Commuter arrested for charging his phone on train

Sunnyisland

Robin Lee plugged his phone in on a London Overground train on Friday (10.07.15) and was spotted by a community support officer, "abstracting" the 0.052p of electricity.

Robin said: "The officers got hold of me by each arm and put me in handcuffs - they were really aggressive and over the top.They put me in the cage in the back of the van and started going through my stuff - they even checked underneath my belt and everything."

Back at Camden Road station, he was eventually de-arrested for stealing electricity and was allowed to collect his stuff and leave, with no charges brought against him.


Someone needs to call someone about this ,as its good to talk, what's the story about being de arrested, that's a new one .

Brian2208

no charge. ha ha

GreatDefector

Brian2208 wrote: »

no charge. ha ha

Shocking!

NachoBusiness

Get in the back of the van!!

seamus

A British Transport Police spokesman said: ‘We were called to Camden Road London Overground station on Friday, July 10, to a report of a man becoming aggressive when challenged by a PCSO about his use of a plug socket on board an Overground train.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/13/man-is-arrested-for-illegally-abstracting-electricity-by-charging-his-phone-on-a-train-5293708/#ixzz3fy85DGpc

Yeah....I'm going to go with the police on this one. I'm sure he was just lifted without warning, nobody said to him, "Sir, you cannot use that plug. Please remove it". I bet he's a very reasonable guy who would have responded with, "Oh deary me, I do apologise, I shall of course unplug my phone immediately and I apologise unreservedly for this faux pas".

anncoates

De -arrested?

G_R

anncoates wrote: »

De -arrested?

I've heard them saying this on Road Wars and those kind of programmes. Just means un-arrested.

NachoBusiness

NachoBusiness wrote: »

Get in the back of the van!!

....Officer, honestly, I've only had a few ales.

kylith

But, isn't that what plugs on trains are for? I often plug my laptop or charge my phone in the sockets on the train.

seamus

kylith wrote: »

But, isn't that what plugs on trains are for? I often plug my laptop or charge my phone in the sockets on the train.

Depends on the train and the location of the socket. If you look at the article I posted, it appears that this guy went and found a socket (probably down behind the luggage racks or something), which wasn't for passenger use.

darkpagandeath

seamus wrote: »

Depends on the train and the location of the socket. If you look at the article I posted, it appears that this guy went and found a socket (probably down behind the luggage racks or something), which wasn't for passenger use.

Would that have different electricity in it from the ones for customer use ? :pac:

kneemos

Happened on Steve Allen talking about it on LBC the other morning. A hobby bobby apparently called the cops and he became aggressive with them,they warned him that they would arrest him and he said go ahead and they did.
His problems boil down to his aggressive manner I think and a conscientious plastic cop.

Mint Sauce

The socket he used, usally around the doors on London Overground trains, and on the commuter trains, are nearly always marked with, not for customer/passenger use, or something to that effect.

It was not an intercity train, or in a first class carriage/area on a commuter train (which london overground trains do not have) , which most provide charging points for its customers/passengers.

Some trains have power sockets that aren't intended to be used by passengers - they're there for cleaning staff and maintenance purposes. The old orange Irish Rail trains had one or two sockets in each carriage but the generators didn't provide very good power, so you could have found your rather expensive device fried.

seamus

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Would that have different electricity in it from the ones for customer use ? :pac:

Hey, I'm not going to pretend that stopping people from using it isn't petty, but at the end of the day they're not for customer use.

For all we know there may be a safety issue such that those plugs are only supposed to be used in the station, whereas the ones on other trains for customer use are on an isolated circuit that can't cause problems.

At the end of the day, the guy was arrested for being aggressive, not for using a plug on a train.

4zn76tysfajdxp

seamus wrote: »

Hey, I'm not going to pretend that stopping people from using it isn't petty, but at the end of the day they're not for customer use.

For all we know there may be a safety issue such that those plugs are only supposed to be used in the station, whereas the ones on other trains for customer use are on an isolated circuit that can't cause problems.

At the end of the day, the guy was arrested for being aggressive, not for using a plug on a train.

It's PC gone mad, if you ask me.

bonzodog2

Paislee Gentle Shoemaker wrote: »

It's AC gone mad, if you ask me.

:rolleyes:

rubadub

If he never got the chance to plug it in, and was twice as aggressive, it never would have been in the media.

josip

It's actually AC gone DC