NZ - Mascara protest at late train

[John Ashworth]

Mascara protest at late train
By TOM FITZSIMONS - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 15 April 2008

A fed-up commuter was dobbed in to police after she tagged a railway station with makeup in protest at a train running late.

The 35-year-old woman took out her fury at what she called the constantly late Wairarapa train while she waited at Wellington railway station on Friday night.

"I got to thinking about all the hours I have lost at work and with my family, and thought I would use the time they steal from me to tell them how I feel," she said.

Whipping out her mascara, the atypical tagger and mother of a two-year-old daughter wrote "Tranz Metro do not give a toss" across one of the platform's pillars.

"I was not damaging property, but rather expressing the view of many commuters in a manner that was easy to wipe off and did not involve yelling at the poor beleaguered frontline staff," she said. When a Tranz Metro worker approached and told the public servant her behaviour was inappropriate, she said she shot back that it was inappropriate that the trains were often delayed without explanation.

Toll spokeswoman Sue Foley confirmed that a staff member had seen a person tagging on one of the pillars on Friday night.

"It was quite large and tagging is completely unacceptable. The police were called and they talked to the woman involved."

Under normal circumstances, a tagger would not have been allowed on the train, she said.

"But taking into account that it was Wairarapa, and she pleaded to go on it, we thought that was fair she was allowed to travel on the train."

A police spokesman said the graffiti attack had not been recorded in their system.

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