To think he didn't need to charge me

[memorial]

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.

I travel by train a lot. i usually get the cheap advanced fixed train tickets.if i miss s connecting train due to the previous train being late, i always just go on the next one. so far (60 plus occasions) i never had to get a new ticket!

I would complain. There IS no need for him to have talked to you like that.

This is what life will be like under Corbyn times ten.

I can’t comment on the ticket inspectors rudeness because I wasn’t there. However, the OP had a specific ticket for a specific train journey on a specific company. Her ticket was invalid three times over. When she says show discretion she really means being let off and her appearance should have guarantee that entitlement.

I understand the OP’s frustration but the ticket price reflected its inflexibility, flexibility costs and always has when it comes to ticket pricing.

Actually just once. Same journey same operator. Just half hour later.
I'm not as much of a feeble minded idiot as some seem to think.

You were unlucky with the inspector but he was just doing his job. I was late for an East Coast train to London once because of an accident on the road on the way there. I got on a train half an hour later and the ticket inspector let me off, it’s just luck of the draw I suppose.

Seems like a lot of people are unnecessarily attacking memorial on this post. She knows her ticket wasn't valid but was upset by the nastiness of the operative and the unfairness of having to pay another £50 when she had done the right thing but missed the train due to TFL's inefficiency. I'm pretty sure anyone would be pissed off by this, no need to jump down her neck about it.

YANBU to expect that the conductor should've begun his interaction with you in a calm manner. I commute fairly regularly and have often seen people caught without a ticket/ wrong ticket. I've never seen the conductors speaking aggressively towards the fare dodgers. I've also seen them use their discretion when passengers treat them with respect and explain their circumstances.

In a similar situation (ie previous train made me late for overground train) instead of just getting on next train I queued and went to ticket services, explained situation and they printed me a ticket for the next train no questions asked. I therefore had a valid ticket and did not pay extra. In future do that.

JE17 not all people are "fair dodgers". I don't know how you view the world but I find most people are genuinely good. Situations happen and if you weren't there to witness, it seems strange to insinuate the OP is lying about the fair and the treatment she received.

I can completely see your point OP, it's not nice to be spoken to like that. However, I think that ticket checkers just have to face shite everyday - excuses (valid or not), fare dodgers who try and run, people who are just rude to them. Maybe his last ticket check had gone badly and he was riled...

BluelavaI don't agree that's a reasonable excuse. He is being paid to do a job, it's his choice to do the job and his responsibility to be polite to customers regardless of the situation. If he doesn't like his job, he can look for another one.

Mortgages. Have you read the thread. I have explained numerous times.
I DID NOT REALISE MY TICKET WAS NOT VALID.
My mistake. FFS. I'll just go an whip myself again.
Am so glad there are so many perfect people in this world who never make a mistake and they're all on this thread.

memorial - the man was an aggressive bully. It is entirely possible to tell someone they have the wrong ticket and how this needs to be remedied without being so rude and unpleasant. I've seen ticket inspectors deal with people who haven't got tickets or who have the wrong tickets before and they managed to stay perfectly reasonable and polite. He was just enjoying his pathetic little power trip over someone unlikely to respond aggressively back. Train companies really should stop profiteering on the back of opaque ticketing sales and obscure pricing structures, anyway - they have been reprimanded about this enough times as it is. It shouldn't be so easy to accidentally buy the wrong ticket - especially when, surprise surprise, the one you wanted would have been cheaper, anyway.

The crux of this matter is he didn’t need to charge you as if he had listened to you and checked that the other train had indeed been late then charging you for another ticket was a pointless exercise.

You are going to get your money back so either he didn’t know his job or he just wanted to shout at someone for no reason.

For those saying op should have gone to the ticket office before the train she was supposed to get on had left the platform. How does that work?

They would have told her she would have been wiser using her time to actually attempt to get on the train.

I use Train line frequently and I really don't see how you can buy an Advance ticket by mistake if you read properly.

Teacher22 - bollocks.

Well I see your point but maybe in future learn how to read and understand the ticket you have. I was making mistakes like this when I was 17. Doesn’t excuse him being rude to though. Have a nice day!

He sounds like a wanker, taking out his miserable life on you. Sorry your treat was spoilt and hope you're ok

There is definitely discretion and some staff are more jobsworthy than others. I was fined once as i was (obviously illegally) travelling on a season ticket that had expired the day before. I had not realised the date to renew.so i obviously paid. Another time i have seen an inspector give a very slight warning to a young pretty woman who "forgot her ticket " while being far less lenient with male passengers.

They do have discretion. You can try claiming it back if the tube was genuinely delayed.

I did this recently on a train to Newcastle. Went start to ticket office, explained and the nice man wrote me s Chitty to make my ticket valid for the next train.

He was an arse, and it was kinda silly to make you pay because he should know you can claim back for late trains so - you’re going to get your refund on that anyway if you claim it. Which makes the whole exercise pointless... taking money to give it back... he was the very definition of jobsworth.

Train line don’t even know themselves what tickets they sell.

Dd used to use them quite frequently before she passed her test and it wasn’t unknown for them to sell tickets for trains that didn’t exist.

As an example once she arrived at the station early and looking at the board to find the platform the 9.03 to Wolverhampton wasn’t mentioned.

Went to the ticket office to find out why it wasn’t on the board and they told her it didn’t exist.

She had to buy another ticket on the day. She was not happy.

Similar thing happened a few months later but as she had checked and found again the train didn’t exist she avoided buying it.

This is where you have to check, check and check again.

Gosh I've done this loads of times and they have never once cared. I just say 'sorry, missed the earlier train!' if they do question it which is rarely. Hardly the crime of the century on your part, sorry he was rude, don't let it ruin your memory of your treat

I've always avoided these "cheap" advanced singles for exactly this reason.
Although I get you hadn't realised!

The network rail is a fucked up service with multiple delays and cancelled trains and then they charge you again for the privilege.

One year ds and I landed at Gatwick. There was a direct train to a town about 15 minutes from mine and I rang my dad who agreed to collect us. Best thing was no changing with tried autistic ds and suitcases and child ticket was £1. Train left 25 minutes. They sold me the ticket. Ticket only valid for that train time as off peak. Next train for same journey an hour later was peak. Grab food and drink from smiths and get to platform to find out train is cancelled . Yes - they'd sold me a ticket for a train not even running which they'd have known wasn't running at the time as takes 45 minutes from original destination to get to Gatwick.
Staff on platform tell me half hour later their is another train - it goes to this town and onto a different city than the train that passes through my town but that didn't matter as dad was collecting. Text him new time.
On that train ticket inspector aggressively tells me ticket not valid as tickets for this journey with change I had to make is different price and they don't do the cheap child. I'd paid £25 and they wanted £40 odd to be paid. Did say I could request refund for original. I asked to pay difference. No!
Said I wasn't paying again as they'd sold me an invalid ticket. He said well I'll get transport police to meet you at change station.
"Go for your life!".
2 stations before the change the train breaks down at the station. We all be kicked off. Have to wait a further 30 minutes for next train. Next train didn't go to original station if change but went via my own town and onto a different city.
By this point I'd done half my journey in the same amount of time as the original train would have taken to do it all.
Luckily for me the lovely gentleman at that stations ticket office totally agreed with me I wasn't at at fault and reissued a ticket without extra charge for train from that station through to my own town.

I use to use trains a lot. After so many times of poor, delayed and deleted service I no longer use it.

They just haven't yet worked out their terrible service and customer service which costs the consumer for the privilege of receiving it - is losing them money rather than making more!

Wow still gping. Can't quite believe 400 comments. Thanks for the lovely comments and even the not so lovely ones.
I have learnt....

1. I was very unreasonable to not realise my tickets wasn't valid. Foolish girl. I will take care never to make that mistake again. Congrats all you perfect people who never make a mistake.
2. I was unbelievably unreasonable to expect some discretion and should happily bend over to be repeatedly shafted by the train services. Oh and whipping I deserve whipping many times over.
3. I shouldn't expect simple politeness from a train conductor. After all he's heard it all so being rude and shouty from the outset of fine.
4. I should never ever ever try to explain why I am on the wrong train. I must not argue and must definitely not be upset that I have been shouted and bullied for no good reason.
5. I am a liar. Oh and over react, exaggerate, dramatize. As are I guess all the other posters describing similar and worse episodes. How dare we. Of course those in power are always in the right. They are just doing there job after all
6. And most importantly. I must never ever describe myself as middle class. This is a cardinal sin. Terrible. It's make me entitled, rude, ignorant and thinking I am better than everyone else. It doesn't matter if that's what I am. I am never to use that description to describe myself. Lesson learnt.

Thanks AIBU it's been a ball and certainly taken my mind off the actual event. Over and out.