Sergio Padt, a goal keeper for the FC Groningen football team, was sentenced to 50 hours of community service for aggressive behaviour toward Arriva employees on a train last year.
Translation by Traci White
The Groninger Internet Courant reports that Padt was charged with “threatening, insulting and assaulting” a member of the Arriva staff on the train. The incident on the train occurred on the 23rdof September following an FC Groningen loss to against AZ Alkmaar. Padt was taken into police custody in Kropswolde following an altercation with one of the Arriva conductors. Padt did not have a valid ticket and reportedly lashed out when the conductors confronted him.
During the trial, Padt apologised for his conduct on the train. He stated that he had consumed four to six alcoholic beverages on an empty stomach, and that he had attempted to check in at the Arriva post before boarding the train, but the electronic post was not working. Another witness confirmed that the post was out of service at the time. When the conductors on the train asked to check his OV card, Arriva staff say that Padt began to scream at them and threaten them. One employee stated that Padt slapped him, but Padt said that he only pushed him.
In addition to the community service sentence, Padt will also have to pay several hundreds of euros in damages, including ten euros to cover the costs of cleaning one Arriva employee’s uniform after he spat at him or her. If Padt fails to complete his 50 hours of community service, then he could face up to 25 days in jail.
Padt, who was born in Amsterdam in 1990, has been a goalkeeper for FC Groningen since the 2014-2015 season and is a reserve goalkeeper for the Dutch national football team.
