Bristol to Cheltenham train guard spat on: police appeal for info. (29/8/2010)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele-Vision) images have been released of a man police want to speak to after a guard was spat at on a train travelling between Bristol and Cheltenham.

British Transport Police said the guard had told a man who had a child's ticket to pay for an upgrade on the 0941 BST service on 29 August.

A woman he was travelling with paid. The man got off at Filton Abbey Wood station and spat on the guard's neck.

Police said the man had initially refused to pay for the upgraded ticket.

As the guard stood at the doors of the stationary train, the man spat on him.

Pc Linda Carey-Harris said: "Members of rail staff have the right to go about their jobs without being assaulted by passengers.

"Spitting is a despicable act and we will do everything we can to identify any offenders and bring them to justice."

She asked anyone who recognises the man to contact the force.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Post:

Train guard cleared of false spitting claim

A train guard has been cleared of falsely claiming that a passenger spat at him.

Hector Smithers told British Transport Police Lenos Petrou spat on him following a talk about wrong tickets, Bristol Crown Court heard. It was claimed that, when Mr Petrou got off the train at Filton Abbey Wood, he spat on the platform. The guard then swabbed the spit from the floor and reported that his neck had been spat on.

CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele-Vision) footage from the train and station showed Mr Petrou spitting down to his right before a tussle ensued off camera. Mr Petrou then walked away, and the train guard crouched down.

Mr Smithers, 33, of Breandown Avenue, Henleaze, denied perverting the course of justice by making a false accusation Mr Petrou spat on him.

A jury of seven women and five men took just over an hour to unanimously find him not guilty.

Mr Smithers told the jury he found Mr Petrou and his girlfriend were travelling with child tickets. He upgraded the tickets, and told Mr Petrou he had run the risk of being liable for a fine of up to ^1,000.

He said that, as they left the train, he heard a ^hawking^ noise and felt spittle land on the back of his neck.

Mr Smithers described how he remonstrated with Mr Petrou and having then noticed spittle on the platform, he collected some and captured it using his guard^s swab kit.

Anna Midgley, defending, played a CCTV clip taken from the train which showed Mr Smithers picking up the spit and checking the backs of his trousers.

Mr Smithers told the jury he made the check to see if any spit was still on him, other than the spit he had rubbed from his neck. He said that in subsequent interviews he failed to clarify the spit he retained for evidence was from the platform and not from his neck.

Mr Petrou said: ^I had a stuffy throat and I spat on the floor. I went to carry on walking and Mr Smithers tried grabbing me. I stepped back so he couldn^t grab me. He tried grabbing my arm with both hands but I was walking backwards and he didn^t manage to get hold of me.^

Mr Petrou said that two months later he saw his picture, taken from CCTV, in the Post and on TV^▸ (Thames Valley, or TeleVision, depending on context). But although he insisted he had not done anything wrong he said he did not contact the police. He was arrested in February last year.

The jury was read a transcript of a seven-minute telephone call Mr Smithers made to the First Contact Centre, in which the operator recorded that the guard had been spat at on the neck.

PC John Flower, of British Transport Police, then interviewed Mr Smithers and recorded the same thing.