Hong Kong’s MTR system is a marvel: efficient, clean, (almost) always on time.
Unfortunately, there’s that small subset of people who sometimes manage to spoil the MTR experience for others by fighting, peeing or pooping inside the station or train. We can now add smoking to that list.
One person was caught on camera doing just that on a train from Central to Tsuen Wan at 6am on Wednesday.
Video published by Apple Daily shows a man dressed in black puffing away inside a train car, and at one point even dropping his cigarette to the floor.
Shortly after taking his last drag, the smoker and his friends then got into a war of words with another group of three people on the train, although it’s not clear from the video if the cigarette smoking is what caused the kerfuffle.
During the argument, passengers on the train can be seen moving to either side of the car to avoid getting caught in the middle.
The smoker and his friends then get off at the Yau Ma Tei station. Well, they try to. In a last little bit of drama, two of them fail to get off before the doors close. Then, rather than heeding the “please stand back from the train doors” warning, begin kicking the doors and trying to pry them open, before they finally open of their own accord. (Editor: It’s not easy looking tough in these circumstances but they sure try their darndest.)
The man who captured the incident on video, identified only as “Thomas,” told the newspaper that he then reported the incident to an MTR staff member.
According to the MTR’s by-laws, smoking is prohibited in any part of the station, and doing so can earn you a HK$5,000 fine (US$638).
