A COMMUTER has captured the moment that a railway staff member appears to hit his phone out of his hand before issuing a £60 fine for “putting his feet on a rail“.
Dylan McGee was on a Merseyrail train through the city centre in Liverpool, Merseyside on Tuesday when two railway security members allegedly approached him.
The 21-year-old says the pair started questioning him, and issued a £60 fine for having his feet on the chair in front of him, despite him claiming that he was merely resting his foot “on the rail” beside it.
Video shows Dylan explaining that he has his foot resting on the crevis between the seat and wall, before turning the camera towards the man who appears to be in the middle of taking his details.
Dylan says: “Just to get it on video, basically I had my foot there and then my man came and has given me a fine for that. It’s not on the seat there is it?”
The sports psychology student proceeds to zoom in on the staff member’s ID number, before the employee appears to take a swipe at Dylan and hits his phone down out of his hands.
Dylan can then be heard saying :”Oh my God, ow, oh my God. He’s just attacked me. Jesus.”
The video then cuts to the two men standing over Dylan, with one of them saying: “Stop sticking the camera in our faces.”
Dylan replies: “It’s not in your face, and your camera’s in my face so I don’t want to be recorded myself thanks.”
The staff member retorts: “We can record on here, it’s private property,” before Dylan interrupts saying, “Yeah, I can record on here as well mate.”
The man replies: “No you can’t”, resulting in a back-and-forth between the pair over whether Dylan can film them on the train.
Dylan says: “I know my rules, don’t start making rules up – I can’t record on public transport? What are you on about?”
The second rail staff then chips in, rhetorically asking: “You know the rules better than us?”
Dylan then replies: “It seems I do yeah, I had my foot on a bit of railing and you’re giving me a fine for that? Seems like a bit of discrimination is going on.”
The second man retorts: “You’re a clown you, you know?”
The video then closes with the first staff member printing off a slip of paper detailing Dylan’s £60 fine.
The video was uploaded to TikTok yesterday with the caption: ‘He might not of [sic] attacked me but he proper aggressively smacked my hand and almost sent my phone flying, on a different day this could of [sic] been a different story altogether.’
The post has received over 11,000 likes and more than 670 comments from users who were quick to chip in on the situation.
One user wrote: “Merseyrail the only company in the country who do the feet on seat thing. Proper robbery.”
Another said: “Ticket inspectors are proper jobsworths.”
A third asked: “Why did you give your details?”
One replied: “Imagine you’re one of them lads doing that job, proper helmets.”
A fifth commented: “Now be honest bro you had your foot fully in the seat didn’t you?”
Speaking today Dylan said: “I was approached by the officers asking for my details after showing them my ticket and he said it was for having my foot on the seat.
“My foot was not on the seat it was on the railing. I felt like it was unjustified and started recording the situation as I knew I was also being recorded.
“The officer didn’t like this and grabbed my phone. The officer was also being very aggressive and intimidating towards me and calling me names like ‘clown’ and ‘div’.
“I remained calm and co-operative. The officer then said I was not allowed to record on the train because it was ‘private property’ and I told them that I know the rules and that I am.
“Then they started mocking me and saying I know the rules better than them and laughing. This was very embarrassing for me especially in front of other passengers.
“He sat down in front of me and told me he’s taking my details.
“I was saying ‘what for’ because I had shown him my ticket and he was saying my foot was on the seat and I’m saying ‘it’s not, show me where it says I can’t have my foot on the railing’.
“I was refusing to give details so they stopped the train and were kicking me off so I told them I would co-operate and started telling them the details so I didn’t make the other passengers late.
“Plus I didn’t want to get off or I would have been late. That’s when I started recording.
“He hit my hand and luckily I kept hold of my phone, and it hurt a lot – my hand is still a bit sore.
“I now feel extremely anxious about getting back on a train after being assaulted by one of their officers.
“This has had a huge impact on my life as I haven’t attended uni, the gym, or my sports group since the incident.”
A Merseyrail spokesperson said today: “Merseyrail operates a strict no feet on seats or the seat frame policy.
“We do this because passengers tell us that it’s important to them that seats are kept clean and tidy. This is enforced under the Railway Byelaws.
“Whilst we can’t comment on individual cases, any complaints against a member of Merseyrail staff, or staff from our partners, are treated seriously and will be thoroughly investigated.
“The safety and comfort of all our passengers is our main priority, the railway byelaws are in place to ensure the best possible travelling experience.”
