SYDNEY man Sam Le has been awarded $3000 by a judge because he was stopped by two cops at a train station for four minutes.

Mr Le took the state to court because he argued the time he had to wait for the officers to check his identification at Liverpool train station, in the city’s south-west, was false imprisonment.

He had been asked to hand over his Opal card, which is used to pay for public transport in Sydney, along with photo identification. The officer was concerned he may have stolen the Opal card — which was a pensioner concession card — because he looked young and fit.

Mr Le told the District Court hearing in February he was on a disability pension.

While the officer checked the cards the two had a heated exchange that was captured on Mr Le’s mobile phone.

The police officer told him he wasn’t under arrest — but then added he was not allowed to leave until his identity had been confirmed.

He was also asked for his driver’s licence.

Mr Le could be heard on the footage being called a “smart arse” and accused of having trouble listening. The officer suspected the concession card was stolen.

The money was paid to the 24-year-old because NSW District Judge Matthew Dicker found the four minutes Mr Le was forced to wait amounted to false imprisonment.

In his judgment, Judge Dicker said the police officer’s suspicion was “tenuous”.

The fact Mr Le appeared young was “not a fact which could reasonably ground a suspicion that the concession card may have been stolen”.

On the footage tendered to court, one officer tells Mr Le: “Mate you’re obliged to produce photo ID to say that’s your card. How do I know that’s you,” before adding, “How do I know that’s you on that?”

Mr Le told him: “Because my details are clearly on there ... I can provide you the details on it. That’s no problem.”

He was then told: “Alright well you’re gonna have to wait here while we confirm who you are.”

Judge Dicker said: “However, the investigations were in my view honestly undertaken with the belief by Constable Willey that he had the power to do so in the circumstances. In my view Mr Le was not stopped because he was perceived as vulnerable or without legal support or because of his heritage.”

He rejected claims by Mr Le he had been “humiliated, intimidated and put in fear” and believed there was no conscious wrongdoing by the officers.

“The police officers appeared to be exercising a power which they believed they had. The plaintiff was detained, but not arrested, for a very short period.”

Police don’t have the power to demand commuters produce more than their Opal card and concession card, unless they did not have their concession card with them but had other “relevant evidence” that proved they were allowed the concession.

Judge Dicker said there was “no conscious wrongdoing” by the police and their evidence was truthful, although it was “not appropriate” to call Mr Le a “smart arse”.

Physical constraint or force didn’t need to be proved to establish imprisonment — and Mr Le had established he was “imprisoned through being detained”.

The total money awarded was $3,201.

NSW Police are reviewing the decision of the court, a spokesman said.

andrew.koubaridis@news.com.au