[Closed] Train fare dodgers

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?

Surely even unmanned stations have ticket machines these days.

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?

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.

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?

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.

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 ?

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

[quote=Pigface ]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.

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.

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.

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...

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

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.

There's a woman who gets on my train home who is perfectly polite most of the time but she gets to the platform just as the train's pulling in, barges to the front of the forming queue and then blocks the train doors Every. Bloody. Day.

I think she must take some weird pleasure in causing an obstruction and being shoved out of the way by the people getting off. It's the only reason I can see why she'd still be at it after two years.

I think she must take some weird pleasure in causing an obstruction and being shoved out of the way by the people getting off

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/frottage

I was a scummy fare dodger a few weeks back 😳

Car was broken so had to ride 10 miles to get train from main station as our local gets no trains til after lunch on Sunday.

Left house, got 1 mile and realised I forgot phone. Rode home, collected phone but left wallet (took it out of bag to put phone in).

Did a fantastic TT effort to make train by 1 minute. Then a sinking feeling as I had no wallet.

Ticket inspector obviously realised I was just an idiot and not a fare dodger. A found enough shrapnel in my bags and pockets to pay for a one way single with every possible discount railcard applied.

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.

This was good last night:

http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/dkfgtg/nick-and-margaret-the-trouble-with-our-trains

The bigger issue here is that the trains are too expensive. You'd have less fair dodgers if the prices weren't so high. As above, the real reason the prices are so high is the fact that it's privatised and not subsidised enough.

They used to issue penalty fares at Reading when the festival was on.

Pointless as Reading has barriers.

Money grabbing as it's the one day of the year that every station for miles arround has half hour ques as the local yoof sort out their rail card and ketamine for the weekend.

The rest of the year you can just jump on the train and pay the guard.

As for Scotland being more civilised............... the penalty fare is the normal fare, you just can't buy a return or use a railcard so it's the full price and there's a minimum of £25 to deter people jumping on/off for one stop.

We are still subsidising private train companies 🙁 might as well just give money to the shareholders and cut out the middle bit.

The bigger issue here is that the trains are too expensive. You'd have less fair dodgers if the prices weren't so high. As above, the real reason the prices are so high is the fact that it's privatised and not subsidised enough.

That's a seperate issue. The OPs example and things like this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30475232
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32251271

Suggest that ability to pay is not the only cause.

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?

It happens with the lifts at work now FFS!

Can't say I have ever been refused buying a ticket off a guard " after " boarding a train, be it Southern or South West Trains. Some machines at stations don't take cash, I don't normally carry a card with me on a point to point ride and often hop on a train back home paying the guard whilst on the train.
Clearly different if entering a large station like say Southampton Central, but regional ones it's easy to hop on, buy ticket, hop right on off again.

I use trains quite a lot, been bloody annoyed at missing connections, I'd say there ought to be more fines for trains that are late or cancelled rather than the the attitude train companies have "against" commuters. You really ought to be able to buy a ticket on the train from the guard when he asks " can I see your tickets please" right there at that time, provided you pay for your journey I really don't know why there is a problem with that.

That's what I think anyway.

Surely even unmanned stations have ticket machines these days.

My local station doesn't, and that's in the middle of Bristol.

Inspectors do seem very inconsistent - I got on the train at Paddington recently and fell asleep. Upon being woken up by the inspector, it turned out I'd missed my booked train and had got on the next one. He was happy for me to pay the difference between a pre-booked ticket and walk on fare.

You really ought to be able to buy a ticket on the train from the guard when he asks " can I see your tickets please" right there at that time, provided you pay for your journey I really don't know why there is a problem with that.

Because a fairly sizeable minority will just view that as "I don't have to buy a ticket unless I'm asked for one" and won't bother...

In Surrey, the machine never accepted £20 and higher.
The permit to travel machine surely saw a lot of use.
If you do abuse that, then always make sure fivers and tenners are not obvious in the wallet when buying ticket from the guard 😉
If you genuinely only have a £20, then are you really supposed to go in the Chinese takeaway next door to get some change before buying a ticket?

I dodged my way from London to Scotland last year after getting on the wrong train. (ironically, my ticket was more expensive) Added a bit of fun to the jounery if I'm honest.

I see train tickets are more confusing and stupid than ever, you have to chose "Direct" or "Any permitted" routes, like you have any idea what that entails when you're in a hurry for a ticket... Oh it's twice the price, no time to cancel. What a surprise.....

Because a fairly sizeable minority will just view that as "I don't have to buy a ticket unless I'm asked for one" and won't bother...

Sure but if asked then they would have to pay up or get off at the next station.

I know I live in cuckoo land, a simple world where most folk do buy tickets.

I once saw a Girl flashing her fanny at her boyfriend in the opposite seat, that was hilarious when she realised about 20 folk in the opposite seats could also see her bits.... 😆

I had a conversation with a young lad from the local independent grammar school about fare dodging (he was trying to...). it went along the lines of -
you can afford to pay but are trying to avoid paying, you'll get a good education, good job, become a captain of industry and likely screw up the economy and country because you haven't learnt basic honesty and personal integrity...
this was shortly before the banking crash.

Sure but if asked then they would have to pay up or get off at the next station.

I once saw a Girl flashing her fanny at her boyfriend in the opposite seat, that was hilarious when she realised about 20 folk in the opposite seats could also see her bits....

POIDH!

On the Reading – Gatwick train, most mornings the guard walks through the train asking if anyone needs to buy a ticket (even though I think all stations have a ticket machine). Some mornings, the guard seemingly can’t be arsed, and people knock on his door at the end of the train and ask to buy a ticket.

Makes me wonder how many people, who alight from the train at a small station without a barrier only buy a ticket if the guy happens to come round the train.

There’s also a guy who buys his ticket from the guard, even though he gets on at Reading where there are barriers at every entrance. How does he get as far as the platform with no ticket?

There’s also a guy who buys his ticket from the guard, even though he gets on at Reading where there are barriers at every entrance. How does he get as far as the platform with no ticket?

You could get a train from a station outside Reading and change at Reading.

I used to get the trains from Wokingham to Pangbourne to go ride in the Chilterns and use up unused portions of open return tickets for part of the journey and buy the Reading-Pangbourne section on the train.

If you were feeling disshonest, you could get on in Earley and get off in Tilehurst and they'd not check as they presumably assume you'd get stopped at the barriers in Reading.

Personally, and I accept this view may be tainted by the fact that I pay a good sum for my season ticket each month, I'd use the penalty fare much more often, along with kicking people off at the next station. I'd also make it that you can only buy a 1 way ticket on the train thereby forcing the individual to buy another single to get home again.

The "sorry mate, I would have missed my train" would also be null and void, you need to plan time to get a ticket so do that. People who get on at stations without a place to buy should be very actively encouraged to find the guard not wait to get caught.

And the British Rail v's private rail debate. As a regular train user IMO the trains now are cleaner, better, more regular and more timely. They're not perfect but don't forget how bad they were under BR, they were really, REALLY bad back then.

Not quite the same but,

I used to do Manchester / Preston to London semi-regularly, and they offered an on-train First Class upgrade for something like ten or fifteen quid at weekends. I'd board the train and then decide whether or not to upgrade depending on the state of cattle class that day. The first time I did it I was a bit nervous, taking a seat without paying first, but it quickly turned out to be totally normal.

So one day I hopped on, took my seat in First. Yes thank you, coffee and biscuits sounds lovely. Settled in, got a movie going on the tablet, all was well with the world.

Conductor arrives, card in hand I cheerily go "I'd like to upgrade please."

"Certainly sir, that will be a hundred and forty seven pounds."

*blinks*

As it turned out, "Friday" is not a weekend. Who knew? I apologised, explained the error of my ways whilst the conductor fixed me with the steely glare normally reserved for rapists, axe murderers and fare dodgers. What can I do? "Well," he says, "you've eaten the biscuits." I pointed out that for nearly a hundred and fifty quid I could've bought my own biscuit business, which didn't help my cause.

"Erm... I'll just go then, shall I...?" I offered. "Yes sir, I think that would be for the best." Packed up my stuff and did the walk of shame past all the suits looking disapprovingly over their expensive glasses at me. Being in England, there may even have been some tutting. Kill me now.

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

Does piss me off when you see people walk through, get asked for a ticket and they give the ticket guy a sneer and walk off, ticket guy then ignores them! hang on so you're only here to slow down paying customers and to "catch" quiet docile fare dodgers?

If you are civilised, approach the guard and explain, theu are normally fine. Our station shuts the ticket office at noon. The machine has a notoriously fussy card reader that sometimes just won't read a card. The guards are always happy for reasonable people to approach them.

I used to be able to buy a family travelcard from Datchet. That ticket was not sold by the machine, so again a chat with the guard never failed to produce either a ticket sale or a pass to buy at Waterloo.

Sounds like the OP's observation was plain fare-dodging.

Incidently, children are allowed to travel without a fare and the bill can be sent on afterwards. Again a reasonable compromise when kids lose stuff!

"Friday" is not a weekend. Who knew?

Everyone!

Everyone!

well.....weekend rate parking at our station car park starts at 1200 on Friday for some reason.

But in the main, I'd go with you!

Is it still the case that you are allowed to travel free if you have a bicycle with a puncture? Some colleagues used to do this in South Yorkshire.

This is one of the positives about the Oyster Card system. I have been asked for my ticket on the DLR before when I have innocently forgotton to renew my monthly pass, or to touch in and the guy checking the card can see on screen that yes, I have bought monthly season tickets for each of the last 6 months and this is an innocent mistake, and then lets me just buy the ticket when I get to where I am going. Then on the flip side I have seen them ask people who say they "forgot to touch in" and from on the screen they can see that they appear to "forget to touch in" on every journey home and they fine them

I got a ticket for driving in a bus-lane, apparently Friday doesn't count as the weekend just because you have the day off. Outrageous.

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

Yes, the best solution would be to force anyone who wants to use a train to purchase and maintain a mobile device capable of displaying a ticket. Faultless solution, indeed...

become a captain of industry and likely screw up the economy and country because you haven't learnt basic honesty and personal integrity...

Aren't the latter pre-requisites for the former?

Just to clarify,

I do know Friday isn't part of the weekend, that was a joke! I'd only ever taken advantage of the upgrade offer on Sunday's return journey before, a fact that didn't occur to me when I did it on the way down after work on the Friday without giving a second thought to what day it was.

Top Tip as a rail enthusiast, if you cant buy a ticket before travel or arrive at destination station and get told to buy a ticket at booking office, ensure you take the tickets off the clerk, if a return (2 parts) out and return , as what they will do is keep the part of your outward ticket eg from a to b, and then resell it as part of a return form b to a, to their mates at a lower price.And defraud the train operating company they work for.

Also train guards/conductors/managers or whatever theyre called this month get paid a percentage of fares collected on trains so will try and sell you the highest priced ticket, to earn more cash for themselves and the TOC.

Top Tip as a rail enthusiast, if you cant buy a ticket before travel or arrive at destination station and get told to buy a ticket at booking office, ensure you take the tickets off the clerk, if a return (2 parts) out and return , as what they will do is keep the part of your outward ticket eg from a to b, and then resell it as part of a return form b to a, to their mates at a lower price.And defraud the train operating company they work for.

Top Tip as a regular train traveller - you need both tickets to do a return trip and if you only need one, then just buy a SINGLE ticket.

but the ticket ofice chap sells you a single and a gives you the return bit he just off the unsuspeccting passenger for a few quid instead of full price.

I've never heard of that happening. Sounds a bit urban legendy.

oh maaaaan

last time I got on a train from Bristol to Exeter I only had an off-peak ticket but mistakenly got on a peak time train..
I'd been awake for a couple of days and was pretty tired, stressed, discombobulated and tipsy and neeeded to get home asap, so I just jumped on the first train that came into the station..

Every seat on the train was reserved but on that line a reserved seat is often pretty meaningless as you can sit in an empty carriage of 'reserved' seats for the entire journey..
I had to move about ten times before finally getting a safe spot as more people got on at various stops and grumpily informed me that I was in their seat.. I was getting some pretty withering looks from the other passengers by the end of the ordeal, and was feeling pretty uncomfortable..

It made me feel very sad for a young homeless guy that I know who regularly makes the journey with no money or ticket - cold, tired, hungry, dirty and feeling worthless

Of course, as a younger less sensitive soul, jumping the train was a normal mode of transport, and if I got to piss off some jumped up pillock in first class with my cavalier attitude it just made the journey even more enjoyable 😉

It's about time trains were ticketless. Should be all done on a boarding pass on your phone.
Yes, the best solution would be to force anyone who wants to use a train to purchase and maintain a mobile device capable of displaying a ticket. Faultless solution, indeed...