Rail rebel pays £300 for a seat in court

It is a story that any rush-hour commuter will sympathise with.

After months of delays and overcrowding, civil servant Lisa Muggeridge decided she had enough of being crammed into a laterunning train carriage and decided to take advantage of one of the many empty seats in first class.

But as her train left Leeds station on 25 January last year the conductor demanded Miss Muggeridge pay a ? 6 upgrade - but despite a fierce row she refused on the principle that there were no other seats available.

The train company took the 23-year-old civil servant to court and she was fined £100 and ordered to pay £200 costs after being found guilty by magistrates yesterday of "using the railway with intent to avoid payment".

Speaking after the hearing in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, she said: "If they [Arriva Trains Northern] spent half as much time hiring drivers as they do on prosecuting cases like this they would do much better."

Arriva said: "We have zero tolerance on fare evasion."