Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think he didn't need to charge me

454 replies

memorial · 06/06/2019 19:58

Yesterday I travelled from Cardiff to London for a birthday treat to see Hugh Jackman bought for me by my sister.
I bought my train tickets in advance at £50.
We had a wonderful time though the £20 train ticket back to my sister's house was galling. And again this morning back to London.
I left my sister's house in plenty of time (according to TFL planner). But of course the train was stuck at a red light for 10/15 mins and the tubes were awfully slow.
I raced into the station just to see the train doors closing. Never mind I think it's super off peak midweek I'll get the next train in half an hour.
So I do. Scan my ticket at the gates and settle down for the journey. A busy but not full train with no seat reservations.
About 10 mins in a rather brusque ticket collector comes round. I show him my ticket and he gets quite aggressive loudly telling me I need to buy a ticket. I am genuinely gobsmacked and explain what happened.
He points out (rudely and very loudly) that my ticket was an advance single and only valid on the train I missed.
I am very apologetic and say I usually buy a super off peak and didn't even realise this and again explain how I just missed the train.
He again very loudly and rudely says I can buy a ticket or get off with a fine. He really is talking to me like I am a criminal fare dodger.
So I pay another £50 close to tears. What a horrible end to a lovely birthday treat.
So while I accept that my ticket wasn't valid, did he really need to be so rude and aggressive and surely he could have used a bit of discretion. I clearly wasn't trying to take the piss.
Feeling really sad and disappointed. Have spent £140 on train tickets plus tube and feel like a naughty school child.

OP posts:
HarveySchlumpfenburger · 07/06/2019 17:31

You are right littleowl.

Oliversmumsarmy · 07/06/2019 17:33

GreytExpectations

I can quite believe the op when she says the ticket inspector was aggressive before she had opened her mouth.

The fact that you can’t get your head round people behaving like this, I can only think you are either quite young or had a charmed life.

It does happen.

More and more you have to check , check and check again otherwise something will catch you out.

No longer can you just buy something and expect what you bought to be what you actually wanted. Everything is designed to catch you out.

One day you will be caught out by something and then you will realise how easy it is to end up in ops position with someone in uniform shouting at you when you haven’t said a word.

PCohle · 07/06/2019 17:34

That's true but you need to speak to the conductor on the delayed train or at the next station. You can't just get on a train you don't have a valid ticket for. If you do they expect you to pay for a new ticket and request a refund.

In addition, you need to have been delayed for 15 minutes on the tube before it counts as delayed. The OP just says it was "awfully slow" which could really mean anything.

Oliversmumsarmy · 07/06/2019 17:41

But if the op only missed the train by a minute when she got off the delayed train she probably thought if she sprinted she could get the train.

It was a choice of a chance of getting the connecting train or finding the conductor and definitely missing it which could have been construed as purposely missing the connection.

Op wasn’t to know she was going to miss the train by seconds

RussianDolls · 07/06/2019 17:49

What is it with people having a go at the OP?

YANBU

You made a mistake and he didn’t have to be so rude.

Oh and some people on this thread are picking a fight. Would they do that in real life?

PCohle · 07/06/2019 17:49

Yes, which is why the train company will give you a refund of the additional ticket for the second train if you write to them.

SkintAsASkintThing · 07/06/2019 17:57

Actually youre covered. You missed your train because of the delay.

You need to get a delay repay claim form from the station and you can opt for either a full refund OR an open ticket valid anywhere on the network.

You should also get your train ticket the guard made you buy refunded as well.

RussianDolls · 07/06/2019 17:58

Oh and Whowasit I’m glad you’re not my mother

SkintAsASkintThing · 07/06/2019 17:58

The OP didn't make a mistake at all. She missed her train because her connection was delayed. It wasn't her fault, she hasn't done a thing wrong. This is really common so the guard obviously needs more training.

SkintAsASkintThing · 07/06/2019 18:02

And where have all these thick bastards on Mumsnet appeared from ?? Everyone seems to be so hard of thinking these days, all too ready to scrap and stick the boot in over sod all.

The OP missed her train because the one she was on was late. It isn't rocket science. She isn't in the wrong.

PCohle · 07/06/2019 18:02

It is very common and there is a very well established procedure in place. Why does the guard need retraining because the OP thinks that procedure shouldn't apply to her?

MissUGirl · 07/06/2019 18:04

Havent RFTF, but the crux of the matter is did OP buy an advance ticket for the entire journey from her sister's house back to Cardiff?

If so, the ticket will dictate specific train times for each leg of the journey, and if the train coming into London was late then she should have been allowed onto the later train for the Cardiff leg with her exisiting ticket.

MissUGirl · 07/06/2019 18:07

If, however, the advance ticket was only for the London—> Cardiff return journey, I believe she's stuffed.

SkintAsASkintThing · 07/06/2019 18:07

PC.

I don't drive. I use trains daily.

If a train is delayed even if it's an advance ticket it can be used on the next train. This has happened to me at least 4 times this year. The most the guard should have done is radioed to check. I've honestly, in my dozens of years of using the train network had anything other than that happen. The guard was in the wrong.

In fact if you get the Trainline app up it even shows on there which trains are delayed and if connections can be made. The guard would have known this.

TheRedBarrows · 07/06/2019 18:08

It is upsetting when things like this happen Flowers

For anyone else doing a similar trip as a visitor to London I would never ever trust the timings on TfL Journey Planner.

Billben · 07/06/2019 18:10

he could have used a bit of discretion. I clearly wasn't trying to take the piss.

Says every fare dodger 🙄

angelfacecuti75 · 07/06/2019 18:11

Maybe you were in the wrong because you had the wrong ticket , but there are ways of dealing with a person (e.g. politely) , especially if they are being polite to you (whether the persons in the wrong or not). However, the bloke was doing his job , even if he was rude/brusque/shouty, he has a job to do. Claim the fayre back for the ticket you missed and notch it up to experience and then forget about it xxx

Bluntness100 · 07/06/2019 18:12

Op, you start this thread because you're pissed about having to buy a new ticket, it's in the title. You then escalate it to such unbelievable levels, when opinion wasn't with you.

Saying the ticket inspector started shouting at you before you even spoke, how terrifying it was etc, how it was so much worse than you even describe, escalating his behaviour with every post, and have taken it to such a level it has become unbelievable. It you were verbally assaulted and attacked, terrorised like this on a public train I'm fairly sure that's what your thread title would be and not he shouldn't have charged me.

As such. Grow up. You're knocking on fifty and behaving like a petulant child.

On a seperate note I was at rhe hugh jackman concert last night also and it was bloody brilliant, especially when taron Egerton and then Keala settle came on.😍

Wingingit247 · 07/06/2019 18:14

Sounds like the guy on my train back from London. He was checking tickets and the young lad in front of me, 12/13 ish I'd guess, tried to go past him to get his ticket from his bag in the luggage rack and got pretty much shouted at. Poor boy looked mortified.

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 07/06/2019 18:14

I’m a disabled single parent. A ticket inspector once threw me and my kids off the train at some middle of nowhere station in the pitch black. He wouldn’t even allow me to pay to stay on the train. (I had bought an any time / any train ticket, but hadn’t noticed the one small exclusion.) I complained and got an apology. So I do have some sympathy for OP, we all make mistakes, and there was no need for rudeness.

Catsinthecupboard · 07/06/2019 18:16

The conductor did not need to be rude. Nobody should be but some people enjoy being rude. They boast of it.

CakeFlowers Happy Birthday OP

Iamthewombat · 07/06/2019 18:18

A fare dodger is somebody who tries to travel for free. The OP wasn’t trying to travel for free. She had a ticket that she believed was valid, and she was on a later train because her connection was delayed.

Here’s a comparison. Let’s say you’re coming out of a shop and the alarm goes off (this has happened to me a few times; usually because the shop has left the security tag on something.

Would you think it reasonable for the security guard to tackle you to the floor, shouting “thief! You’re stealing! You’re going to prison unless you pay for that!” in front of everybody else in the shop?

Of course not. It’s not dissimilar to what happened to the OP though, is it? Aggression, presumption of guilt and making an exhibition of her in front of the other passengers.

Iamthewombat · 07/06/2019 18:20

I am really enjoying the different renditions of the word ‘fare’.

Fair, and even fayre! I can’t wait to see ‘fur’.

marzipanballsrule · 07/06/2019 18:25

I have to say I have witnessed the abuse these ticket inspectors get trying to get people to pay the correct fare. I know you were not rude but many people are and seem to believe the more they shout the better chance they have of not paying for a valid ticket

Virgin trains now inspect tickets before you get on Manchester/London trains to prevent this happening

Nearly47 · 07/06/2019 18:25

That is horrible. I would contact their customer service. I had a fine waved more once for forgetting to buy my ticket by showing the inspector that I usually buy my ticket but a change in my route interrupted my routine making me forgetting to buy it. I've showed him all my past tickets and was so apologetic and embarrassed. He didn't fine me just warned me to be careful in the future or I'd be fined.