John Clyde jailed for 17 years over 'monstrous regime' of breaking public transport rules

A man who ate food and drunk on public transport has been jailed for 17 years.

Judge Andy Mull told John Clyde: "It was a monstrous regime of breaking public transport rules over time."

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 34-year-old used Arriva buses to travel to various parts of Kent, such as Maidstone, Tonbridge and Canterbury from his home in Gillingham. He then consumed various foods such as pasties, sausage rolls and even a Big Mac at one point during the bus trips. He also consumed various cold beverages on the journeys such as Coca Cola, Pepsi, mineral water and Oasis black-current juice.

Clyde, formerly of Trafalgar Court, Gillingham, was convicted in February of five charges of eating on a public bus, two of drinking on a public bus, five of spilling crumbs on a public bus, and two of spilling a drink on a public bus.

Prosecutor Christopher May said the bus company eventually told police how Clyde would get on the buses concealing food and drinks in his coat. Then he would sit at the back of the bus and consume the food and beverages, spilling a high volume of it over the bus floor and surrounding seats and generally making it a mess for other passengers. He apparently did this at least three times in one week.

When bus services had ended for the day some of the buses were taken to the Arriva bus depot in Dartford where cleaners vacuumed the crumbs left behind by Clyde, however it was increasingly difficult to remove the drink spillage stains that had been embedded into some of the back seats, the court heard.

Arriva had to use the company's budget an uncountable amount of times to hire a special cleaner to steam clean the seats to efficiently remove the spillage stains.

Eventually the bus company were fed up of doing this and company officials for Arriva Southern Counties looked back at CCTV footage from the buses in question, eventually they found Clyde on the cameras, eating sausage rolls and drinking Coca Cola, spilling it everywhere.

On that day the driver noticed what Clyde was up to and went to reprimand him. He was warned that if he did not stop eating and drinking, he would be kicked off the bus without a refund for his bus ticket, but Clyde bribed the driver £20 to keep quiet and let him off. Mr May said it was manipulation to prevent him from being kicked off the bus and the driver had accepted the bribe.

Clyde, now of East Grinstead, West Sussex, denied all the allegations despite clear cut CCTV footage showing him carrying out the offences.

The 34-year-old was sentenced to 17 years in prison without parole, he was also banned from using Arriva's services after his 17 year jail sentence and ordered to pay £500 in cleaning costs to repair the damage he had caused to the buses.