Posted by keeptalkinggreece
in Society
A public
transport ticket worth 1.20 euro cost the life of a Greek teenager boy. The
young man reportedly jumped off a trolley bus after a dispute with
a ticket controller and the trolley driver. The 19-year-old hit his head on the
pavement and died a couple of hours later in an Athens hospital.
The
incredible incident took place on Tuesday night in Peristeri suburb of western
Athens. The young man had not valid ticket. The controller asked him to get of
the trolley bus together with him at the end station in order to impose a fine.
According
to eyewitnesses – passengers of the trolley – a quarrel broke out between the
fare dodger and the controller. A quarrel that was joined by the driver.
Some
passengers even supported the young man and even offered to pay the ticket
price for him.
However
the situation got out of control. There are claims that the driver reportedly
tore apart the teenager’s t-shirt.
At a
certain moment the teenager managed to press the emergency button, the door
open and he jumped off the trolley bus, hitting his head on the pavement. An
ambulance transferred the teenager to a nearby hospital. but the young man
surrendered to his severe head wounds in the early morning hours of Wednesday.
Some eyewitnesses claimed the
young man was shouting that he had no money for the ticket neither for the fine
as his family was without work.
Video:
outraged trolley bus passengers after the incident
After his
death, the ticket controller and the driver were detained by the police.
Flowers
left at the spot where the
19-year-old died
An
investigation is to shed light on the circumstances. Greek media report that
the trolley bus was in motion. The chairman of Trolley workers union told Greek
media in the morning that when the emergency button is activated, the trolley
bus slows down and that the door is opened automatically.
So far
the information about the tragic incident tend to be rather conflicting:
According to ProtoThema the ticket
controller was polite and the far dodger beat him. The young man jumped off the
trolley when the situation had already calmed down. PrThema notes also that
ticket controllers are Public Transport employees who work outside their
working hours for extra money and get a bonus of 10% from the fines they
impose. The webnewspaper asks whether the controller behaved ‘over-zealously’.
PS a
death for a ticket? an angry quarrel for 1.20 euro? We need to calm down as a
nation…
- See
more at:
http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/08/14/athens-fare-dodger-19-dies-after-jumping-off-trolley-bus-to-avoid-ticket-fine/#sthash.n3MF8Dkp.dpuf
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