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Court raps 'draconian' train firm
MERSEYRAIL and
Kathleen Jennings, who is a mathematics student at university in
Manchester, made national headines on Tusday 4 September 2007, after
she was taken to court for putting her feet up on a Merseyrail train
seat. The 19 year old, who is a Cub Scout leader and works with
disabled children, was summonsed to appear before magistrates
accused of "wilfully interfering with the comfort or
convenience of other passengers", after she had admitted the
offence, when challenged by a Merseyrail enforcement officer, on a
Merseyrail train. It is said that she had a flip-flop on the corner
of the seat and that is was only on it for a matter of seconds.
Kevin Jones, representing Merseyrail, in the Chester Magistrates'
Court, said that:- "As a train inspector approached Miss
Jennings, she took her feet off the seat." She also
apologised to the officer. Kevin Jones also admitted there was no
verbal warning, but said a notice in front of her warned passengers
of a £100 penalty for resting their feet on seats. Irwin Bamforth,
defending Miss Jennings, is reported to have said:- "I have to
say that the general consensus is this is ludicrous. All it would
have taken was for the gentleman to say, 'Please take your feet
down'. She took her feet down and that should have been the end of
it. She was taken off the train extremely distressed. Her whole
family have become involved and they are very distressed. She is a
young lady with no previous convictions who has co-operated fully.
To be punishing a promising young maths student with no previous
convictions, and she could end up with a criminal conviction, is
crazy. There is no other word for it." The JPs at the court
agreed with Irwin Bamforth. As the decision was read out, Kathleen
Jennings wept. The courts told her that she had been given an
absolute discharge by at Chester Magistrates. Outside she told the
media, "I'm really relieved. I thought they were not going to
give me a discharge. I thought the worst. This could have left me
with a criminal record. But what is worse, was the idea that it
could have stopped me from becoming a teacher. I'm quite happy they
have got common sense, seeing as I work with children and CRB
(Criminal Records Bureau) checks... I thought this would come up.
It's quite scary, for just putting my feet on a seat on a train, it
would jeopardise my dreams. I'm glad that it won't any more. I
wouldn't put someone through this much distress. I hope they will
target proper criminals, not someone like me." Her father,
Tony told the press that:- "It is ridiculous, they just pick
on the easy targets. If it was a 6ft yob who had told them to ***
off, they would not have been here today. In my day you used to get
a bang around the earhole and 'Don't do it again'. I am relieved
somebody had a bit of common sense."
Merseyrail is the only rail company to prosecute passengers for
putting their feet on seats. About 250 people have been taken to
court since the scheme was launched in February and its "zero
tolerance" has been in effect after it had spent £32 million
refurbishing its fleet.
On Monday, a company
spokesperson said:- "The 'feet-up' policy had been widely
publicised. Stickers are placed on trains and Tannoy announcements
made. It is in response to "passenger feedback" under steps to
tackle anti-social behaviour. Enforcement officers wearing CCTV
"head cams" patrol carriages and prosecutions are based on railway
bylaws regarding 'unacceptable behaviour'." Chairman of the
Bench Christine Abrams said:- "The bench is united in feeling
while this may have been contrary to a by-law, Merseyrail should
have a less draconian method for dealing with matters of this
nature." |
Rhys Jones Funeral
THE funeral of
the young boy shot dead in Liverpool took place at the Anglican
Cathedral, amidst massive community support and high media
attention. What we must not forget is that the family of Rhys Jones
will be haunted by the loss of their son. After the headlines and
the media attention have died away, we must not lose sight of the
fact that the killer has yet to be found. Despite all the support
shown by the community and the city as a whole, which hopefully
provided some solace for the mourners, sadly the family will not
have full closure until the killer has been found.
Merseyside police
said:- "We are appealing once again for the community of
Croxteth to come forward with any information about the murder of
Rhys Jones.
To help us solve this terrible crime, we need people to provide us
with any information or evidence they may have which will lead us to
Rhys’ killer.
If you know anything, no matter how insignificant you think it may
be, please contact us.
Major Incident Team - 0151 777 8722,
Text Crime, followed by the information to 61051
Alternatively, you can give information anonymously by calling
Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
If you have any information about Gun Crime anywhere in Merseyside,
contact the Gun Crime Hotline on 0800 458 1211."
Letters to Editor:- "Why were the trains disrupted?"
"WHY were the
trains over Liverpool's 800th Birthday and the bank holiday running
so badly? The trains were so overcrowded they looked like tins of
sardines entering the station. Not only could you not get on trains,
but the replacement buses which had been put on, were then pulled
back off again, forcing passengers to run up and down the
escalators, with the hopes of getting back on track with their
journeys. Confusion was compounded as indicator boards on the
stations kept altering and showing contadictory information. All
this was highly embarrassing for our area. I just hope there is no
repetition during next year's Capital of Culture." Sam Brown
(Southport).
Editors note:- "This disruption was due to a mystery wheel
problem that left Merseyrail's rolling stock unusable. This problem
has been corrected and the trains are now running on their usual
timetables." Merseyrail and Network Rail both have stated, "We would
like to thank passengers for their understanding during this period
of disruption and inconvenience caused. We have normally got
extremely high standards of punctuality on the Merseyrail network
and this problem was not somehing we have had before. We can say
also that we have had engineers working on the problem night and day
to find the cause of the mystory wheel wearing problem."
They added that the confusion in up-dating their electronic signage
arose because some trains were rapidly added to keep abreast of
demand, thus necessitating cutting trains from other routes. |
