A student who was taken to court for putting her feet on a train seat escaped a potentially career-wrecking criminal conviction yesterday after lawyers branded the case a “ludicrous” waste of time and money.

Kathleen Jennings, 19, wiped tears from her eyes as she was given an absolute discharge by Chester magistrates.

The university student, who is studying maths, had fallen foul of the train operator Merseyrail’s “zero tolerance” policy to protect its upholstery.

Although she removed her flip-flops from the seat as an inspector arrived, this did not satisfy the company. Rather than imposing a fine, it chose to pursue the matter through the courts, in a move that was criticised yesterday as an absurd over-reaction.

Had she been convicted of a criminal offence, the teenager could have struggled to realise her ambition of becoming a maths teacher.

However, Christine Abrams, the chairwoman of the magistrates’ bench, gave Miss Jennings an absolute discharge, meaning that no criminal offence will be recorded and she will suffer no penalty. There were no costs awarded.

Ms Abrams said: “The bench is united in feeling that while this may have been contrary to a by-law, Merseyrail should have a less draconian method for dealing with matters of this nature.” She advocated a more commonsense approach in the future. “A fixed penalty system may be more appropriate.”

As the bench delivered its decision, the teenager’s parents, Tony and Susan, broke into a round of applause. Outside court, Miss Jennings said: “I’m really relieved. I thought the worst. I thought they were not going to give me a discharge. It’s been very distressing, to be honest, getting a solicitor and going through all this, which I’ve never done before. It’s been a bit difficult.”

She admitted resting her feet on a train seat while on her way home to Oldham in June this year, when she was approached by an inspector. She said she feared that a conviction would show up on criminal record checks and put at risk her chances of working with children. “It’s quite scary — for just putting my feet on a seat on a train it would jeopardise all that,” she said.

“I hope they will target proper criminals, not someone like me.”

Her father added: “It is ridiculous, they just pick on the easy targets. In my day you used to get a bang around the earhole and ‘Don’t do it again’.”

Earlier Kevin Jones, representing Merseyrail, told the court that, as a train inspector approached Miss Jennings, she took her flip-flops off the seat. He admitted there was no verbal warning but said that a notice in front of her warned passengers of a £100 penalty for resting their feet on seats.

Irwin Bamforth, for the defence, said: “I have to say that the general consensus is, this is ludicrous. All it would have taken was for the gentleman to say, ‘Please take your feet down.

“She took her feet down and that should have been the end of it. She was taken off the train extremely distressed. Her whole family have become involved and they are very distressed. She is a young lady with no previous convictions who has co-operated fully.

“To be punishing a promising young student who could end up with a criminal conviction is crazy.”

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