Arrested for ''abstracting electricity''

LeeUK said:
Loads of work places don't allow charging of personal devices either. Yeah it might just be "pennies" but if 1000s of staff across the company did it on a daily basis it would surely add to the electricity consumption.
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That's not the reason. The reason is you can't just plug a non-PAT certified device into the system.

When I worked of HP we could bring personal devices in once a month where they'd be put through PAT and if they passed we could then use them, but you'd get the sack if you plugged a non-certified device in.
 
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It would be cool if you could use an electric bike to get to the train station, and have it recharged on the train before you arrived.

Joined up transport etc...
 
amigafan2003 said:
That's not the reason. The reason is you can't just plug a non-PAT certified device into the system.

When I worked of HP we could bring personal devices in once a month where they'd be put through PAT and if they passed we could then use them, but you'd get the sack if you plugged a non-certified device in.
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They don't seem to care at the HP site I work at. You can wander around the office and see pretty much everyone has a personal phone/tablet plugged in. There's even one guy who's got a battery charger plugged in for charging his bike lights during the winter. No-ones batted an eyelid.

On topic: I always have phone or laptop plugged in on my long journeys, it's all part of the service you pay for with the hefty cost of a ticket.
 
David_VI said:
Only intended for train presentation staff, not rated for such things so could be unsafe. If anything happened it wouldn't be good!
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So, 'train presentation staff' = cleaners. And I'm making the assumption that they would be using some kind of hoover; since when were mobile phones more powerful than hoovers in terms of current draw?
As for overloading the charger, all it would do is pop the internal fuse and stop charging, unless of course the hoover is some special hadron collider hoover that requires such a large supply that it could cause ordinary devices to errupt in flames, destroying the carriage in a cataclysmic conflagration of over-loaded electrocity. And if such is the case, why are these sockets accessible?

I think what is more unsafe is the pcso's detaining an individual without the powers to do so. Chief constable discretion asside, I doubt such a discretion was intended for the crime of charging a mobile phone.
 
jumpy said:
So, 'train presentation staff' = cleaners. And I'm making the assumption that they would be using some kind of hoover; since when were mobile phones more powerful than hoovers in terms of current draw?
As for overloading the charger, all it would do is pop the internal fuse and stop charging, unless of course the hoover is some special hadron collider hoover that requires such a large supply that it could cause ordinary devices to errupt in flames, destroying the carriage in a cataclysmic conflagration of over-loaded electrocity. And if such is the case, why are these sockets accessible?
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It is an unregulated power supply - it is not designed nor intended to provide reliable regulated electricity supply whilst the train is in service. It is there for use by cleaning staff when the train is stationary in a depot.

It will not explode or kill everyone if used and will 'probably' work but you can understand why the rail firm isn't particularly keen to take the risk of people damaging whatever it is they plug in.

Plus they are also generally in inconvenient places anyway - meaning you get morons sitting in luggage racks or on the floor or something trying to charge phones with them.

I think what is more unsafe is the pcso's detaining an individual without the powers to do so. Chief constable discretion asside, I doubt such a discretion was intended for the crime of charging a mobile phone.
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The PCSO didn't detain the individual, the British Transport Police did. For what I guess we'll never know but it certainly wasn't for the specific 'crime' of charging a mobile phone.

I suspect what happened is that the guy didn't take kindly to being told to stop charging his phone.
 
Tefal said:
in work a bloke has made an adaptor for the big yellow industrial plug connectors to a normal plug extension lead to plug his phone in.
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A while ago when I was running lighting for a school show, we used an adaptor that went from a normal 13A socket to a 15A plug which plugged into the socket from the dimmer to connect the two followspots. One of the actors plugged his phone in to the end...fortunately we found it before anything broke.
 
Sorry Fox, but you seem to have missed the humour intent in my post. Oh well.


Working with office electrical fitouts, and thinking about the 'unregulated supply' I have to wonder, how do the train operators protect their cleaners equipment from being damaged by this unregulated supply? It makes no economic sense to have to buy hoovers that are not totally standard, ie 13a rated.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
PCSOs can have a power to detain but it is at the discretion of the Commissioner or Chief Constable of the relevant force. Iirc, most forces PCSOs don't have such a power.
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I assume if he's seen the person actually doing this, it's be a s24a PACE arrest rather than a detention - which would be perfectly legal.

Edit: after reading the article, he's been arrested by a constable from the BTP, but the PCSO could have arrested as well depending on force policy.
 
jumpy said:
Sorry Fox, but you seem to have missed the humour intent in my post. Oh well.


Working with office electrical fitouts, and thinking about the 'unregulated supply' I have to wonder, how do the train operators protect their cleaners equipment from being damaged by this unregulated supply? It makes no economic sense to have to buy hoovers that are not totally standard, ie 13a rated.
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Like has been said, when they're in a depot the supply is likely to be very steady. When you have pads picking up the supply from a third rail on the move, you are likely to have spikes and dips which could damage certain appliances.
 
jumpy said:
Sorry Fox, but you seem to have missed the humour intent in my post. Oh well.


Working with office electrical fitouts, and thinking about the 'unregulated supply' I have to wonder, how do the train operators protect their cleaners equipment from being damaged by this unregulated supply? It makes no economic sense to have to buy hoovers that are not totally standard, ie 13a rated.
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Nobody is hoovering trains whilst they are moving around in passenger service.
 
[TW]Fox;28310235 said:
Nobody is hoovering trains whilst they are moving around in passenger service.
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Maybe this is why they are always behind schedule?

Trains should have an extra carriage of cleaners at the back who repeatedly work their way down the train cleaning it like bridge painters, this way the trains would always be clean and the would be no need to take them our of service or delay them for cleaning! :D
 
Burnsy2023 said:
I assume if he's seen the person actually doing this, it's be a s24a PACE arrest rather than a detention - which would be perfectly legal.

Edit: after reading the article, he's been arrested by a constable from the BTP, but the PCSO could have arrested as well depending on force policy.
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Maybe the abstractor refused details at first and the necessity kicked in ? I dare say we won't get to find the full story.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
Maybe the abstractor refused details at first and the necessity kicked in ? I date say we won't get to find the full story.
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It's different necessity criteria for a s24a - I assume this is most applicable:

The reasons are to prevent the person in question—
(a)causing physical injury to himself or any other person;
(b)suffering physical injury;
(c)causing loss of or damage to property; or
(d)making off before a constable can assume responsibility for him.
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