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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was I unreasonable to dob someone in?

391 replies

VulvicMineralWater · 27/04/2017 11:38

NC as this might be quite outing.

I commute to work on the train. I get on at stop A and off at stop D, both of which have ticket barriers. I always buy a ticket when I travel.

Stops B and C don't have ticket barriers.

A man got on at Stop B. The inspector came around asking for anyone who got on at Stop B. The inspector was very visible and called out "Stop B passengers" loudly enough for everyone to hear. The man didn't have headphones in. Yet, the man didn't show his ticket.

So, as the inspector passed I pointed out the man and said he'd got on at Stop B. Inspector then went to check his ticket and what a surprise the man didn't have one.

The man called me an interfering bitch. Meh, yeah, that's pretty accurate but it fucks me off that people feel as though buying a ticket is optional. It's not. You're using a service, you need to pay for it.

So was I unreasonable to dob this guy in?

OP posts:
2017SoFarSoGood · 27/04/2017 16:06

OP i would have wanted to do as you did, in fact am desperate to do so daily. Have never had the nerve though. Guess my cowardice outpaces my outrage.

I'm a fervent rule follower and got fined for fare skipping on a bus. I appealed all the way to court showing my regular swiping to pay, no luck. They cared not a whit that the machine was obviously defective, and my obvious rage against fare evades did not move them. Bastards. 200 fine.

You can bet I'm even madder watching people cheat now!

PeaFaceMcgee · 27/04/2017 16:09

Why are people being so horrible and calling this poster names?

Why does it make some people so angry?!

PeaFaceMcgee · 27/04/2017 16:11

Bit much eh? you're a smarmy, interfering cow

Lweji · 27/04/2017 16:13

I wonder what are people who report possible terrorists to the police.
Meddling cows?

Emmageddon · 27/04/2017 16:14

I would quietly fume at someone getting away with travelling for nothing, but I wouldn't have the nerve to point this out to a ticket inspector. The fare dodger might follow me home and put bricks through my windows (or worse).

I'm a great believer in Karma. He will get his comeuppance one day.

Poudrenez · 27/04/2017 16:16

Terrorists? Hardly the same thing.

PolaDeVeboise · 27/04/2017 16:17

Not paying your fare is theft, pure and simple. I'm guessing all the people who think OP was unreasonable are fine with shop lifting, car theft and burglary too? And yes, it IS the same thing.

babybubblescomingsoon · 27/04/2017 16:19

Personally I wouldn't have said anything but I don't think you were being unreasonable. You paid to be on that train so he should have to pay too.

Increasinglymiddleaged · 27/04/2017 16:24

If no one is paying it doesn't matter what they factor does it?

I don't think this 'no one pays ever again' revolution is really going to happen anyway is it? Grin

AllMyBestFriendsAreMetalheads · 27/04/2017 16:25

Weird thread. Great example of Godwins though.

Increasinglymiddleaged · 27/04/2017 16:25

And yes, it IS the same thing.

No it isn't. Burglary and car crime are quite clearly more serious.

JustAKitten · 27/04/2017 16:26

Burglary is theft plus trespass.

This is fraudulent use of service.

MyfanwyMontez · 27/04/2017 16:30

Increasinglymiddleaged
Grin
But it's an interesting train of thought!

Asmoto · 27/04/2017 16:33

YANBU. If he carries on doing this sooner or later he will be caught by a 'revenue protection officer' and end up being prosecuted - hopefully your actions will serve as a warning and save him from much greater problems later on.

Eliza9917 · 27/04/2017 16:37

I give zero fucks what other people think of me. If you were paying £38 per day to get to and from work whilst other people were paying diddly, maybe you wouldn't think I was a knob.

The daily rate for the train I used to get was £68. I bought monthly tickets which cost more than my monthly mortgage payment.

I still wouldn't grass on someone because:
A) It doesn't concern me and is none of my business.
b) The train companies will rip us off either way, even if every person everywhere always paid for their ticket. They would just find a different excuse. The trains runs anyway and therefore its costs are the same regardless how many people get on it.
C) You don't know what people are going through. Many people are in working poverty and the price of a ticket could have been the difference between a food shop and getting to work to earn more money.
D) Grasses are busy-bodies that really need to get out more.

FrancisCrawford · 27/04/2017 16:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

nixi86 · 27/04/2017 16:52

Personally wouldn't of noticed what stop he had gotten on, more important things to think about.

Even if I had not my place, that's why they have ticket checkers.....

Train would run regardless of if he was on it or not....

Personally don't understand peak and off peak price differences, costs the same to run the service regardless of time of day, if anything you should pay less at peak times because you know you're going to end up with your face pushed into someones sweaty armpit, but thats a whole other thread

Am assuming all the people who are internally seething about these apparent criminals are writing complaints about the person who can't be bothered doing his job in the first place? I mean he is breaking the contract between himself and his employer surely?
nope thought not

BBCNewsRave · 27/04/2017 16:55

Increasingly And application of common sense tells me that if someone is seen carrying a body around then it isn't 'telling tales' or 'snitching'.

Bluntess I don't think anyone even hinted it was terrible to tell tales if someone murdered someone and dragged their body about in a bin bag...

My point was that in both cases someone is "telling tales" if they report the person. I obviously used an extreme example to illustrate that in some circumstances, we are all agreed being a "snitch" is fine. As I originally asked though, where is the line drawn?

What I find odd is this concept of "snitching", of it being terrible to "tell tales". As I said "telling tales" implies lying or exaggerating to get someone into trouble, whereas people seem to apply it to situations where someone has genuinely done something wrong. I find it intriguing that there is such a strong idea that it is wrong to "tell" except in extreme circumstances.

pardrej · 27/04/2017 16:56

You sound like a bolshy little PITA. You don't care what people think but you care enough to mumsnet it? You were such a rebel at school? Ok op.. Hmm

JustAKitten · 27/04/2017 16:56

BBC because some situations are so minor, and without the full knowledge, that it makes no sense.

cansu · 27/04/2017 16:57

Yet another post about someone policing others behaviour. Why anyone feels the need to do this is beyond me. I wonder why you dont just set up some cctv and hang around various places catching people out in minor ways. Get a grip op

HorridHenryrule · 27/04/2017 16:58

Prices will hike up regardless of how many people pay for tickets. The whole idea is to price you out.

JustAKitten · 27/04/2017 16:58

OP is like a vigilante superhero, but instead of catching murderers and rapists she focuses on fare dodgers, the real evil in modern society.

LittleWingSoul · 27/04/2017 17:07

I hope it was my BIL the OP dobbed in. He owns property at home as well as abroad but thinks he has some special entitlement to dodge his train fare into the city every day Hmm a dobbing in may give him the wake up call he needs that his fellow passengers definitely do not think this is ok!

Headofthehive55 · 27/04/2017 17:13

If no one pays they would go out of business.