Man Arrested For ‘Stealing Electricity From Train’ While Charging iPhone

11 years ago

According to a report by Yahoo! News, Robin Lee, a 45 year old artist from London, was arrested under suspicion of stealing electricity after he tried to charge his iPhone in a socket on an overground train. The source details that he was approached by a police community support officer on board who warned him he was “illegally extracting electricity”, since the sockets on overground trains are reserved for the use of cleaning staff only.

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Lee was travelling on a train from Hackney Wick and got off at Camden Road, where police officers were waiting for him on the platform. He said that after trying to push past the officers, he was arrested and taken to a British Transport Police station in Caledonian Road, where he was released on the offence of stealing electricity.

“They should never have arrested me,” he said. “The whole thing was just ridiculous. It was an overzealous community support officer. She said I’m abstracting electricity. She kept saying it’s a crime.”

In a statement, a spokesman for British Transport Police (BTP) said: “We were called to Camden Road London Overground station on Friday, 10 July to a report of a man becoming aggressive when challenged by a PCSO about his use of a plug socket on board an Overground train.

“Shortly after 3.30pm, a 45-year-old man from Islington was arrested on suspicion of abstracting electricity, for which he was de-arrested shortly after”.

The spokesman concluded his remarks by adding that he was also arrested for “unacceptable behaviour”, and has already been reported for this offence as well.

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12 Comments

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MrXax

10 years ago

Pushing past police was probably not the best option.

Gary

Reply to MrXax

10 years ago

Beware of these wall-hugging electricity thieves.

MGSayah

10 years ago

I charged my iPhone once in the metro of Montreal… No one said anything.

mcfilmmakers

Reply to MGSayah

10 years ago

There are no outlets onboard metro cars. Besides, just because no one said anything doesn’t mean it is legal and also montreal isn’t london. Two entirely different countries are involved here.

Andy

10 years ago

Unless there were signs prohibiting the theft of electricity, I’d do it. That or lock up the outlets.

Tim

10 years ago

If every free socket on every train in Britain was used to charge a phone during all hours of operation over the course of a year, the increased cost to the train authority (or whatever it is) would be under $100. Of course, not every socket on every train is going to be in use, so it would be much less. Customer satisfaction dividends would far exceed any increased cost.