The incident took place last Friday and saw Robin Lee arrested for abstracting electricity after plugging his iPhone into a socket on a train.
Lee, 45, was travelling on a London Overground train (from Hackney Wick to Camden Road) when he was approached by a police community support officer who claimed he was taking electricity illegally.
Seven officers arrived at the scene to detain the self-employed artist, placing him in handcuffs, then putting him in the back of a police van.
A stunned Lee, who was later de-arrested at a local police station, said the whole thing was “ridiculous”.
He added: “The police officer said I’m abstracting electricity. She kept saying it’s a crime. We were just coming into the station, and there happened to be about four police officers on the platform. She called to them and said ‘This guy’s been abstracting electricity, he needs to be arrested’. I was just incredulous, it was an overzealous community support officer.”
“They should never have arrested me, they knew it was ridiculous. The whole thing was just ridiculous.”
Transport for London said plug sockets were “only there for cleaners” and “were strictly not for public use.”
Abstracting electricity carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Doesn’t this seem a bit drastic?