Fare's Fair
I've been following - in a casual sort of way - all the brouhaha surrounding the young student from Heriot Watt University - Sam Main - who was thrown off the Edinburgh to Perth train last Friday.
Now I don't really understand what all the fuss is about - all that happened is that a young man who was behaving like a complete ned - got what he deserved.
The ticket collector - an elderly gent - asked for Sam's ticket and was just going about his job - but Sam couldn't produce a valid ticket at the time.
But instead of apologising and finding the correct ticket (which he later claimed to have) - or paying for a new ticket - or getting off the train - young Sam became truculent and belligerent.
An argument followed with the ticket collector - who at that stage should probably have contacted the transport police - but instead he decided the train would not move until Sam stopped behaving like an idiot.
Faced with this another passenger - Alan Pollock - intervened and bundled young Sam off the train causing him much embarrassment - because the whole incident then appeared on You Tube.
Young Sam and his family then fought back - saying that he was a nice young man really and that he had been injured in the incident - was diabetic and left his insulin on the train - and was really the victim not the transgressor.
Baloney.
The man who helped eject Sam from the train did not hit or strike him - he just used his height and size to get Sam off the train.
Sam resisted and struggled which may be how he hurt himself - or it may have been because he was drinking earlier that day - thus impairing his judgement.
Either way why should the other passengers put up with someone who was acting like a complete asshole - I'm sure if he asked for his bag back, the ticket collector would have gladly handed it over.
In any event he didn't and although Sam gave a 'butter wouldn't melt in my mouth' TV interview some time later - the truth is there for everyone to see.
Here's the You Tube link - decide for yourself: http://youtu.be/NSJBUNOG8kw