[VIC] Ticket inspectors used 'excessive force'

["Andrew Box" <boxy@bigpond.net.au>]

Maybe this is a good reason for those 12% out there to buy a ticket next
time they take a ride on a Yarra tram

http://www.theage.com.au/news/20001125/A35745-2000Nov24.html

Ticket inspectors used 'excessive force'

By SUSHI DAS
TRANSPORT REPORTER
Saturday 25 November 2000

Private transport operator Yarra Trams yesterday denied taking a
heavy-handed approach after an interstate passenger travelling without a
ticket was wrestled to the ground in Collins Street when he refused to give
his personal details.

Four plain-clothes revenue protection officers forced the struggling and
screaming passenger off the route 112 tram about 1.30pm and held him down
before seven police officers arrived to deal with the scuffle.

Concerned for the man, another passenger, Susan Glover, intervened, but was
told by Yarra Trams staff that she would be arrested if she did not back
off.

"The young man was doing his best to cooperate but was being pushed to
frustration by the heavy-handed approach," Ms Glover said.

"As I got off the tram in Collins Street, the four heavies dragged off the
boy behind me. He was clearly scared and was calling out as he was wrestled
to the ground. His bag and wallet scattered on the road as motorists stopped
to stare and crowds gathered on the footpath," she said.

"They moved in on the boy and quickly had him in a vice-like grip. By this
stage the boy was terrified."

A Yarra Trams spokeswoman, Christine Buckingham, denied unnecessary force
had been used, saying passengers were unaware of the powers held by revenue
protection officers. Yarra Trams will launch a customer education campaign
next month.

She said the scuffle ensued because the passenger, who was from the Northern
Territory but residing in St Kilda, was being aggressive, abusive and was
trying to run away.

Yarra Trams revenue protection manager Paul McKeon said revenue protection
officers were trained to deal with hostile incidents using special
techniques.

"He was very negative and aggressive and started to yell and scream," he
said. "Only restraint techniques were used. We don't use batons or
handcuffs. He was held by the arm and they ended up on the ground at one
stage."

The passenger gave his personal details to tram staff after he was advised
to do so by police officers. The police were called by a bystander.

Under the Transport Act and Crimes Act, revenue protection officers are
empowered to detain and arrest passengers travelling without a valid ticket
who refuse to give their personal details.

>From next month Yarra Trams' 29 revenue protection officers will wear a grey
pinstriped suit, white shirt and identification badge. Some will check
tickets in plain clothes.

Yarra Trams' 20 customer service employees also check tickets but do not
have the power to detain passengers.Mr McKeon said that up to 20,000 tickets
were checked each month. Between 1000 and 1200 people a month were booked
for ticketing offences. There had been four hostile incidents this month.

Yarra Trams reports ticket offenders to the Department of Infrastructure,
which issues a flat $100 fine for each offence. Mr McKeon said fare evasion
had remained at about 12 per cent since the system was privatised last
August.

The Public Transport Users Association president, Paul Mees, expressed
outrage, saying Yarra Trams was using a "quasi-militaristic style of
enforcement which was inappropriate".

"They have set up a system where it's hard to buy a ticket and easy to evade
your fare. Some serious civil liberties questions are raised when
quasi-police powers are given to private companies," he said.