Train Chaires And Damaged Other Passenger Laptops, This Male Was Fined IDR 4.7 Million

Illustration. (Unsplash/Chan Young Lee)

JAKARTA - The debate over whether giving up seats while traveling by train in China's Hunan Province changed after a man was fined.

Court documents released in November showed officials taking a dim view of the March 2022 incident, in which a student, identified only by his last name, Wang, had his laptop damaged while on the train to Wuhan City.

Wang was using a computer he had just bought on a foldable back seat table, when the man sitting in front of him named Liu immediately handed down his seat hitting Wang's laptop, causing the screen to break, according to CNN December 7.

After repairing his laptop, Wang then demanded $ 685 Liu to cover the repair costs, then headed to the police station to report the incident.

The People's Court in Xiangyin Regency, Hunan, decided both sides were responsible for what happened, with Liu 70 percent guilty, as he handed over his seat and Wang was blamed 30 percent because he should have been more careful.

As a result, Liu was ordered to pay $478.15, according to a court decision or 70 percent of the amount Wang demanded.

In its decision, the court showed notices posted on trains, reminding people to check on passengers behind them before giving up seats.

Although this case appears to be an isolated incident, discussions about the ethics of lying on a chair have long been debated. And, until now, most of them are limited to airplanes.

However, with more airlines eliminating short-distance flights and encouraging travelers to make more environmentally friendly choices with trains, more airline-style conflicts about transportation behavior can occur on the rails.