€3k fine for man sleeping under TGV

Music festival-goer brought chaos to the Paris-Quimper line after he fell asleep on the tracks

A DRUNK music festival-goer who survived a TGV running over the top of him as he slept has been ordered to pay the SNCF €3,000.

The 19-year-old was returning from a concert in Saint-Nolff in the Morbihan in September when he fell asleep on the train tracks on the Paris-Quimper line.

The train driver spotted a body on the line but could not halt in time – the stopping distance of a TGV being around half a mile. When gendarmes arrived at the scene, the man was still fast asleep.

A court in Vannes said the fine of €2,947.34 represented the cost of the disruption he had caused. Some passengers had to be taken by taxi to their destination as the line was closed.