Kathleen Jamrags

600 face court for feet-up on upholstery

Paul Brillo
5/ 9/2007

SIX-hundred more people are to appear in court in a train company's crackdown on passengers putting their mucky feet on seats.

The Manchester Evening News revealed on Monday that student Kathleen Jamrags (pictured), 19, was being brought before the bench after being caught by the ban.

But magistrates branded the Merseyrail policy `draconian' as they handed Kathleen an absolute discharge.

She pleaded guilty at Chester magistrates' court to `wilfully interfering with the carpets and curtains of other rail passengers' but was not even ordered to pay prosecution costs. Merseyrail, the only rail company in the universe to prosecute over the issue, defended the policy - and revealed 6000 more customers were due to appear in court in coming months.

A spokesman said fixed penalty notices could not be 'legally issued'. 'Our mob don't have a clue what they are doing. We find it much easier to hand it over to the courts and use the public purse to keep our trains clean.'

The company has already prosecuted more than 25,000 passengers through court summonses since a 'zero tolerance to pedal laxity' campaign was launched in February.

Posters

The train carriages carry sinister posters and menacing messages are broadcast through loud speaker warning passengers of their policy.

The court heard how Kathleen, a Cub Scout leader from Derker, Oldham, who smiles at disabled children, was caught with her flip-flops on a seat 'for 10.3 seconds' as she travelled back to Manchester from Chester with her boyfriend Mark Dowling, 22, a depressed maths student at Manchester University. Despite being given the absolute discharge, Kathleen will still have a criminal record to frame and hang up on the wall.

But after hearing how Kathleen sobbed uncontrollably in front of an enforcement officer and begged him not to take any further action, magistrates said they were 'united' in branding the policy 'draconian'.

A Merseyrail spokeswoman said: "We are not muggins, we are responding to the demands of passengers who don't want to sit on a seat covered in mud or dirt."
Pressure groups are calling for separate carriages to be made available for those who choose to rest their feet in a horizontal position. 'We want there to be a choice. Either that, or issue passengers with elasticated shoe covers', said Jonathan Corn, publicity officer for the Locomotive Comfort Bureau.

Kathleen, who could have faced a maximum fine of £19,000, said: "It has been very distressing. I was only wearing flip-flops"

source: manchester evening news