A court hearing to stop a public nuisance travelling on the railway after he assaulted a guard went ahead without him today because he was ‘struggling with the trains’ and would be an hour late.

But Haroon Shah’s barrister, Andrew Dallas, said a compromise had been reached with the Crown to allow him to use the rail network as long as he didn’t cause harassment, alarm or distress.

The British Transport Police applied for a Criminal Behaviour Order (CRIMBO) after Shah, 27, of Olive Grove, Fairweather Green, Bradford, was jailed for seven months in April for a string of offences against public servants, including the train guard.

At that hearing it was stated that Shah had 41 previous convictions for 61 offences, including multiple public disorders, possession of a bladed article and racially aggravated harassment.

On August 25 last year, he assaulted a guard on the late afternoon Leeds to King’s Cross train. When asked for his ticket, he said he would sort it out when he got to London. He then leapt out of his seat, leant his head close to guard’s and pushed him twice.

The British Transport Police apprehended him on the train at Doncaster. When searched, Shah had cannabis secreted in his buttocks.

The guard said he suffered a trapped nerve in his shoulder and was off work for six weeks.

Today, the application for a CRIMBO was heard in Shah’s absence at Bradford Crown Court.

Now out of jail he was travelling to the hearing by train and would be an hour late, Mr Dallas said.

“He says he’s been struggling with the trains and won’t be here until 11am,” he stated.

Mr Dallas was resisting a blanket ban on Shah using the railways, saying he had to use public transport, he had no alternative.

The five-year CRIMBO now stipulated that he could travel by train unless he caused harassment, alarm or distress.

That elevated the seriousness of what would be a public order offence to a maximum five-year prison sentence for breaching the order.

Making the CRIMBO, Judge Colin Burn said it was now ‘a bit more proportionate.’ He agreed that Shah need not attend the hearing. His solicitor would explain the terms of the order to him.

“He can get the train home as long as he behaves in an orderly fashion, if he can find one,” Judge Burn said.