An angry commuter who parked his car across railway tracks to stop a train escaped a jail sentence today.
Property manager Simon Taylor, 47, blocked a main line to London with his Renault Kangoo in a moment of anger at rail operator South Central.
His patience snapped at Burwick Station, near Eastbourne, in September last year, when he was informed that the 6.30am service to London Victoria would not be making its scheduled stop.
Taylor got back in his car and parked it across a level crossing, forcing a six minute delay for which rail operators wanted to bill him £212 a minute.
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Last month, Taylor, of Windmill Road, Polegate, East Sussex, admitted a charge of obstructing an engine using a railway line, contrary to the 1861 Malicious Damages Act at Hove Crown Court.
Today he was sentenced at the same court to 80 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay £250 compensation to Network Rail and £100 costs.
Judge Austin Issard-Davies said: “That was a stupid and egotistical protest which must inevitably have served to disrupt the journeys of people along the rail network.”
Taylor - who has on several occasions campaigned to become a local councillor - claimed that he had no idea he had stopped his car on the actual track, saying that his judgment had been affected by his anger.