'Big man' Alan Pollock who threw fare-dodging student Sam Main off a Scotrail train will not be prosecuted, the Crown office has decided.
The incident, captured on a YouTube video captioned “don’t mess with the big man”, was viewed by millions after a fellow passenger filmed Pollock wrestling Main off the Edinburgh to Perth train.
The 35-year old financial manager stepped in to help the ticket inspector after surveying student Main, 19, began swearing at the ticket inspector and refused to move from his seat last December.
Pollock then physically threw Main off the train, while another passenger threw the student’s bags onto the platform after him. As ‘the big man’ returned to his seat, passengers applauded the vigilante’s intervention.
Main was left with cuts and bruises after the incident and his family called for the ‘big man’ to be prosecuted. The surveying student insists he did buy a ticket for the journey but was “half asleep” when the conductor asked.
Pollock was subsequently charged with assault and Main was not charged but reported to the procurator fiscal for a 'breach of the peace.'
Pollock wrestles Main off the train
At the time of the incident, Pollock wandered over Ian Hems, 27, from Perth, after noticing that he had been filmed the clip. Hems told Deadline news that the decisive passenger was the strong but silent type:
“The big man said, ‘if I end up in jail because of this, you’ve got to come and bring me a bag of pickled onion Monster Munch in prison.’ That’s pretty much all he said.”
However the crown office decided it would not be "in the public interest" to prosecute either 'big man' Alan Pollock or Main.
Sam Main was left with cuts and bruises after the incident
Main has always insisted that he did buy a ticket for his return journey to Napier University, but had been given two singles by the ticket office by mistake.
Jim Pollock, Alan's father, spoke out after the ruling, saying he was relieved that the "nightmare was over."
'Big man' Pollock has never commented on the incident. His wife said at the time that her husband "was a very private person" and does not even have a Facebook account.
The aptly-named Big Man
Main's mum Angela, told the Scotsman:
"We already knew that Sam wasn’t getting charged, and we had been told that the Big Man was getting charged.
“We’re not wanting to speak about it now, anyway. Sam’s not in, but Sam will not be speaking either. He’s been through enough.””
The ScotRail ticket inspector featured in the video, 63-year-old, Alan Mitchell, has been off sick since the incident. He has now returned to work.
After the incident, response was divided as to whether the Big Man should be charged after he intervened to help the ticket inspector. See some social media reactions from the time below: