Madam, – The annoyance of Joe McBride in seeing Dart passengers resting their feet on adjoining seats is understandable. (November 2nd). Here on Merseyside, the local rail provider – Merseytravel – has adopted a zero tolerance approach to such behaviour.
Offenders are either given a fixed penalty notice (£60) or taken before the court. In the first six months of the scheme, started in February 2007, some 250 people were brought before the magistrates with a further 600 in the pipeline.
Despite claims that the rail company has adopted a somewhat draconian attitude to what many would consider a trivial matter, it does seem to be paying dividends. I travel on the network regularly and I rarely see such conduct now. Perhaps the Dart could introduce a similar approach and send out the message that they mean business? – Yours, etc,