A disgruntled rail commuter has had a permanent reminder of how bad his local train service is tattooed on his body.
Rauri Barratt, 36, was so annoyed with the service he decided to get ‘Southern Rail are s**t’ permanently tattooed on his ribs, a notoriously painful area to get inked, to symbolise the suffering rail commuters have to go through everyday.
The video producer from Whitehawk, Brighton, said: ‘Getting this done doesn’t hurt nearly as much as a Southern Rail journey.
Rauri Barratt (pictured above) , 36, from from Whitehawk, Brighton, decided to get ‘Southern Rail are s**t’ permanently tattooed on his ribs after bad experiences with the train company
‘I might end up regretting it but the point of this is to make a statement about Southern Rail.’
Mr Barratt kept the train company up to date with the progress of the tattoo by tweeting the franchise throughout the afternoon as he had it done.
The video produce said: ‘Getting this done doesn’t hurt nearly as much as a Southern Rail journey’
He said: ‘We are going to put pictures and video of the artwork on to Twitter so that people who are suffering from Southern Rail can tweet the tattoo to the management rather than take it out on staff.
‘To be honest, I have had a few nightmares on the service, but I haven’t personally suffered as much as others that have to deal with it on a daily basis.’
Equally irritated train passengers gave donations towards the £136 artwork after a fundraiser was set up online.
The design was also crowdsourced, with people offering their own tweaks to the artwork.
Eventually Mr Barratt settled on a traditional train steaming out of a skull and crossbones with the words Southern Rail are s*** on the top and bottom.
The tattoo artist Ric Ruggeri (pictured right), who operates under the name Brighton Ink, worked for more than four hours on the artwork
When asked what he would say to any future grandchildren, Mr Barrett said: ‘I’ll tell them that back in the day before everyone drove hover cars, everybody used to get on these huge metal snakes that were poorly run’
Tattoo artist Ric Ruggeri, who operates under the name Brighton Ink, worked for more than four hours on the artwork.
He said: ‘I think it’s quite funny.
‘He’s obviously passionate enough that he’s going to have this tattoo on him for the rest of his life.
‘But it’s tattoos like this that give me business in a year or two’s time when I have to cover it up – although that will be virtually impossible with this one.’
When asked how he would explain the tattoo to any future grandchildren, Mr Barrett said: ‘I’ll tell them that back in the day before everyone drove hover cars, everybody used to get on these huge metal snakes that were poorly run.
‘I’m sure they’ll understand.’
In January the railway company was voted the worst train service in the country for a third year in a row with just 28 per cent of customers satisfied with the service.
Southern Rail declined to comment on the tattoo.