A Fife couple’s Angus away day ended in drunken disaster with a fallout which led to them both being arrested one on the train tracks of Arbroath station.
Police were forced to seek a shutdown of the east-coast line around the town after Adele Harper’s bust-up with boyfriend Craig Ratcliffe, which led to the Glenrothes pair making another trip to the county on Tuesday for an appearance in the dock at Forfar Sheriff Court.
Harper, 21, of Wilmington Drive, Glenrothes, admitted trespassing on the railway at Arbroath station on November 10 last year.
Co-accused Ratcliffe, of the same address, pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening and abusive manner at Shore, Arbroath, on the same date and resisting arrest.
Depute fiscal Jill Drummond said police attention was drawn at about 10.30pm to CCTV footage of the couple having, what appeared to be, a heated argument and officers were sent to the scene between Ladybridge Street and Shore.
“Ratcliffe was heavily under the influence and was being completely belligerent towards police,” said the fiscal.
“He was repeatedly warned about his behaviour but there was no trace of the co-accused at that time.”
Shortly before 11pm, Harper was discovered on the platform of Arbroath Railway Station.
When police approached, she dropped on to the train tracks and continued to walk along them.
Ms Drummond told the court a police sergeant arranged for a stop to be put on the line to ensure it was safe and Harper was then arrested.
Around the same time, Ratcliffe continued to pose difficulties for officers trying to arrest him and he was eventually handcuffed while making threats of violence.
Sheriff Gregor Murray told Ratcliffe: “You have almost no record and I am prepared to treat this as, essentially, a one-off.”
He said Harper was “starting to accumulate an unenviable record for public order offences” and described her charge as the more serious.
Each accused was fined £300.