Passenger ordered to pay £390 for reclining seat without warning person behind

A train passenger has been fined 3,341 yuan (£391.93) for reclining their seat without warning.

The passenger was accused of damaging a fellow rail traveller’s laptop screen by pushing their seat back suddenly on a train to Wuhan, China, Business Insider reports.

According to Xiangyin County People’s Court, the complainant, with the last name Lui, was using his new laptop on the train, placed on a fold-out table on the back of the seat in front of him.

When the man in front, named Mr Wang, reclined his chair, the chair crushed the laptop and caused irrevocable damage to its screen – causing Mr Lui to call the police about the incident.

There was a sign on the train which clearly stated to “please notify the passengers in the rear row when adjusting your seat angle”. The court ruled that Wang was culpable for the damage as he had not notified Lui that he would be reclining his seat back.

Wang was then ordered to pay 3,341 yuan to the complainant to cover damages and as compensation.

Mr Lui had attempted to sue Wang for 4,788 yuan (£562.11) for repair costs, taxis to the repair shop, and disruption to his journey, but the courts determined that Wang was only culpable for 70 per cent of these charges – and only about 30 per cent responsible for the incident itself.

This is because, it ruled, Lui had not been as “alert” as he should have been to his surroundings on the train, and not protecting his own equipment enough to the risk of the chair in front moving.

Last month, a viral TikTok video reignited the debate around seat reclining on aeroplanes, as two social media users complained about “the most reclined seat in the history of aviation”.

The news comes after another seat etiquette dispute, in which a woman was branded “rude” for using a plastic sheet to cover her plane seat.

The sheet covered the television screen of the passenger behind her, and caused a storm online. The person behind the woman posted a photo to Reddit, with the caption: “I guess no entertainment for my wife on this flight…”