Two people have been fined for obstructing the doors of a Metro train, causing a delay to the service.
Steven Richardson, 32 of Holly Avenue, Wallsend, and Glenn Smith, 26, of Ridley Terrace, Gateshead, have both been proven guilty to obstructing the doors on a Metro train, at Wallsend on January 18, and at Stadium of Light on January 22 respectively.
They both appeared at North Tyneside Magistrates Court on April 2, 2014. Steven Richardson was fined £82.50, ordered to pay £20 surcharge and £90 costs. Glenn Smith was fined £300 and ordered to pay £20 surcharge and £90 costs.
These latest prosecutions come after Metro launched a campaign to encourage people not to obstruct Metro train doors.
Sharon Kelly, Director of Customer Services and Operations at DB Regio Tyne and Wear, which operates the Metro on behalf of Nexus, said: “Obstructing the train doors is dangerous and causes damage which can lead to trains being taken out of service which has a knock on effect on reliability. If trains are taken out of service, it means passengers are delayed and it costs a lot of money to repair these trains too.
“We would rather not prosecute and fine people, so we launched the doors campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of obstructing the doors. Some people think it’s OK to hold the doors open – they might even think they’re being helpful by holding them open for other passengers – but it is dangerous, we will prosecute them and they could be fined up to £1,000.”
As well as being dangerous, obstructing the doors of Metro trains is costly and causes major disruption to services. If the doors of a train are damaged, the train must be taken out of service to be checked and repaired, causing inconvenience to hundreds of passengers at a time.