AIBU to be pleased that the fare dodger has been named

[northlight]

I cheered when I read this.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/02/millionaire-city-executive-dodged-43000-rail-fares-unmasked

Theft is theft.
He has been caught and probably still thinks he isn't really guilty of theft but has just been clever.

I am really pleased to see this as I think it is totally unfair that he wasn't prosecuted

Looks as though he still might be.

Depending on how you look at at it he is either worth £8m (in property) or not worth a bucket of warm spit.

Glad all round. Glad he lost his job, glad the police are investigating. Guiltily glad he has been named. Guilty because he will be the subject of a lot of online abuse, which i can't really condone.

But

What the hell was he thinking? Is he just an arrogant arsehole?

I think he probably is, by the way

I wondered that! So, so much to lose.

Why would you do it?

I'm glad too.

What he did is ridiculous, and he deserves to be punished. He shouldn't be allowed to simply 'pay up' now that he's been caught, and have no real consequences.

In fact, I think you should have put his name in big, bold letters in the title of this thread!

Well he could easily afford to pay the proper fare each time, so I'm guessing he thought he was "outwitting" the System.

Having now lost his career as a result of his fraud I wonder if he (and his wife, children, family and friends) think he is clever now??

I would actually really like to know how he did it!

And how was he eventually caught...?

I have to admit that if I discovered a loophole in the system which allowed me to commute more cheaply I would probably exploit it too.

I know that might make me a bad person but it's true. It wouldn't seem like theft to me but rather using crappy Oyster system to my advantage.

In reality, I have often been overcharged because of my Oystercard not being read properly at the gates and this is not uncommon. Apparently Oystercard has overcharged commuters to the tune of £60 million... so one guy playing the system does not really phase me tbh.

I also really want to know what the Oyster card loophole was.

Devious, greedy, immoral arsehole. Perfect banker material, really.

If i read the article correctly, he got on the train every day without paying for a ticket (small rural station) and then simply swiped his oyster card when he arrived in London - so was only charged the 'penalty' of £7 or so per trip.

The 43k he has repaid I'd twice what it would have cost him if he'd bought season tickets. Plus he's lost his job. I think that's punishment enough.

The article explains how he did it.

But he didn't 'lose' his job - he resigned rather than explain himself! Plus, when you are working in an industry where ethics and confidentiality are supposed to matter, it is clear he has extremely poor judgement!

Okay, thanks for the explanation.

Well, it actually seems to me that this is the train companies error really!

What a stupid system that someone 'forgets' to swipe in [which I have also done numerous times legitimately] but are then only charged the maximum fare of £7 when it should actually be £20 from the start of the train line.

When I have done this and been charged £7 I should have actually paid £3 and so am overcharged £4.

I know this particular chap didn't keep forgetting to touch in [to the tune of £40,000] but I bet that's how he initially discovered the loophole. I wonder how many other people have done the same?

Again, I personally fail to understand the extreme outrage on here. I must also be a devious, greedy and immoral person [oh well].

NutcrackerFairy you do seem inclined to be a devious , greedy and immoral person. Exactly like Jonathan Burrows in fact.

The rail companies don't soak up the losses from fare dodgers, they claw it back from the honest people who do pay fares.

Burrows is a financier who presumably believes that the market should dictate the cost of goods and services. By that token he should have paid what was asked. As it is he stole over £40,000 from the railway company and his fellow passengers had to pay his whack as well as their own.

The rail company did cotton on to what he was doing and got all their money back. Still and all, I think you should start using the loophole as from Monday. Go on, you know you want to.

Exactly -Burrows benefitted hugely from the market-based economy but was happy to dodge the proper fare and is a thief. As someone who pays £50 a day to travel with southeastern and is on a fraction of his salary, I'm pleased. Arrogant nob.

Oh nutcracker fairy what a scam artist you are - odious little creep I would imagine -happy to cheat your fellow commuters just like mr burrows - Blackrock must be thrilled with this publicity.

He accidentally forgot to swipe in every day for four years ffs not the train companies fault he was a criminal as would you be if you did the same

He had a stable job and home address. Any honest person would have considered buying an annual pass rather than shitting his pants twice a day for fear of getting caught. For four years.

Nutcracker, I'd give you a week before you decide it's not worth sweating every time a train guard walks past.

northlight perhaps I am.

However I think I just prefer to reserve my moral outrage for more horrific crimes against humanity than fare dodging.

Can't really get all fired up about this one somehow.

Nutcrackerfairy - oh dear, your moral compass seems to be broken!

Seriously....the 'why wouldn't you do it if you could get away with it' rationale is wrong, wrong, wrong.