THE family of train vigilante Alan Pollock broke their silence tonight to insist he had done the right thing by throwing an alleged fare dodger off a train.
His father, retired accountant Jim Pollock, said he brought his son up to know “right from wrong”.
Mr Pollock, speaking at his home in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, insisted he would have “done the same thing” as his son if he was in his position.
Alan, 35, hauled Sam off Friday night’s train from Edinburgh to Perth after the 19-year-old swore at an elderly conductor.
Mr Pollock, who said he was in his 60s, said: “I have spoken to Alan and told him he did the right thing.
“It’s totally unacceptable. As a family man I could never have allowed my kids to do that.
“I’m sure his father [Main’s] would not be very proud of him.
“I brought them up to know right from wrong and that’s all my son was doing.”
He added: “Do you turn your face the other way when something has happened, if somebody got stabbed in the street?
“It’s very out of character for Alan. He must have been pushed to the limit. I was a wee bit disappointed no one actually got up and helped him.”
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Mr Pollock said his son would not have thrown him off the train if he had not been given permission by the inspector.
“He asked the chap. The inspector wasn’t capable of putting the boy off. The inspector gave him permission to do it. If the inspector said no Alan would have sat down.”
Asked how his son was dealing with the media storm surrounding the video, he said: “He’s obviously concerned about the press coverage. But this happens just about every other day. The train prices are so high because of the number of train dodgers. That’s why the fares are so expensive.
“I’ve spoken to Alan and I was telling him he did the right thing. He’s not impulsive, but the situation was getting out of hand and the inspector wasn’t able to do anything. He’s got his family’s support.
“I’ll be wondering what the Heriot Watt principal will say if that’s somebody representing his university. The chap that actually had the camera said it was about five or ten minutes of cursing and swearing before he put the camera on.”
He added: “I don’t want to ruin his career, but yobbish behaviour can’t be accepted.”
Mr Pollock said the student’s behaviour was putting women and children in a “state of fear”.
“If you’re talking about grabbing somebody, the chap grabbed a woman’s coat and she had young kids sitting at her table,” he added.
Mr Pollock is understood to live at the house with his wife Jeanette.
The couple have another son, Ross, 32.
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