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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What do you do if you don't get asked for a train ticket by the conductor?

60 replies

PiperChapstick · 10/12/2015 17:56

On days where DH needs car I catch the train to work. It's 10p more for a return ticket as it is for a single (around £10). On the morning train they always ask for tickets, so I buy a return, but the evening train back the conductor NEVER comes round for some reason. Today I got a lift in to work and just got train back, so didn't actually pay for a ticket as conductor never came round. AIBU? DM says I should have chased the conductor down when the train stopped to pay for it (which is what she has done many times). WWYD?

Before anyone asks, the two trains go to same places on the same tracks (10 minute journey each way) but are run by different providers which may explain why they have different stances on asking for tickets!

OP posts:
wasonthelist · 10/12/2015 21:07

I once scored a free coffee in the motorway services on a similar basis. Obtained self service coffee - no sign of anyone to take payment, so I sat near tills, drank coffee, still no-one. I think there are limits to the effort one should be expected to engage in to force useless companies to accept payments. Yanbu op

Naoko · 10/12/2015 21:18

No, I wouldn't. Round here you can still buy tickets on the train. I usually buy one at the machine before I go but if it's broken or I'm running late I don't, and get one from the conductor when they come round. If they don't come round I do not go looking for them! I'm not breaking any rules because tickets are for sale on the train and if a conductor were to appear I would pay.

MotherofFlagons · 10/12/2015 21:29

No, I would not chase down a conductor. On many commuter services it's too crowded for conductors and if the train company have made it impossible for me to buy a ticket before I'd either sort it out at the other end or live with it.

toffeeboffin · 10/12/2015 21:37

The conductor would probably tell you to just get lost.

BrandNewAndImproved · 10/12/2015 21:43

I was chatting to a national rail man the other day about this. (random conversation in a waiting room) he said the train company do this so they can have statistics saying people don't buy tickets or use that route!

I used to catch a train at a small station, if their wasn't a conductor I would buy my ticket at the big station I got off from and there was never ever a problem. I've also got off on smaller stations and not paid for my journey.

AlpacaPicnic · 10/12/2015 22:48

I used to catch a train home from work, and occasionally when I got to the station the ticket office had shut early. No self service machine was installed and no conductor appeared on the train.
There's a limit to how much effort I'll put in when the train company makes it difficult for me to pay.

ComposHatComesBack · 10/12/2015 22:51

The op did not seak to dodge the fare, there was no opportunity to buy a ticket at the station, the guard (not conductors) didn't come around to sell or inspect tickets (some guards seem terminally adverse to leaving the back cab) or the train may have been driver operated only.

There is nothing the op could have reasonably done to buy a ticket in the circumstances described.

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 10/12/2015 22:57

dd once recycled an open return ticket to Edinburgh ...three or four journeys she got out of it.

they just did not come round to check tickets and at Edin they had the barriers open.

Your lucky day OP... dinnae fret!

Original poster
PiperChapstick · 10/12/2015 22:57

the rest of us pay so say 'thank you'.

Hmm are you my mum? and will I bollocks say thanks I pay too

don't call the cops if you get burgled if this is your attitude.

Ha! Well if I let the burglars in and don't bother my arse to stop the crime I probably won't call the 'cops'

Pray tell what is my attitude? This is AIBU I was asking if IWBU.

OP posts:
Original poster
PiperChapstick · 10/12/2015 23:00

TonDelay on the same line I get to work my train goes all the way to London (I'm in north west), last time I went it was the stop before Euston before the conductor came round to check rickets Shock I had prepaid for mine but wondered how many people scored freebies that day

OP posts:
Original poster
PiperChapstick · 10/12/2015 23:00

*tickets. I'm not sure train conductors are qualified to check for rickets!

OP posts:
NotTheSpiceOfLife · 10/12/2015 23:03
Efferlunt · 10/12/2015 23:10

Don't unmanned stations still have a permit to travel machine? You can buy a permit to show your intention to pay for the ticket.

SuperLoveFuzz · 10/12/2015 23:12

This is another one of these 'mumsnet is a parallel universe' things. YANBU at all op!

Original poster
PiperChapstick · 10/12/2015 23:14

I'm not sure effer I work in the arse end of nowhere, the ancient train station there makes the one from Railway Children look like Futurama. I dont expect to see a ticket machine or even so much as a bench any time soon

OP posts:
futureme · 10/12/2015 23:19

I can't imagine NOT having a ticket and getting on a train. I'm like this about a lot of things, I wonder if I've got some wiring that make me rule-abiding!!

bessiebumptious2 · 10/12/2015 23:27

I don't agree with trying to get away with it, but if circumstances are such that it means you do, then fare fair enough! There does need to be some onus on the companies to ensure that their fares are paid - they make enough money and if they have 3 staff (driver, inspector and buffet car) on every train it's not a lot considering how packed trains are these days!

ComposHatComesBack · 10/12/2015 23:29

But buy a ticket from where future?

The non-existent station ticket machine or on the train where Lord Lucan appears to have found work as a guard. I really don't see what else the op could have done.

bessiebumptious2 · 10/12/2015 23:34

I'm amazed that rail companies haven't upgraded their technology across the board to prevent fare dodging. Beggars belief really, when they make such huge, huge profits for their shareholders.

bessiebumptious2 · 10/12/2015 23:34

But it's about par for the course these days - every big company seems to be incompetent.

Original poster
PiperChapstick · 10/12/2015 23:36

I'm amazed that there isn't the option of e-tickets on smart phones yet!

OP posts:
Pipbin · 10/12/2015 23:42

Can some people honestly not understand that the OP isn't trying to dodge the fare?
I can only assume that some people have never been to a station with no ticket machine at all.
The train station in the next village to my folks is little more than a bus shelter. You literally have to flag down the train. All there is there is a shelter and a platform.

A number of times I have got on the train there to the next town and have never had the chance to buy a ticket. I was very willing to do so but there was never the chance.

ComposHatComesBack · 10/12/2015 23:50

Bessie commuter trains are moving towards Driver Only Operation and buffet cars are almost exclusively the preserve of long distance express trains, so there could just be one person (the driver) on the train.

Increasingly big stations have automatic barriers, but in isolated stations, the cost of staffing or installing automatic barriers and manning them in case they malfunction or a person with disabilities need access, probably exceeds the revenue that could be recovered from fare dodging or people simply being unable to buy a ticket. Add in the complication that the station may well be fun by a different train operating company to the one whose train you are travelling on and it adds another layer of complication. Privatisation has been a disaster for the railways, but I can remember the same experience during BR days.

ComposHatComesBack · 10/12/2015 23:55

I know this is petty and I really should let it go, but it is a train Guard. Conductors work on buses. (Breathes in through nose and out through mouth)

bessiebumptious2 · 10/12/2015 23:59

ComposHatComesBack Good point, well made.