Train fare dodgers

So here I am on the train and the tickets inspectors pass through. Out comes my season ticket, all is good

The middle aged lady sitting opposite me ‘marking’ an NHS report for Barts hospital doesn’t have a ticket. ‘I didn’t have time, I would have missed my train’ she said.

Well that’s bullshine. It’s a main line at peak time. There’ll be another train in no more than 10 mins

She claims she has has nothing with her address on, but when challenged can suddenly find something from her cavernous Burberry handbag. Sitting there in her Jimmy Choo shoes, she’s now gone the same colour as her bright red dress. How does she pay the penalty fare? With a Coutts Private bank card. FFS, you obviously earn more than enough to be able to afford a ticket you’ll probably claim back anyway

She did come up with a cock and bull story, but then went even redder when told she could appeal in writing, but the CCTV cameras would be checked to confirm her story (dare say that’s not true, but she fell for it!)

Icing on the cake is that she’s now being chucked off at Stratford, but she wants to go to Liverpool Street 😆

It’s parasites like this that make everyone else pay that little bit more

How did you know her shoes were Jimmy Choo?

How do you know she didn’t have time, maybe she forgot or that 10 minutes for the next train was too long for her.

They are quite distinctive for a connoisseur of ladies shoes, so i am told.

As a relatively occasional train user this confuses me. When I am on a train I see people buying tickets off the guard all the time but also hear stories like this where people get fined. Surely even unmanned stations have ticket machines these days. When is it ok and not ok to get on a train without a ticket. Unmanned station with a broken machine obviously, but any others?

How close to her bank card did you get to see the bank ?

When he asked her to take the shoes off, he could read “Jimmy Choo” inside, before he wee’d in them.

Simples

Same when he curled one out in the Burberry Bag

but the more ‘characteristic’ ones who jump on and off the train and hide in the toilet follow the guard around are great entertainment on a long journey.

I recently took the train in France: fare dodging was the same old game accept that the dodger and the guard had the two level train to deal with. still entertaining though.

When is it ok and not ok to get on a train without a ticket. Unmanned station with a broken machine obviously, but any others?

I think there are certain stations/lines where it’s decided that you should have a ticket to board (and I think it’s advertised/specified) Others you can buy if there is good reason. Though I think if they are taking the piss they can hammer you 🙂

Surely even unmanned stations have ticket machines these days.

Not all the stations have machines some of the halts on the East Anglia network are just a couple of platforms and a closed building.
Anywhere an intercity stops will have machines and you get fined for joining from a manned/machined station without a ticket.

I do like it when people get thier comeuppance.

their

theres not much worse than those gurning jobsworth bastards and ticket barriers with the power to let you through, but wont! my trains there, its leaving in 10 seconds, ive got a connection to catch, and theres a guard on board who has the facility to sell me a ticket… but nopes

How do you know she didn’t have time, maybe she forgot or that 10 minutes for the next train was too long for her.

That’s her problem…

Not all stations have ticket machines, but some TOCs allow you to buy tickets on the train. Some – South West Trains for one, don’t. They do have TVMs at all stations. they’re very clear that you need a ticket to travel. Most will be happy enough if you leap on the train and go and find the guard to buy a ticket immediately. If you just sit tight and then claim ‘no time’ this is clearly utter bollocks.

Pisses me off no end. Even worse is people who do the “oh, is this first class?! I had no idea”, having got in 10 minutes previously and phoned all their friends and shouted “yeah I’m in first class, nahhhh, ain’t got a ticket”. Should be a £500 on the spot fine.

Had a bad experience of this, going from St Albans to Gatwick where I was flying to Finland. Bought ticket from machine in St A station except I pressed wrong button and got day return instead of open return. Didn’t notice I had made mistake. One week later get off train at St A and ticket wont go through barrier, showed it to lady and she said you have travelled with an invalid ticket, that will be £70 😯 I said what are you talking about? All got a bit heated with one little Southern Rail bloke sidling up and under his breath called me a f……. liar. I went nuts 🙄 policeman rolls up and asks what is going on. I explain show proof of going to Finland etc and turns out I don’t have to pay £70 but get charged £18 which still boiled my piss. Went to the ticket machine and found out the open return to Gatwick was £2 cheaper than the ticket I had bought.

Yes technically I did travel with out a valid ticket but the Southern staff were such utter cretins. I sent a letter of complaint and got no reply at all.

That story is baws.

Since when was there a penalty fare or fine for getting on a train without a ticket? Up here in the civilised world if you get on a train without a ticket, at a station with ticket issuing facilities, you can still buy a ticket off the guard. You wont be able to get any discount on the ticket but you will not be paying a penalty fare or fined.

My local station has a ticket office and machine but often big queues or even unmanned office/broken machine – we get 2 trains/hr each way. I sometimes got on the train without a ticket and could always buy one at Waterloo when I got there. Once a mate in the village was fined for doing this but eventually was told he shouldn’t have been. Now he takes photos of the queues before getting on just in case.

I bought a season ticket for two years, but when I started to work from home more reverted to just buying a ticket on the train. I park in the train car park which is at opposite ends and side to the ticket office, so don’t see it as an option to purchase before I travel.
Its never been a problem to buy one on the train except once, and I think she was having a bad day. Often the staff know you as its the same conductor & are friendly – London Midland trains.
However I have seen people asked to leave on Great Western trains or fined and once they contacted the police as he was a known offender with no ID.
I have to say my biggest peave on trains is women with huge handbags who dump them on the seat next to them even though its busy, then get offended when you ask to sit down

Since when was there a penalty fare or fine for getting on a train without a ticket?

When it’s specified in the T&C’s/conditions they can.

Up here in the civilised world if you get on a train without a ticket, at a station with ticket issuing facilities, you can still buy a ticket off the guard.

Thats because half of the stations are in fields

piedi di formaggio – Member

It’s parasites like this that make everyone else pay that little bit more

+1. Never ceased to amaze me when I use to live in London and used the train regularly how many people would move through the carriages when the inspectors came on to buy them a bit more time to get off at the next stop & avoid them.

I remember once getting off at Kilburn Park on the overground train & there was a mob of inspectors in the ticket hall. There must have been 20-30 people from that one train who all about faced and walked on to the other platform to go back the way they came before they got to the ticket hall, plus there were many who didn’t react quick enough & were done for not having tickets.

The only time I have not had a ticket was travelling from Hockley to Southend; the machine wasn’t accepting any money, so we got permits to travel from the machine (do they still have them?). When we got to Southend, the bloke at the barrier didn’t believe us and we spent about 10mins arguing with him about it before he eventually backed down and allowed us to buy a ticket there and then for the journey.
Annoyingly, there was an open gate that we could have walked through had we genuinely been trying to avoid the fare, but we approached the guy to pay the fare, so it should have been obvious to him that we weren’t trying to get out of it.

My local station “Chelford” is unmanned with no ticket machine, pretty sure, Plumley, Mobberley, Ashley and Goostrey nearby are all the same.

It is in the middle of a field though 😳

How did you know her shoes were Jimmy Choo?

Written on them on some god awful gaudy gold coloured buckle

How do you know she didn’t have time, maybe she forgot or that 10 minutes for the next train was too long for her.

She said “I’d miss my train”, which is a really lame excuse. Actually it’s not an excuse, it’s just fare dodging. If you really, really have to be somewhere by a certain time, you factor in time to buy a ticket.

When is it ok and not ok to get on a train without a ticket. Unmanned station with a broken machine obviously, but any others?

The ticket inspectors actually call the station fare dodgers claim to have got on at to confirm if machines are working / ticket offices were manned.
Really no reason to not get a ticket

How close to her bank card did you get to see the bank ?

She was sitting opposite me, so wafting her bank card no more than two feet in front of my face.

I think there are certain stations/lines where it’s decided that you should have a ticket to board

Yep and it’s on notices all over the place. Anyway, she clearly knew what she’d done. Evaporates my urine that there are some people that think they are special and don’t have to buy a ticket. The number of fare dodgers is frankly ridiculous. Sometimes you see half a dozen of them at barriers. Parasites the lot of ’em

I did very similar in belguim travelling from Schipol to Bruges. Turns out you can only buy day returns.

The ticket inspector was lovely, explained the error of my ways, sold me a ticket for the return, and only did it from the stop we were at to schipol so it was cheaper.

Well she got caught so its all good !
Will she learn her lesson or just factor it in to her travel budget as an acceptable risk ?
Either way I bet she’s no where near as good as this guy though
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/city-highflyer-banned-from-working-in-finance-after-dodging-42k-in-train-tickets-9926434.html

The ticket inspector was lovely, explained the error of my ways, sold me a ticket for the return, and only did it from the stop we were at to schipol so it was cheaper.

That would be using either the Dutch or Belgian nationlised rail companies? Gotta love privatisation. Money money money.

@Pigface, the automatic ticket machines are almost designed to steal your money, they offer “common” tickets but necessarily the cheapest ones and had you bought from a ticket office the person would have asked you when you where coming back. The fact the other ticket is cheaper you should challenge the £18

I hate fare dodgers, I got in a right old barney with a lad that regularly used to sit in first class with a second class ticket. When the inspector came he used to put his finger over the 2nd class bit. Once I got fed up and pointed this out to the inspector, much use of loud voices ensued but he never did it again.

I have had a colleague get caught for serious fare dodging, prosecuted and lost his job. Total madness on his behalf.

I have also had a friend get penalty fare fined for being 1 day exprired on his season ticket – ridiculous. This was in the days before the barriers.

They are quite distinctive for a connoisseur of ladies shoes, so i am told.

Yes

theres not much worse than those gurning jobsworth bastards and ticket barriers with the power to let you through, but wont!

Since the operators don’t own the stations they can’t stop you proceeding, much though the knob in a polyester tie would like you to believe the opposite. (Manchester good case in point, there’s a handy shortcut via the MEN that involves going through the barrier without a ticket).

Reasonably civilised around Manchester too. No problem buying a ticket from a guard but you can’t get any reductions (e.g. off peak or railcards). So if you haven’t bought the ticket at the station you may end up paying more on the train.

It does seem to be an acceptable crime In the eyes of some. Back in my commuting days I regularly used to hear things like “you don’t need a ticket after 6 as there is never a guard on the barrier”. I wonder how many of these people drive off without paying for petrol because they are in a rush and there was a queue at the cashier?

I was once on the Victoria to Gatwick (not express) train. The train was rammed with hardly anywhere to stand let alone sit. So I proceeded to the 1st class carriage and sat down there. As the ticket checker entered the section, I indicated straight away that I needed to upgrade my ticket to 1st. No can do! Penalty fare and ejected to back to cattle class. A bit different to my experience in Scotland. Bit of a first world problem, but the threat of a court summons / criminal record / sacrificing your first born is a little bit OTT. They should concentrate on providing adequate accommodation for the folk they let on their trains.

Didn’t have time to buy a ticket? Get out of bed earlier.
Train travel is not some basic human right. It is a business transaction that requires you to pay for your journey.
Maybe I could go shopping in a Supermarket and claim I didn’t have time to go through the check out? No, thought not.

, pretty sure, Plumley, Mobberley, Ashley and Goostrey nearby are all the same.

Sounds like an alternative Trumpton line up 🙂

I’ve commuted for most of my working life and have never travelled without a valid ticket. To me it’s the same as eating in a posh restaurant and running away from the bill. You use it, you pay for it. Simple.

Didn’t have time to buy a ticket? Get out of bed earlier.

But some train providers have a process for taking payment after you’ve got on so that’s fine, it’s those that are intending to steal that are the problem not those who think they are following the rules.

http://www.thetrainline.com/
and many provide a way to buy a ticket before you get out of the house…

Cheesyfeet’s story doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Very often it is the best-off among us who will go to the greatest lengths to save even what is a tiny sum relative to their wealth.

Hence the case recently of the banker who gamed the Oyster card system to save a relatively small amount vs a season ticket (it was presented as tens of thousands of pounds, but that was vs buying a full ticket each day he dodged the fare).

It’s about time trains were ticketless. Should be all done on a boarding pass on your phone.

Ahh yes, I bit of a pet hate of mine this, particularly when my monthly ticket costs so much. We have a short, 1 stop journey near where I live that costs 85p for a single, the number of people who don’t get a ticket for that and then claim it is grossly unfair to be asked to pay/prove they’ve paid is ridiculous.

And on a related note, anyone else get very, VERY annoyed when people waiting for a train stand exactly where the doors open and get the hump when they have to move to allow you to get off? No? just me then. 👿

Very often it is the best-off among us who will go to the greatest lengths to save even what is a tiny sum relative to their wealth.

You don’t get rich my giving money away.

And you don’t have to get rich by stealing.

It’s not so much the fare dodgers that push up the already exorbitant prices for everyone. It’s a combination of central government policy and private enterprise putting shareholders’ profits ahead of everything.

But the absolute knobber the OP alluded to deserves to be made to run after the train carrying her handbag…