Foul-mouthed ex-soap star 'spat at rail ticket inspector'
Paul Danan
A former soap star was fined £160 yesterday after he launched a tirade of abuse at a train worker.
Paul Danan, 32, who starred in Hollyoaks, was sitting in the first-class carriage of a train travelling from London’s King’s Cross to Cambridge when he was approached by a ticket inspector.
The inspector asked Danan, who is from Royston, to leave the carriage after he was only able to produce a standard-class fare.
But the TV star, who appeared in ITV’s Celebrity Love Island in 2005, then lost his temper and swore at the ticket inspector, before spitting in his face.
Danan appeared at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court yesterday and was found guilty of behaving in a disorderly manner.
He was fined £160, ordered to pay £620 court costs and £15 victim surcharge.
The court heard how Danan was ejected from the train at Ashwell and Morden station following the incident at 4.30pm on December 2, 2010.
He claimed he was only in the first class carriage for two minutes because he wanted to look at the new trainers he bought during a day out in London with a friend.
He said: “I thought: ‘I really want to look at my trainers.’ I was excited to buy a new pair and I know I wasn’t in the right and I was only in the seat for a few minutes.
“He appeared to be picking on me.
“There’s no way I would have done that. I wouldn’t swear in front of children or act that way in front of a train man.”
Danan also revealed that he is taking medication for depression and bi-polar disorder and said was “upset by the incident”.
Speaking in court, he also revealed he was receiving income support and his only income is from a property he owns and rents out.
Danan played Sol Patrick in Hollyoaks from 1997 to 2001, and appeared on Celebrity Love Island in 2005 and 2006.
He was sacked from a Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime in Preston in 2007 after swearing down the microphone at the Christmas lights switch on.
In June 2008 he was involved in a row with the organisers of the Miss Student UK beauty contest after he drank too much and insulted contestants.