A train inspector in France has fined a passenger nearly £100 after her cat meowed too loudly during a journey.
The passenger, named only as Camille, was travelling on a train between Vannes in Brittany and Paris with her partner Pierre last week when she was fined £95, local media reported.
She had bought a ticket for both herself and for her cat Monet – a requirement for travelling with pets on the SNCF, the French rail network.
“He meowed a little at the beginning of the journey, and following a passenger’s complaint, a ticket inspector issued us a fine,” she told French outlet BFM.
The passenger added that Monet was in good condition and was safely transported in his usual travel carrier.
It comes after a series of fines were issued to ‘noisy’ passengers on French transport.
A man was fined £172 for having a telephone conversation on loudspeaker in Nantes station in February.
Police also stopped pilgrims singing Jubilate Deo at Montparnasse station in Paris four months later and fined one of the group for “causing a public disturbance”.
Camille told BFM that the fine was an injustice.
“I wasn’t given the opportunity to resolve it at the time,” she said.
The inspector gave three reasons for the fine: the cat did not stop meowing, several passengers complained, and when the officer subsequently asked Camille to move she “refused”.
The rail operator told BFM in a statement that the fine was not issued because the cat was meowing but because of complaints and tensions with other passengers caused by the noises made by the pet.
“Our flight attendants offered to move her to the next carriage where there were many empty seats, a polite solution that she unfortunately refused. This simple solution would have helped ease tensions between her and the other customers,” SNCF said.
Camille has reportedly contested the fine.
“It’s still a shame that the SNCF can fine people who are simply traveling with their pets, who are in compliance and who have taken all the necessary precautions,” she said.
