I'm standing up for the middle classes and I deserve a seat! Why company director belted man who put laptop bag on seat
A drunken company director left a commuter permanently scarred after a 'seat rage' attack on a late-night train.
Financial consultant Kevin Fowler, 45, punched the passenger when a dispute arose over the laptop bag he had placed on a seat.
When questioned by police after a night in a cell, Fowler declared: 'I'm a middle-aged, middle-class bloke standing up for the rights of rail travellers, who have a right to use a seat.'
Fowler, of Goring-by-Sea, Worthing, was convicted of assaulting 38-year-old account manager Adrian Farthing on August 4 last year.
He was sentenced to a 12-month community order, which includes 200 hours' community service, and ordered to pay £1,500 compensation to the victim and £550 costs.
Mr Farthing, from Brighton, who was left with a deep cut below his eye, told Croydon Magistrates' Court that he was sitting on a train at London Bridge Station at 11.15pm.
'A gentleman came in, picked up my leather laptop bag and threw it on to my lap,' he told the court.
'He said he had a ticket and every right to sit there. He threatened me with words along the lines of: "You'd better shut up before I shut you up".
'I laughed and turned away, which may have inflamed the situation and provoked him into hitting me over the head.
Financial consultant Kevin Fowler, 45, punched the passenger when a dispute arose over the laptop bag he had placed on a seat.
When questioned by police after a night in a cell, Fowler declared: 'I'm a middle-aged, middle-class bloke standing up for the rights of rail travellers, who have a right to use a seat.'
Fowler, of Goring-by-Sea, Worthing, was convicted of assaulting 38-year-old account manager Adrian Farthing on August 4 last year.
He was sentenced to a 12-month community order, which includes 200 hours' community service, and ordered to pay £1,500 compensation to the victim and £550 costs.
Mr Farthing, from Brighton, who was left with a deep cut below his eye, told Croydon Magistrates' Court that he was sitting on a train at London Bridge Station at 11.15pm.
'A gentleman came in, picked up my leather laptop bag and threw it on to my lap,' he told the court.
'He said he had a ticket and every right to sit there. He threatened me with words along the lines of: "You'd better shut up before I shut you up".
'I laughed and turned away, which may have inflamed the situation and provoked him into hitting me over the head.
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