Artist arrested for 'abstracting electricity'

Robin Lee was charging his phone at a plug socket on his way from Hackney to Camden when a police community support officer insisted that it was an offence.

“She said I’m abstracting electricity. She kept saying it’s a crime. We were just coming into the station and there happened to be about four police officers on the platform.

“She called to them and said: ‘This guy’s been abstracting electricity, he needs to be arrested’.”

Lee described the officer as ‘overzealous’, the charge as ‘ridiculous’ and his reaction as ‘incredulous’. He uploaded a photo of his arrest sheet onto Twitter, which has since been deleted.

Under the S13 Theft Act of 1968, abstracting electricity is indeed a crime and the maximum penalty is 5 years in prison.

The plugs are usually clearly marked that they are for ‘cleaners use only and not for public use’. However, Mr Lee said “There were no clear signs next to the plug socket stating that they were reserved for cleaner use only.

Lee was handcuffed on the platform and taken to the closest police station where he was ‘de-arrested’.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: “We were called to Camden Road London Overground station on Friday, July 10, to a report of a man becoming aggressive when challenged by a PCSO about his use of a plug socket on board an Overground train.

“Shortly after 3.30pm, a 45-year-old man from Islington was arrested on suspicion of abstracting electricity, for which he was de-arrested shortly after.

“He was further arrested for unacceptable behaviour and has been reported for this offence.”