Passengers face £1,000 fines for annoying behaviour including watching TikToks out loud

Trains are getting busier and people are getting more annoyed.

More than 200 overcrowded trains are predicted to head into UK cities every day this autumn, fuelled in part by a a dramatic rise in the number of passengers heading for the rails. With so everyone so squished up against one another, it is easy to commit a travel faux pas and irk your fellow travellers.

As well as annoying others, you could actually land yourself with a fine if you do the wrong things on a train. We have dug into the lawbooks, consulted new YouGov research into attitudes towards bad public transport behaviour and spoken to etiquette expert William Hanson to find Britain's biggest travel pet peeves - and how much you could be fined for committing them.

Have you been fined for one of these pet peeves? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

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Dogs

According to YouGov, more people would have an objection sitting next to or around a dog (23 per cent) when on a train than a baby (13 per cent). Whilst this may comer as a surprise to dog-lovers, technically it is the baby that is allowed on the seat, not the dog.

Although letting your dog sit on the seat next to you is not illegal, the Transport Act 2000 does outline when it could become so. "No person in charge of an animal shall allow it to foul or damage any part of the railway," it reads.

Allowing dogs on the seat could be viewed as unhygienic and there is no way of knowing whether the next customer to sit on the seat is allergic to dogs or not. “If you are the dog owner that gets on a train and is about to take a seat around people, I think the obligation is on you to say, 'does mind if I sit here?'", advised William.

Breaches of byelaws are prosecuted in a magistrates' court or Justice of the Peace Courts in Scotland. Many of the byelaws related to behaviour on trains fall under the Railway Regulation Act and can result in a fine of up to £1,000.

Putting your feet on seats

The biggest pet peeve of those who travel by train is people putting their feet on the seats (31 per cent).

"Someone once asked me 'Is there a difference between feet on seats in shoes versus feet on seats with shoes off and just socks?' And the answer is no. Obviously a sock is probably slightly more hygienic but no feet should go on seats," William declared.

"It's someone basically going ‘my space and my comfort is more important than anyone else's and actually, I'm not considering consciously or subconsciously that actually, someone else is gonna have to sit on that and sit on my germs.’"

Putting feet on seats counts as 'soiling', which means you could receive a find under a UK byelaw which reads "no person shall soil any part of the railway". In October last year, passenger Remy Greasley was fined £80 after putting his feet on the seat opposite him on a Merseyrail train.

Playing music or videos out loud, like TikTok

TikTok users without headphones on public transport - one of the great scandals of our time, and one which no one seems to have an answer for.

According to Section 219 of the Transport Act 2000, committing this social sin is not just hugely annoying, but illegal and could land you with a £1,000 fine. The law reads: "Except with written permission from the Operator, no person on the railway shall, to the annoyance of any person: (i) sing; or (ii) use any instrument, article or equipment for the production or reproduction of sound."

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According to YouGov, passengers are uncomfortable sitting next to people playing music out loud (31%) and to people talking on the phone (9%). "Whenever someone calls me, I'm very self conscious of it. I'm like, 'on the train - 'll phone back in 10 minutes' but I will sometimes reject a call and then send a text," said William.

"I don't mind if people are going to do a 'to the ear call' briefly. That's not so much of a problem. As long as they're talking in a in a normal voice and not shouting, it's the calls on speaker or facetime calls without headphones. That is incredibly frustrating."

The byelaws also state: "No person shall molest or wilfully interfere with the comfort or convenience of any person on the railway." As such, passengers are well within their right to ask someone to turn their music down if they are playing it aloud. You could even highlight their terrible behaviour to the police, if you're of that persuasion.

"If it's a busy carriage, then you're probably going to want to say something. If it's not a very busy carriage and there are lots of other seats elsewhere, I probably just for want of an easy life, just get up and move myself," explained William.

"But lots of British etiquette is passive aggressive, so maybe say 'Would you like to borrow my headphones?' and hopefully that would do the trick.. I would hope they also don't say yes because I'm never going to [give them my headphones] but I I might approach it that way," he added.

Giving up your seat

“Obviously, if someone does not move deliberately from a priority seat because it's an elderly person, you're on crutches, a heavily pregnant woman, for example, they really are an awful person. And again, that's where I would get trained staff to intervene," William said.

Whilst you might think it is a courtesy to give up your seat for someone who needs it, the byelaws state: "Except with permission from an authorised person, no person shall remain in any seat, berth or any part of a train where a notice indicates that it is reserved for a specified ticket holder or holders of tickets of a specific class, except the holder of a valid ticket entitling him to be in that particular place."

Leaving your rubbish

Next time you have some food on the train you may also want to think about the rubbish you leave. One byelaw states: "No person shall drop litter or leave waste on the railway."

William added: “We would all appreciate in our own working life if there was someone else that just sort of did something even by 1% to make our life a little bit easier. And that is all you are doing. It is not an inconvenience to move your packet or sandwich wrapper."