Try this:

"£3,000 BT bill for watching SpongeBob
A cheap camping holiday with his son ends in nightmare bill for blacksmith"

http://www.theguardian.com/mon...

(BT Mobile did agree to waive the bill after it hit all the media)

No one likes calling councils. Phone menus, long waits, many transfers to get the right dept, or just to be told "that road is maintained by the national government as it is an A road, that's a different number..."

In the UK, we have a website/app called FixMyStreet. Councils can pay to use the service to manage reports, but if they don't the app simply emails to their general email so it does have national coverage.

It does seem to work and the app makes it easy to take a photo, geotag, check the geotag is right, add a few words and send the report, all in a couple of minutes whilst walking along. Much more stuff gets reported and more usefully, others know what's been reported, so no need to re-report the same hole in the road.

And in my experience, apps don't seem to much care if you kill a flag or two. Perhaps because the ability to do so is not yet that common.

(In the case of PrivacyGuard)

See above - the nag can be once only and you can Grant or Deny with a Remember tick box optionally. It's no big deal in reality.

Or you can install, go to PG settings and just set it right up front.

It is also "fixed" in Cyanogenmod 11 that I have the snapshot release of on my Samsung Note 3. It's called "Privacy Guard and it is configurable per-app (on, off, finegrained). Each requested (in the manifest) priv flag can be granted "Allow", "Deny" or "Ask". It's very seemless - the odd message pops up when it tries to *use* a privilege that is flagged "Ask" and you get to choose.

Many apps do not actually seem to break either, when denied various things they have no business in needing.

And the times I've been asked for "Location", "SMS", "Contacts" by things like photo apps and other things that should be working on nothing more than pure local data is frightening.

And so you can:

http://www.leslikescameras.com...

That sounds like a rather nifty device - there is no UK equivalent.

OTOH if you folks moved on from using wirenuts :)

Not being a twat is usually helpful in getting out of trouble - but the PSCO was being such a complete and utter moron that I can see why he got upset.

The correct approach, if you wish to resist, is to tell the PCSO that you will cooperate with a real policeman only and challenge her to call the real BTP. Well, he got that far.

The next trick is, despite her being an utter moron, is he should be unfailingly polite to both her and the real BTP whilst disobeying her.

I've known people to do this when they are in the right (but a PSCO has jumped on them) and it usually results in the BTP apologising or at least taking no further action.

Not completely - Network Rail is a private company wholly owned by the state. So was East Coast (trains) until March 2015.

Our privatisation has been such a model of success that half of it went bankrupt and had to be taken over by the state (again).

There is no way they will let cleaners loose with a carriage key and authorisation to fiddle with random breakers in random cupboards. They'd probably hit the wrong one and isolate the pantograph gear or various critical systems, resulting in the next driver spending 20 minutes wandering up and down the train trying to figure out why he's got a warning light on or something doesn't work.

I refer the honourable gentleman to my post above :)

That's assuming there is a dedicated 240V line that runs through the train from cab to cab with a single breaker.

More likely there will be a breaker in each carriage or at least each unit (set of permanently joined carriages) - and this is likely to be in some cupboard rather that with the critical system breakers in the cab. So doing this will involve a certain amount of faff.

Yes, I guess they could have designed a computer initiated isolator on the socket circuits, but someone probably said "what's the point?"

You are probably thinking of "Walsall Gauge" 13A sockets beloved by the BBC or the T-bar-earth type that are quite common in communal areas in flats.

No - modern trains, at least all the ones I am familiar with tend to have regular 13A sockets. On the Class 375 Electrostars, these are 1 per vestibule and are usually marked "Not for public use" or similar.

Now, London Routemaster buses, in the days before fluorescent lighting, used funny voltage bulbs to deter people from nicking them.

Nothing to do with the company. It was a trumped up plastic "policewoman" who got all bent out of shape.

The worst the train guard would likely do (if that train even has a guard, many are Driver Only Operation) is suggest you unplug is as the supply might be dirty and risk damaging your equipment - or perhaps, in the worst case, that your lead is a trip hazard.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/...

"13 Abstracting of electricity.
A person who dishonestly uses without due authority, or dishonestly causes to be wasted or diverted, any electricity shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years."

So yes, the language is precisely correct.

Technically he has also committed a criminal offence.

However, PCSOs (which are sometimes known unaffectionately at "plastic policemen" are non warranted police officers with very limited powers. Most of their arresting powers are actually the same as those available to any citizen (aka "citizens arrest") and have very limited conditions of applicability. PCSOs do have some additional powers specially granted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

However, they are a modern invention and of considerably lower status, both legally and in the public perception compared to the more traditional volunteer role of "Special Constable" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

The problem here is that PCSOs generally lack common sense and seem to be power-happy. Unfortunately their warranted colleagues feel some obligation to back them up, rather than telling them to grow up, as might be applicable in cases like this.

Unfortunately for the artist, even through he has been de-arrested, he now probably no longer qualifies for the visa waiver programme for entry to the USA as the US notion of arrest is somewhat different to the English notion and the USA as far as I know does not have a concept of "de-arrest".

So actual harm has been done. No wonder the public perception of the police is falling like a lead balloon.