Train passenger banned from travelling when drunk following assaults

A man who became violent and abusive on a train in Liverpool has been jailed and has been banned for two years from travelling on trains if he’s drunk.

Liverpool Magistrates’ Court was told that Paul Andrew Perry committed the offences on a train from Liverpool Lime Street on 15 February 2018.

The court heard that Perry, 38, shortly after the train left the station, tried to enter a toilet on the train. When he couldn’t open the door, he became abusive towards a passenger on the train, threatening to knock him out and slash his face.

He then turned on the train guard, Tracey Wych, trapping her against her door and shouting and spitting in her face.  Perry then entered another carriage where there was a passenger who had seen the first altercation. This passenger had moved down the train for his own protection but Perry found him and slapped him twice to the back of his head with some force.

Perry was later arrested and pleaded guilty to two offences against the Public Order Act and common assault. Magistrates added two weeks to a jail term that Perry was already serving for other offences and that was coming to an end and ordered him to pay £100 compensation to each of the people he had abused or assaulted.

The Crown Prosecution Service also applied to the  Magistrates to impose a Criminal Behaviour Order to prevent Perry getting on a train or entering a railway station if he’s drunk.

Associate Prosecutor Andrew Page prosecuted the case for Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service.

He said: “The Crown Prosecution Service successfully applied for the order on behalf of British Transport Police Liverpool. It’s the first time the local force has asked for an order of this type.

“The order is in place for two years and covers any railway station or train in England or Wales. The granting of the order is an important precedent. It will hopefully act as a deterrent to anyone considering using the rail network while drunk.

“Everyone has the right to travel on the nation’s trains without being in fear of assault or abuse. Paul Perry ignored that and is now facing the consequences.”