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

But Nutcracker he didn't forget to swipe. If I'm reading this correctly he boarded a train to which the Oyster card didn't apply to as he should have another type of ticket which he didn't have.

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

And even if your moral compass is shattered in a thousand pieces on the floor why, when you're in a very high paid job which requires monetary integrity, would you risk it for sums which are small change?

I never understand solicitors who do this sort of thing. Even if you have no morals unless you can get away with very large sums to somewhere nice with no extradition treaty you will get caught.

Fair enough.

I am obviously a greedy, devious, immoral, odious creep with no moral compass.

However I am sure you are all exemplary members of society at all times... congratulations!

No stealing sachets of sugar for you lot

I'm glad he's been named too. Theft like this is just passed to other commuters. I hope he's charged and taken to court personally.

Funnily enough it's not an either or - I can be outraged against this entitled piece of shit and outraged about a range of other issues. I just think about my dsil and what he pays to commute as a proportion of what he earns and the good he does in his job and the fact that he pays extra to help fund Burrows in his free travel. I hope he's prosecuted and that he goes to jail - what were they thinking of just letting him pay up in the first place? What do you think would have happened f he'd been black and working class?

He wasn't a solicitor was he? He would be struck off. Nutcracker - I am pretty appalled at your attitude.

Glad he has been named, shamed and lost his job. Appalling behaviour, and it's not as though he was on te bread line.

Good, why should he think he is above paying?

John no he was in financial services. I just mentioned solicitors as I'm one as it's always struck me as extremely daft to do things they will inevitably be caught out on and lose a way of making a comfortable living. Even those who have no moral compass must have a sense of self-interest?

In case there's any doubt-I have both and they're both in perfect working order.

I used to work with someone that had dodged her train fare for years. As I recall she travelled to the station a couple of stops from fen church at and bought her season ticket, then once a week/month she would buy an open return from Southend to fenchurch at, and another from fenchurch street to Southend, so if she was stopped by a guard she always had a valid ticket.

Funnily enough she was sacked for stealing (unrelated to the fare dodging)

Nutcracker. A fallacious argument. Just because there are worse things, it does not mean this is not a bad thing. Surprisingly most people are able to hold really quite nuanced opinions on more than one subject at a time.

In reply to whether we steal sugar sachets. Would you go back repeatedly and stuff your pockets with them? Hide a roll of toilet paper in your bag?

After 10 years as a freelancer in a very unregulated industry, my observation is that most people will do pretty much whatever they think they can get away with. Depressingly.

I don't think fare dodging is always outrageous per se - obviously it's dishonest, but there are far worse things. What is outrageous about Burrows is the sheer scale of it, and the fact that the train company initially allowed him to get away with it where they'd have prosecuted a less privileged passenger.

Good post, Glittery.

Ha ha. I mentioned him the other day on the running away from the restaurant bill thread as an example of another arrogant tosser who thinks that social conventions like paying his way shouldn't apply to him, despite being much better off than average.

No doubt he will land on his feet somewhere else because some other city firm will see his fare dodging dishonesty as evidence of business acumen, ruthlessness and a go getting attitude or some such other nonsense. .

Lady no I wouldn't.

But theft is theft.

So where do you draw the line?

For the record, I do not fare dodge. I also do not hide rolls of toilet paper in my bag.

But I would not even hesitate to take a couple of sachets of sugar. Would you?

Nutcracker - no to the sugar sachets. I'm doing low carb. Now if my children decided to take one and it was the only way of getting them out of the cafe... However, I'd not expect and set out to do it day after day for 4 years. Maybe out of desperation/exasperation.

BTW I think it's pretty easy to draw the line in situations like this. I honestly don't know how it didn't cross his mind that he needed to buy the correct ticket. In fact it must have done, hence the speed with which he paid it back and tried to hush it up.

I travel from rural station to rural station, there are no payment methods at either station, if someone asks me for money on the train I happily hand it over, 9/10 no-one asks. I don't consider myself a criminal but I've never gone and sought out a way to pay the fares I've missed. Plenty of train stations elsewhere have automated ticket systems and it is an offence to get on the train without a ticket, I'd buy one in this situation.

I hope my job would never be at risk from this behaviour (not least because my manager does the same).

With my feelings about City people, it reads to me like Al Capone being jailed for taxes.

SetTheWorldOnFire - I think you describe a situation which used to be very common and if must obviously still be the norm for that section of the line you travel. Otherwise you'd have paid a penalty by now. The train company is losing out on fares. They probably make up the money by not employing enough ticket inspectors.

Oh thank god, this thread has found someone with a worse moral compass than my own.

I can rest easy tonight.

I think it's serious, though we can try and make light of it and say it's the same as tasting grapes from the supermarket. Deep down though we must all feel there is a difference.

I commute into London using the same line. I do not understand how he got away with this for so long. There must be another part to this.

I can understand that he arrived at a London station and swiped his pay as you go Oyster card. But what about in the train? I am asked by the guards on this line almost daily to show my ticket. How on earth did he get away with not having a valid ticket in the return journey? He could easily get away with saying that he could not buy a ticket from his rural station but from a busy London one? On a regular basis? Something ain't right.

I think what the morally bankrupt nutcracker was kind of saying is that the train companies should make sure this loophole didn't exist.

So, on the assumption people will often try and escape all kinds of charges, the penalty fare should always be in excess of the standard fare for the maximum on that line.