he has towards authority figures. The conductor is an official with a job to do and should be treated with a certain amount of respect. 

Now to Mr Pollock.

Typically there is an outrage from some quarters as “the Big Man” as - he has been tagged – is depicted as a vigilante. The fact is that Pollock did commit a form of assault and therefore broke the letter of the law. What should happen, in a society where common sense rules, is that Big Man should have had a visit from the local plod who would have given him a minor bollocking for being a little over-enthusiastic in man-handling the youth.

Instead, Alan Pollock will have spent his Christmas worrying about the consequences of these actions.

I agree that people should not always take the law in their own hands, but there are certain circumstances where such action is justified and I believe that what happened on that train was one of these circumstances.

I have been in pubs where out-of-order punters have been ejected by regulars and I’ve been in shops where shoplifters have been caught by shoppers.

There is room for people to take the law in their own hands especially as the law these days are very slow in responding to what is deemed “minor”events, but those who do need to justify their actions and common sense ought to be used by the Law.

In the above case, Sam Main deserved what he got and I hope that all Alan Pollock gets is a minor slap on the wrist. Somehow, I don’t think that this will happen…