At the weekend I had a cornish pasty on the bakerloo line from Waterloo to Paddington! I felt terrible about it but we were mega late for something and I hadn't eaten all day and wouldn't get a chance to do so for several hours. I got a seat and ate some of it furtively out of a brown paper bag. I think that was the first time I'd done this for about 14 years

I thought of all the times I'd rolled my eyes at the perfume of fried chicken on the night bus, or had a half-empty drinks can roll stickily down the top deck to collide with my shoe as the vehicle braked sharply. I remembered moving away from people who'd boarded the Intercity with a burger, and once watching a woman eat a bowl of cereal on an early tube into work. And I wondered, is it ever acceptable to eat on public transport?

It's disgusting, greedy and grubby - so I'm all for it. However, commuters should be banned from allowing the smell of hot chips to waft around the carriage on the way home from work unless they have enough to go around (or are ready to tackle one hungry woman who doesn't getting the odd grease spot on her dresses as she travels home...

The answer is no, eating ought to be banned on public transport in the same way that alcohol was. This has only come about because of the growth of the fast food industry and the subsequent demise of cheap places to sit down and eat with cutlery. The fast food industry has been allowed to grow unregulated while passing 50% of their responsibility (litter, unwashed hands the whole kaboodle ) outside the door. It is true that McDonalds and perhaps others do pay their staff to clean up in the immediate area outside the door but beyond that litter is still dropped.