Christophe boarded the train in Rouen around 11:01 a.m. on Wednesday 29. “I was going to do an activity with the children,” he explains in the columns of 76actu. Being president of AVES France, an association that fights for the protection of nature and wild animals, Christophe had taken the badger in order to make his presentation more didactic.
“I stayed at the gates. It held below the jump seat. Voluntarily, I did not go in my place to avoid disturbing the travelers, ”adds Christophe. A conductor from the train then came up to him and said something like, “What is that? We don’t travel with that kind of thing.”
But while Christophe was trying to explain as best he could that he had taken it for his animation and while the other travelers were asserting that the badger was not bothering anyone, the controller “didn’t want to know”. Christophe was finally fined 150 euros for “dangerous or bulky object on the train”.
Affected by this misadventure, Christophe decided to share it on Twitter. He was able to count on many messages of support, but he also had a response from the SNCF. “A community manager sent me a link to dispute the fine. I would have appreciated at least an apology and that they tell me that the behavior of the controller was not appropriate, ”he explains. ” It’s shocking. We take the train out of ecological conviction, and that’s what happens. It’s quite sad for the image of the SNCF. Again, if they were flawless on the trains,” adds Christophe.
And the SNCF does not budge: Christophe was, according to them, very wrong: “He was traveling with three pieces of luggage, plus the badger, in a train which was full. He took two places. The report deserved to be drawn up, and the controller was right. For the sake of appeasement, the fine was cancelled”.
To return from his entertainment on the evening of June 29, Christophe preferred to leave the badger there. “I’ll go get him by car. I did not want to take the risk of taking another 150 euros fine, ”he comments.