TWO men have been arrested for “manspreading” on a New York City subway train as part of a crackdown on men taking up too much space on public transport.

While researching a report on the practices and attitudes of the NYPD — which required combing through a collection of vignettes, police reports, lawyer accounts and news reports — the Police Reform Organising Project (PROP) found a bizarre anecdote detailing the offence of manspreading — a practice where a man spreads his legs so widely that he takes up valuable commuter space.

The passage read: “On a recent visit to the arraignment part in Brooklyn’s criminal court, PROP volunteers observed that police officers had arrested two Latino men on the charge of “man spreading” on the subway, presumably because they were taking up more than one seat and therefore inconveniencing other riders.

“Before issuing an [adjournment contemplating dismissal] for both men, the judge expressed her scepticism about the charge because of the time of the arrests: “12:11AM, I can’t believe there were many people on the subway”.

“@LiveNationNYC: Anyone else see Tom Hanks #manspreading on the subway yesterday? pic.twitter.com/FyACArnoUI” at least he takes the subway — David McFadyen (@Dave8001) February 4, 2015

In January, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority launched a public transport etiquette campaign, which includes a poster with a male spreading his legs and the quote: “Dude ... Stop the spread, please. It’s a space issue”.

The Transport Authority prohibits passengers from taking up more than one seat when it “interferes with the operation of the Authority’s transit system or the comfort of other passengers”.

This is the first time a manspreading incident has led to a court hearing.