I was on an AT Metro train (in Auckland) on New Year's Eve with my boys, travelling from Manukau to Britomart.

All started well, until we got to Puhinui. While waiting for people to board/get off the train, two losers (whose faces were covered) decided to run up to the train while it was stationery and tag it with their graffiti. While I personally consider this sort of behaviour to be appalling (where is their respect for other people's property? Where were their parents?) what struck me was that the train staff seemed to be completely helpless to do anything.

The conductor was running through the train calling people (from AT Metro, I presume) explaining what was happening, but it seemed to me like nothing else was being done. Certainly the guards - who you normally see at the stations - were conspicuous by their absence. I did notice they turned up 10 minutes later, but by then it was far too late, as the little a-holes had fled.

The fumes were so bad we all had to move to the front of the train. To make matters worse, the train wasn't working properly (I think they said the computer running it had been hijacked, making it not function correctly). Our trip terminated at Otahuhu so the train could return to the depot and we had to wait to catch the next one - which I found quite difficult to explain to my boys (who are 5).

It just seemed amazing to me that while these little so-and-so's could have been caught red-handed and dealt with by the authorities, no one did anything and they just got off scot-free. I asked the conductor if they caught them and he said they couldn't do anything (or something like that - he was a little hard to understand).

Could they have not have done a citizen's arrest or something, and held them until the Police turned up? Or is their process really "we'll sit here helplessly and do nothing while they spray paint our million dollar train, and then inconvenience the rest of you shortly". Is that really the best they can do?

Anyone who knows the legalities around things like this, I'd be interested to know. Someone told me in America those two little blighters would have been shot for doing the same thing, but yet here, it seems like nothing can be done...

If you catch someone tagging the side of your house, or your wall or whatever, does the same thing apply? Do you just stand there and let them do it, or call the Police, or what?