A drunken plasterer accused of jumping on the track, and rolling and smoking a cigarette, has been found guilty of obstructing a train about to move off from a station.

Magistrates at Llandudno rejected 36-year-old Simon Punter’s claim that he had “tripped” accidentally and fell off the platform edge at Penmaenmawr. He disputed that he rolled the cigarette and maintained he jumped back off the line straightaway.

But Transport for Wales driver David Steele, at the controls of the early morning Cardiff to Holyhead train, said when the conductor closed the doors and the train began moving, Punter, of Fernbrook Road, Penmaenmawr, had moved towards the edge of the platform and gestured for him to go forward.

Mr Steele stopped the passenger train but Punter jumped down on the line. “He was standing right in front of the train,” the driver said. “He was rolling a cigarette and started smoking. I asked him two or three occasions what the problem was, and he didn’t reply.”

Two or three minutes he was on the track but the service was delayed by 23 minutes.

Punter denied the March 5 offence, under an 1861 Act. However, he was ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work and pay £377 compensation for the loss allegedly caused by the delay, and £705 costs.

Court chairwoman Manu Patiar told him :”We find that you did deliberately go on the track and obstructed the train.”

Defence solicitor Carla Forfar said Punter had been “slightly the worse” for drinking and not suicidal when he fell between the rails. “This was a one-off incident and I am sure he has learned his lesson. I am sure Mr Punter will rue the day he turned up drunk on that railway station,” she added.