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Merseyrail
say - Keep your feet on the ground or face prosecution
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| From Monday 5 February 2007 Merseyrail will actively target passengers
who put their feet on seats in their trains and prosecute if appropriate.
Teams of security staff will be out on the network equipped with CCTV
“head cams” which record high quality digital pictures and
sound to gather evidence for possible prosecution of offenders in the
Magistrates Court. Prosecution will be based on the existing railway byelaws which apply across the UK under the section which covers “unacceptable behaviour” (Byelaw 6) after a specific protocol was agreed with Liverpool Magistrates Court. A poster campaign, leaflets and public announcements are being used across the Merseyrail network to create awareness of the issue and give passengers an opportunity to change their habits to prevent them being taken to court. Although “feet on seats” has always been an offence, it has not been realistic to prosecute offenders due to the problem of providing evidence in court. Up to now, a verbal warning was the only possible course of action. This new initiative is in response to passengers feed-back and part of Merseyrail’s general approach to preventing anti-social behaviour in order to maintain a pleasant environment for the vast majority of passengers. Merseyrail will be the only train company in the UK to prosecute offenders for putting their feet on seats. Patrick Verwer, Merseyrail’s Managing Director, said: “We have listened to our passengers and found a way of enforcing the existing Byelaws. We will not tolerate anti-social behaviour in any form on our trains and putting your feet on our seats is an irritating and unhygienic habit that we want to put a stop to”. Cllr Mark Dowd, Chair of Merseytravel, said: “We are taking action to deal with this problem. We’ve spent more than £32 million refurbishing the fleet of Merseyrail trains and we don’t want the seats being ruined. People who put their feet on seats are being anti-social. Other passengers don’t want to sit on a seat covered in mud or dirt and they shouldn’t have to.” |
| Last Updated: 13 February 2007 |
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