Yesterday BBC Newsbeat published an amusingly weird story of a British man who was arrested for charging his phone using a plug socket on a train. The passenger, Robin Lee, wasn’t eventually de-arrested on the original charge of “abstracting electricity”, but he was re-arrested for “unacceptable behaviour” as he contested the original charges aggressively.
There are a couple of clear lessons in this oddball story – if the police ask you not to do something, then it’s probably best to not do that thing, and if you feel hard done you should state your case later in a polite and unaggressive manner, so that you don’t get arrested for a proper offense.
Getting arrested for using a publicly available plug socket is quite rare; according to a criminal lawyer consulted by the BBC, there are “no hard and fast rules” about the practice. It is in fact a crime to dishonestly use electricity without due authority, but generally plugs placed in public areas like cafes or trains are intended for customer use and can be used without asking, as long as you also stop when asked to by someone in a position of authority.
Another lesson is that you could avoid the whole situation in the first place by packing a portable charger, letting you recharge using your own ethically-sourced, legally-obtained electricity. Portable batteries are also good for those situations where you can’t find a mains plug in the first place, like when you’re out in the wilderness, or Hull.
What do you think of Robin Lee’s electricity caper? Let us know in the comments below, or write to us on Twitter @mobilefun!