Boiled eggs on a train court case

[Iamthewombat]

Does anybody else feel sorry for the woman prosecuted for objecting (quite vigorously, I admit) to somebody eating smelly hard boiled eggs on an early morning train?

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/city-worker-flew-into-rage-at-commuter-over-boiled-eggs-breakfast-on-train-from-chelmsford-to-a4284821.html

Because I do.

The boiled egg eater is the very definition of a drama queen. According to the story, she had already been told by a different passenger that the smell of her eggs was offensive but carried on regardless.

After being challenged by the woman who was later prosecuted, she pretended that she couldn’t speak English, then told the police about the altercation. Then pointed the other woman out to police when she saw her on the train five days later!

I know who I support, and it’s not the anti-social egg eater. Who apparently had to eat her eggs in a public place ‘because of her diet’.

It depends on what the yelling is like though - I read this as more of your common or garden commuter rage rather than domestic abuse.

If so many of you are so affected by every day smells that you faint or projectile vomit without warning you should probably see a doctor.

*All of which I see served in a regular basis in the small and enclosed NT cafes around where I live.

Clue is in the word you used there. 'Cafe'

A train is not a cafe

Well, I suppose if you get migraines you can be averse to certain smells and Id guess that everyone has at least once felt pukey at a smell in public.

*Abusing and threatening your fellow commuters is a crime known to the law of England.

Eating an egg is not.

Does that help*

Most sensible post on the thread!!

I have little sympathy for the egg eater. When I first heard about it I thought shouty woman deserved her fine for being abusive.
However, having read further into the case, egg woman doesn’t help herself and was being deliberately provocative. She knew the eggs reeked as this had been pointed out to her previously. When shouty woman mentioned this, egg woman just shrugged, clearly not giving a fuck that the smell upset others, because apparently her dietary demands are more important than the consideration of others.
From what I understand, that is when shouty woman questioned whether she spoke English, which isn’t unjustified given egg woman just shrugged at her and carried on stuffing.
I don’t condone abusive behaviour but neither do I condone selfish entitled behaviour as demonstrated by egg woman. I’m just shocked it got so far and that the police took it seriously. My sisters car was set on fire recently and the police did fuck all, but this is taken seriously?

Back in my bus-riding days there was a TFL poster on board that said not to put your shopping bags on the seat, not to have your music excessively high, and NOT TO EAT STINKING FOOD. It's basic courtesy. For what it's worth I would've lost my shit at someone eating eggs, just thinking about it makes me gag 🤢

I read this as more of your common or garden commuter rage rather than domestic abuse.

It was abusive enough for a conviction.

There is no reason why anyone should become aggressive to a stranger. It's fucking unacceptable and intimidating.

I have never cared if I can smell an egg - it's an egg not a shit.

I only think it got as far as it did because Egg Eater accused Shouty Woman of being racist, I think Egg Eater is a total dick head to be honest and just wants to wreack hovac no matter what the cost.

eggs have always been known to be a stinky food, eggs and tuna type foods, they are like the comedy foods that you'd find in Beano or some other comic. I don't remember that from comics I remember pies with delicious aromas that made people steal them.

Why are people arguing that eggs don't stink, or bringing up some random food stuff which hardly anyone has a aversion to?
To some people eggs (and other foods) don't 'stink'; they just have a smell, which a lot of things do.
And foods aren't 'random' when they make people feel sick/puke, as some people on this thread are saying about non-egg foods.

A train is not a cafe
But they sell food and drink.

I can't get over the victim blaming on here.

The aggressive woman was found guilty by a jury. 12 people heard the evidence and found her guilty yet lots of you, having read a newspaper article are basically saying egg eating woman deserved it. That she was responsible for the way another person behaved because of what she did? How can that be ok? We should all be able to wear what we want, look how we want, eat what we want without fearing abuse and attack from another person. The person at fault here was the abusive woman for not being able to control herself. It's not the victims fault for not placating her enough.

She could have accepted the behaviour and rejected the aggravating charge and most likely would have got a caution for the former and latter dropped.

Really? CPS policy says:

When deciding whether it is in the public interest to prosecute racially and religiously aggravated crimes, our prosecutors must have regard to the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The Code states that where the offence was motivated by any form of discrimination including against the victim’s ethnic or national origin, or religion or belief, or whether the suspect demonstrated hostility towards the victim based on any of those characteristics, the presence of any such motivation or hostility will mean that it is more likely that a prosecution is required.

and ...

Once a case has been flagged as a hate crime and received by the CPS, it is CPS policy not to remove the flag for any reason other than administrative error. This signals the CPS commitment to treat all such crimes seriously and to accept the victim’s perspective, even where we are unable to identify sufficient evidence to prosecute the case as a hate crime.

www.cps.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/racist-religious-hate-crime-statement-2017.pdf

... so I would have thought it unlikely that they'd have dropped the racially aggravated charge unless they thought they had insufficient evidence.

The police operational guidance says A hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race or perceived race (there are similar definitions for some other protected characteristics).

If a hate crime is reported to the police it must be recorded as such and from that point on, from initial police contact with the victim, all the way through to sentencing, special rules apply. Even if the police can find no evidence that an actual crime has been committed in the first place they will still record it as a 'non-crime hate incident' and this will stay on the alleged perpetrator's file.

I'm not commenting on the rights and wrongs of this case or whether or not it was racially motivated. I'm seeking to understand why a verbal attack over boiled eggs on a train was treated so seriously that it ended up in a crown court jury trial.

The non egg eater was pretty aggressive according to the article, leaning into her face and saying "you don't know who I am, be careful, do you want to go outside"

Worse assaults obviously happen among drunk people or behind closed doors, but not on 6am busy commuter trains, and the aggressive woman was easy to identify, lots of witnesses so easy to prosecute. She also called the egg eater disgusting and was unsuccessfully charged with a racially motivated element so that might be why it was prosecuted.

Sorry missed 9 million pages please ignore my post!

Only on Mumsnet would somebody expressing sympathy for a woman convicted a crime be told by a sob sister that they, the person sympathising, would probably commit the same crime themselves.

Which would make Lord Longford a mass murderer.

"you don't know who I am, be careful, do you want to go outside" - I must have missed that - in which case she is an absolute idiot.

But egg woman should still be a bit more considerate!

DarkingNikita whatever! 😂

I'm surprised Shouty Woman leaned into Egg Eater's face if the smell was that bad. When I was a commuter, I found that a generous spritz of perfume onto the inside of my top always helped with unpleasant traveller smells. I used to bury my nose in the Chanel soaked fabric. It kept me out of Court.

@loobyloo1234 but it's an enclosed space and no one seems to have an issue with the smell. So why is it an issue in a train??

Plus, egg or tuna snadwiches are also SOLD in trains. Im pretty usre that if

• eating in a train was an issue
• eggs were so smelly that they were an inconvenience to everyone

train operators would have stopped selling them a log time ago.

"you don't know who I am, be careful, do you want to go outside"
Yep thats the part that tells me this should be treated in a similar way that any other abusive/aggressive behaviour. This was not someone getting pissed off and grumbling about something. This is was full n aggression esp as it was accompanied with the being in your face, leaning in etc....

Oh, look at that. Hint: it is the Virgin trains on board menu. So food sold on a train for the customer to eat on the train. And it includes: burgers and egg sandwiches! So, you know, all these people saying you should never eat such things on a train...

I don't mind the smell of food. Should I consider myself lucky?

I have to say - the man in front of me on the bus has just started to tuck into - well I can’t see it but there is a very strong whiff of garlic) 🤢 now that’s not nice!