TORONTO — A frustrated commuter is furious after she was arrested at Union Station and slapped with a $135 fine for wedging her hand in the door of a train to stop it from leaving.

Francine Leriche, a Mississauga mother of two, said she was rushing home for a family gathering last Tuesday night at 6 p.m. when the incident took place.

"I was totally incredulous. And the more I thought about it, the angrier I got," said Leriche. "It was absolutely excessive and uncalled for."

The provincial government worker said she grew frustrated waiting about half an hour for the Lakeshore West GO Train to show up. When the train pulled in, she said the doors in front of her closed sooner than the others, so she stuck her hand in to hold it open. After a transit officer approached her in a "very brusque and very insistent" manner, she was handcuffed and escorted to a nondescript back room, where she was later released and ticketed $135 for interfering with the "ordinary enjoyment" of the transit system.

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins confirmed the arrest and ticketing.

"Sometimes people do things that put everybody else at risk, and we have to take action," she said.

Aikins said GO Train drivers were unable to pull out of the station on Tuesday because of an alert that a door hadn't properly shut. When officers went to check it out, they found Leriche with her "foot and hand" wedged in the door. She was trying to board the train, said Aikins.

"She just kept saying there was room for her and she wanted to get in."

When Leriche refused to remove herself "many times," the officers arrested her and ticketed her for a "mischief" offence, said Aikins.

Leriche said she told the transit officer who first approached her that she was holding the doors open because "I need to get home."