I agree, collectively 4 passengers should have taken an arm of a leg each and turfed him off the train.................

They could. But the rest of us, ie: Joe Public, "collectively", get the final say on whether that's warranted or not through the criminal justice system.

Well me being a "Joe" public myself, I would give him a round of applause.

If the law was enforced by infallible computers, you may be right, but it isn't, it's enforced by very fallible humans. Total reliance on the law is silly, it doesn't work.

There's a need for citizens to step in at times, as quoted by JLFS and Lynn, for example.

I've got a recent example as well. A local British bar owner, an arsehole, couldn't make a living from his bar because of what he is. So he set fire to adjoining bars and when that didn't work, he went out and shone a laser torch into the eyes of diners in adjoining premises.

They all just sat there and tried to carry on eating without seeing. A young Spanish barmaid was the only one to confront the idiot and tried to take the laser torch from him.

She was also the only one to call the police and provide them with the evidence to arrest the clown. The blinded people did nothing.

A petition to have the little twat thrown out of university would be welcome, purely for the fact that he is allowing this to go to court.

The problem is that too many people look the other way or limit themselves to critising others who do do something to stop these anit social assholes.

That is why kids are being beaten and tortured, because there are too many effing "its not my problem" ninnies around, the families dont want to know and niether do the neighbours, and so when the full story comes out, it is often too late.

Another victim of the"well, its not my concern, and none of my bussiness" brigade.

I've got another recent example of what we are discussing, which has caused me no end of problems.

I caught two Spanish kids spraying graffiti on my wall, kids about 14-years old. I went out and asked them to stop but they carried on spraying.

I got hold of one of them, took away his spray can and sprayed it in his face. When they ran away I went home, armed myself with a base ball bat and went round the corner to where they lived.

Luckily for me, they were not Spanish, they are South Americans, part of a large local gang known as Latin Kings, well known to the police.

When the police arrived, they sympathised with me because I was heavily outnumbered and they hated those Latin Kings, and I had got rid of the base ball bat when I heard the sirens.

Unfortunately, it won't stop there. I've got more graffiti on my wall, and the Doberman bit one of them on the leg when they tried to climb into my back garden.

To the point. Can I rely on the law to protect me? Can I f'uck.

Judging by reaction where I've seen this crop up on other forums, Joe Public is very much in favour of the "big mans" actions.

Not only that but its only a couple of days back that a couple of turds knifed an inspector, so it may also be wrong to underestimate the big mans bottle as well as his public spiritedness.

Another factor not mentioned in addition to the unneccessary convenience to other passengers is how many thousands a minute the delay was costing the train company and the rail system, quite possibly affecting other trains using the same network.

I would be surprised if the accused big guy ends up out of pocket at the end of the day with the sort of support he has brought out of the woodwork.

I've even seen sugestions that an anti-turd scheme be set up for such cases, whereby contributions are made in favour of such public spirited guys being persecuted by the ass of a law when simply trying to do the common sense and decent thing to deal with scumbags.

I don't thing you can do better than the well known quote from Edmund Burke to sum this question up:-

"All that is required for evil to flourish in the world is for good men to do nothing".

Welcome by whom?

Will all the signatories (including you) be required to print their full name and address ?

Now you see this is exactly why mob justice is bad. Not because one man throws a rude teenager without a ticket off a train, but because the hangers on just start making up punishments as they go along in the heat of the moment. If you really think that preventing someone from getting a higher education is a useful or appropriate punishment for rude fare dodging, and likewise you are prepared to do away with structure of the legal system that sends people to court for their offences, I'm just glad that a) justice isn't meted out via petition and b) that you aren't in any way in charge of anything.

Well ....... I also think he's a little twat who needs a few life lessons. However I dont think I would like to see his whole life destroyed for one stupid error of judgement

It would hardly be a net gain for society, would it.

"I know, let's make sure that anyone who is objectionable during his adolescence is never able to make anything of himself and contribute to society. But only the cases that come to public attention of course, so that the public can decide what the punishment is."

A higher education is like a lot of other things, it needs to be built on solid foundations that this twat obviously lacks.

I can understand to a certain extent the attempt to dodge a fare maybe in the heat of the moment. But to then go ahead and allow someone who rightly intervened in your stupid behaviour to face a court procedure is totally unacceptable.

So you think he should not be allowed to get a higher education?

And that this should be decided by public petition, rather than by the court system? How would you manage this for everyone who comes up on charges?