Hero garda angry at Irish Rail’s half refund
He stepped in to stop attacker
A RETIRED detective sergeant who intervened to protect passengers on a busy train during an unprovoked attack has spoken out against Irish Rail after he was refused a full refund for his ticket.
Cyril Meehan told the Irish Mail on Sunday he sought a refund after he was forced to restrain and negotiate with a man who violently attacked a teenage girl and the train driver.
The attack resulted in a delay of one hour and 40 minutes but Irish Rail told Mr Meehan it would not refund him as the delay was ‘short of the two hours necessary for a full refund’ of €21. The company instead issued him with a €10.50 voucher.
‘That’s the value this company puts on my inconvenience and assistance I provided to them,’ said Mr Meehan. The retired garda described the frightening events on a Dublin-toWestport train on April 5 last.
He said a man on the train, without provocation, assaulted a teenage girl. He added that there was no security or even a ticket inspector on board and it was left to him and three young passengers to stop to the attack. The train was then stopped. ‘The driver of the train was assaulted and had to retreat with a bleeding nose. There were a lot of elderly people in the carriage and they were very frightened.
‘I immediately went to the assistance of the driver. Myself and three young passengers had to restrain the man. I kept negotiating, talking and distracting him until the gardaí arrested him 30 minutes later.’
The girl and the driver were taken to hospital and passengers ‘had to wait for almost two hours for a replacement driver’.
Mr Meehan sought a refund but Irish Rail refused ‘as my delay was just short of the two hours necessary for a full refund’.
A spokesman for Irish Rail said: ‘Mr Meehan submitted a refund form but unfortunately whoever was dealing with it missed the detail about his assistance and issued him a standard delay refund. Our customer relations manager has just spoken to him. He was very gracious and we apologised for missing that detail.’
‘The driver had to retreat with a bleeding nose’