Commuter Arrested For Stealing Electricity From Train After Charging His iPhone In Socket

A man was arrested under suspicion of stealing electricity after he tried to charge his iPhone in a socket on a train.

Robin Lee, 45, an artist who lives in Islington, north London, was stopped by police following the incident on an Overground train last Friday.

He plugged his iPhone into a socket on the train, but was approached by a police community support officer on board who warned him he was illegally extracting electricity. The sockets on Overground trains are reserved for the use of cleaning staff.

Lee was travelling on a train from Hackney Wick and got off at Camden Road, where police officers were waiting for him on the platform, he told The Evening Standard.

He said that after trying to push past the officers, he was arrested and taken to a British Transport Police station in Caledonian Road, where he was de-arrested on the offence of stealing electricity.

“They should never have arrested me,” he said.

“The whole thing was just ridiculous. It was an overzealous community support officer. She said I’m abstracting electricity. She kept saying it’s a crime.”

In a statement, a spokesman for British Transport Police (BTP) said: “We were called to Camden Road London Overground station on Friday, 10 July to a report of a man becoming aggressive when challenged by a PCSO about his use of a plug socket on board an Overground train.

“Shortly after 3.30pm, a 45-year-old man from Islington was arrested on suspicion of abstracting electricity, for which he was de-arrested shortly after.

“He was further arrested for unacceptable behaviour and has been reported for this offence.”

(Picture: @robinhowardlee/Twitter)