Anti-Social Behaviour Campaign Tackles Drunks on Trains

British Transport Police spoke with the man and issued him with the first £40 on-the-spot-fine to be handed out in the country for being drunk and incapable at the train station.

One witness said: “You couldn’t have made it up. The timing was hilarious. The officers basically escorted the man down the escalators and past the minister at just the very moment he was busy launching the fines themselves.

“The bloke was issued with a £40 fine on the spot. The fines were actually introduced a couple of days ago, this was just the official launch.

“It was an amazing coincidence really that it took until that very moment to issue the first one.”

MacAskill himself seemed completely unfazed by the incident as he pressed ahead with the launch.

He said: “The public should be able to travel on our rail network without fear of being affected by loutishness, drunkenness and other unacceptable behaviour.

“British Transport Police officers will now have the same powers as all of Scotland’s police forces to take action against anyone indulging in such behaviour, helping them free up more time for preventing and tackling more serious crimes.

“The introduction of fixed penalty notices for our police forces has already helped them take swift and visible action against antisocial behaviour in our communities.

“The Scottish Government fully supports our police and other law enforcement agencies in delivering instant justice for our communities through these on-the-spot fines.”

Vandalism, urinating in public, breaches of the peace and being drunk and incapable are just some of the disorder offences covered by the new on the spot fines which have been introduced to cut paperwork for BTP officers.

BTP Chief Superintendent Martyn Ripley, area commander for Scotland, added: “We record in the region of 2000 offences of this nature each year and estimate at least 25% will be dealt with by way of a fixed penalty.

“We will not tolerate anti-social behaviour of any kind. Passengers and rail staff should be able to travel and go about their normal duties without any kind of inconvenience.”

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