Man arrested for using plug socket on Overground train

[Geezertronic]

OK I didn't know that.

He was even on Jeremy Vine (Radio2) yesterday, free publicity for this moron. People like him make my blood boil to be honest

 

[EM2]

The PCSO didn't deal with the Byelaws- even though they are an authorised person under the TfL Byelaws- the PCSO had him arrested for abstracting electricity. Obviously the BTP are now scratching around desperately trying to find something or anything to save face, instead of holding their hands up and admitting their PCSO was being a tool for even getting involved in the first place.

They didn't need to deal with the Byelaws, because it's a straightforward matter of theft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstracting_electricity

This offence is created by section 13 of the Theft Act 1968:

A person who dishonestly uses without due authority, or dishonestly causes to be wasted or diverted, any electricity shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

This section replaces section 10 of the Larceny Act 1916.

 

[swt_passenger]

He was even on Jeremy Vine (Radio2) yesterday, free publicity for this moron...

...probably the aim all along, as was discussed in a few posts on pages 8 and 9 of this thread.

 

[jon0844]

I heard the idiot artist on the radio and his attitude stinks.

Radio, TV, local press.. national press.. probably even speaking to foreign media.

He'll be appearing in Celebrity Big Brother soon, or some other Channel 5 series following his daily life as an 'artist'.

 

[Antman]

These being regular domestic sockets with a smoothed regulated supply that don't bear stickers saying 'Not for public use', I assume? And where people generally ask before plugging in what they like where they like?

I was referring to the person in the waiting room at Plymouth where there was presumably no such sticker?

 

[EM2]

I was referring to the person in the waiting room at Plymouth where there was presumably no such sticker?

There was when I was there last, although that was four years ago.

 

[VauxhallandI]

My only dealing with a PCSO was very poor, pop that in the circumstantial evidence pot!

 

[Skimpot flyer]

UPDATE: After a person was recently arrested (and subsequently de-arrested) for plugging his phone charger into a socket marked 'not for public use', British Transport Police officers were today called to another incident on a London Overground train, this time at Willesden Junction.
A man had been reported by a PCSO for running between the carriages of a recently-extended 5 car train, shouting 'I'm a firework! I'm a firework!

In the end, they let him off

:roll:

 

[matt_world2004]

On the subject of strange laws, in one of the ealing stations it says "It is illegal to loiter on railway property". If that is the case why do they have waiting rooms

 

[A-driver]

On the subject of strange laws, in one of the ealing stations it says "It is illegal to loiter on railway property". If that is the case why do they have waiting rooms

Because loitering is to stand or wait without an apparent purpose. Standing (or sitting) to wait for a train clearly shows there is a purpose. If you stood at a station letting all trains go without boarding for a reasonable length of time (ie long enough that you clearly are not waiting for a train) then you are loitering.

 

[Groningen]

This has already happened in Kassel, Germany 11 years ago. So nothing new!

Who understands the german language; this is the article: http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/st...-deutschen-bahn-strom-entwendet-a-286921.html

 

[Flamingo]

The guy is a dick head. As for those defending him, if the cap fits...

 

[Geezertronic]

The guy is a dick head. As for those defending him, if the cap fits...

Well if his mugshot on the Metro article is anything to go by, his cap doesn't seem to want to fit on his big head

I'd put a link but don't want to give this idiot any more publicity

 

[Mojo]

Thought I'd recognised this guy from somewhere before.

https://youtu.be/FJtnfv1N80I?t=5m2s (go to 5 Min 2 Sec)

Looks and sounds remarkably similar, and also irritating. Can't be the same guy, can it?

 

[Geezertronic]

Thought I'd recognised this guy from somewhere before.

https://youtu.be/FJtnfv1N80I?t=5m2s (go to 5 Min 2 Sec)

Looks and sounds remarkably similar, and also irritating. Can't be the same guy, can it?

I'd say it is the same guy. Same voice, same facial features, same arrogant attitude

 

[Mojo]

I'd say it is the same guy. Same voice, same facial features, same arrogant attitude

And also desperate to be sat next to a power socket

 

[bb21]

And also desperate to be sat next to a power socket

That most definitely nails it.

How many people make such requests when making seat reservations?

Maybe he should be employed to solve all the IT issues since he has all these wonderful solutions.

 

[CC 72100]

And also desperate to be sat next to a power socket

And same desire for attention?

 

[JohnB57]

Cost of fully recharging an iPhone at domestic rates = 0.05p. That's about 18p per year for a complete recharge every day. Far more than we use in real life of course.

I'm not excusing what this person did - I get as annoyed as anyone by people who ignore rules/social conventions/other folks' needs, etc. But the actual cost of the "abstracted electricity" is so tiny as to be immeasurable.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I'm not excusing what this person did - I get as annoyed as anyone by people who ignore rules/social conventions/other folks' needs, etc. But the actual cost of the "abstracted electricity" is so tiny as to be immeasurable.

That's basically my point too. I'm not excusing him or his stupid hair. I get incredibly annoyed by people who ignore social rules, especially when they have stupid hair.

I just find it amazing that the PCSO had nothing better to do with her time. This is the equivalent of having someone arrested because their bag was on a seat.

 

[Flamingo]

That's basically my point too. I'm not excusing him or his stupid hair. I get incredibly annoyed by people who ignore social rules, especially when they have stupid hair.

I just find it amazing that the PCSO had nothing better to do with her time. This is the equivalent of having someone arrested because their bag was on a seat.

Arrested? Personally, I'd ban them for life as well!

 

[Clip]

I just find it amazing that the PCSO had nothing better to do with her time. .

So the PCSO, who was on a train - working - should just ignore what they see in front of them yes? Fantastic logic. Well done.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Arrested? Personally, I'd ban them for life as well!

I'd have them flayed for a bag on a seat tbh
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

So the PCSO, who was on a train - working - should just ignore what they see in front of them yes? Fantastic logic. Well done.

As any parent of a toddler will tell you, pick your battles.

The sheer amount of time wasted for her and four proper coppers to arrest him, de-arrest him, arrest him again and then do the mountain of paperwork is staggering for something that will have cost TfL less than 5p. You're probably looking at £200 in man hours alone, for the equivalent of someone's headphones being a bit too loud.

As I said, I genuinely believe it shows a serious lack of professional judgment. And if it was done because the man with the stupid hair was rude to her, that makes it even worse IMHO.

 

[Geezertronic]

I fear you are still missing the point which is that the guy thinks he can do what he wants when he wants. That arrogant attitude alone makes him an idiot. Whether you think that what he was doing is not hurting anyone or not, that is not the point. Had he injured himself or his device, he'd be kicking off as well even though his own arrogance put himself in that situation.

He seems to be one for causing trouble as the YouTube link from Mojo shows and I suggest this is not the first or last time

 

[Greenback]

It's definitely the same bloke, I'd bet my house on it. If he displayed the same argumentative attitude that he showed when playing to the cameras, he deserved to be arrested and charged.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The sheer amount of time wasted for her and four proper coppers to arrest him, de-arrest him, arrest him again and then do the mountain of paperwork is staggering for something that will have cost TfL less than 5p. You're probably looking at £200 in man hours alone, for the equivalent of someone's headphones being a bit too loud.

As I said, I genuinely believe it shows a serious lack of professional judgment. And if it was done because the man with the stupid hair was rude to her, that makes it even worse IMHO.

But if the man had simply unplugged his device as requested and apologised, that would have been that. Did the PCSO expect this to blow out of all proportion? With most reasonable people it wouldn't have done.

And it would make the Police look very stupid if they backed down once they had started. So I think they had to follow through with it.

As for the sockets, if they aren't to be used by the public the sensible thing to do would be to fit a box with a square key lock over the top.

 

[Minilad]

But if the man had simply unplugged his device as requested and apologised, that would have been that. Did the PCSO expect this to blow out of all proportion? With most reasonable people it wouldn't have done.

And it would make the Police look very stupid if they backed down once they had started. So I think they had to follow through with it.

^^^^^^^ All day long

One person to blame in all this. It isn't the PCSO

 

[jon0844]

I just find it amazing that the PCSO had nothing better to do with her time. This is the equivalent of having someone arrested because their bag was on a seat.

Actually, if a PCSO or anyone else in authority asked someone to remove a bag, or take their feet of the seats, and was given attitude then why not take things further? By then it doesn't really matter what the original incident was.

It's about informing some people that their actions are unacceptable. It's anti social behaviour, and we'd have had no trouble with this if the gentleman concerned had been a teenager wearing a hoodie.

I assume the PCSO started by having an issue with a phone connected to a socket by a doorway, being an obvious hazard. Perhaps she was trying to be clever by using the theft of electricity as justification (rather than just saying 'don't be a **** someone might trip on that, and you shouldn't be using it anyway). This ended up making the PCSO seem a bit dumb to many, but that doesn't change the fact that the PCSO had every right to ask someone to unplug it - and not then get attitude from someone who thinks he's God.

As for the supposed monetary cost of everything. I'd have thought most peopel concerned were working and getting paid a fixed salary, so it's immaterial.

To me, if a PCSO can deal with anti social behaviour (which I feel is a major problem society faces today because it leads on to much worse things) then good for them. When people constantly get away with bad behaviour, it just encourages others to stop complying with rules as they feel like they're mugs.

 

[dosxuk]

I just find it amazing that the PCSO had nothing better to do with her time. This is the equivalent of having someone arrested because their bag was on a seat.

Your argument is the equivalent of the Police should stop investigating rapes until they've solved all the murders.

Yes, this is a very minor offence, and I doubt very much that the PCSO went into it with the intention of arresting the bloke in question, taking up more than 10 seconds of their time or having to fill in any paperwork. You are making it sound like they were spending their day solely catching trains in the hope of finding someone using a plug socket they shouldn't.

 

[jon0844]

What gets me is that in this country, there aren't that many rapes and murders. Therefore, we should probably get rid of most police officers or only keep open departments that deal with these heinous crimes.

A PCSO will be paid a salary and not get paid on results. If they end up wasting time with some idiot that could have been better used elsewhere, then who's fault is that?

If someone says 'Haven't you got anything better to do?' then the answer should be, 'Yes, but I'm unable to do that because I'm dealing with you'.

I'm a firm believer in nipping things in the bud as soon as possible. Bringing people like this down a notch or two cannot possibly do any harm as far as I am concerned, especially considering that since the incident you can see from social media that there are a great many people who fully support the guy and say they'd do the same, and almost claim human rights as justification for charging a device from any power socket that is not properly protected.

So if it's unprotected, it's supposedly fair game. Makes me wonder how far these people would stretch that logic. Naturally, I can think of a few examples (and these people appear every now and then in the Disputes section of this very forum).