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.

You should be able to get refunded as you can tell them what time train you were on that was delayed and they will know what time it arrived. Call them tomorrow and see what's said. He shouldn't have been so rude.

Yeah that is pretty rough. If he was in a better mood then perhaps you would have got away with it. Sorry OP.

Well it wasn't a random ticket I found. Because it was an E ticket on my trainline account on my phone because I do this journey quite a bit.
My initial reaction was rather shocked because (1) I genuinely didn't realise my ticket wasn't valid and (2) his manner was so aggressive from the start.
I genuinely absolutely was not arguing or aggressive. I was calmly and politely explaining what had happened and that I didn't realise I had bought (2) advance singles instead of my usual super off peak return.

His job isn’t to fine “threatening and assuming” people. It’s to fine people with the wrong ticket.

Because everyone who tried to scam the tickets acts and says innocent stories. Nobody actually says sorry I tried to pull a fast one. My bad

Nikhedonia. I'm not being derailed by your big chip picking a fight

When I have been stuck on the tube before and missed my train I have gone into the ticket office at Paddington and they have authorised my ticket for the next train

memorial

You were explaining because you wanted him to let you off. Yes?

Does sound mean, you missed the train, it happens and did have a ticket for an earlier train on that day. Is there no flexibility?

I remember this happening to my dd going to Scotland, horrendous delays that day on the underground and I'm sure they were allowed to get on a later train for free.

OP - if you still have the ticket for your connecting train, it’s worth checking if you can make a claim. I was once allowed to use a ticket on a later train because I could prove my connecting train was cancelled.

Unfortunately both trains were different companies I have emailed both.
But I may try and claim back the unused ticket.
I guess IABU expecting some human compassion and discretion .
I do not accept his manner was acceptable. I am in a job where I face abuse daily. That doesn't mean I start every contact with a fight.

If you have a ticket for the delayed connecting train to prove that it was a knock on effect I would complain to the company. Especially if both trains had the same operator.

You might get the difference back.

I guess IABU expecting some human compassion and discretion

Not his job. He has to fine you.

I think you should be able to claim this back too. Definitely complain. It was obvious you'd paid for the journey and that you'd missed it through no fault of your own, but because of the late arrival of another train. He shouldn't have charged you. I've travelled a lot through London and I've never come across an attitude like his. Most of the rail staff have always been kind and understanding.

Nikhedonia. I'm not being derailed by your big chip picking a fight

I have absolutely no 'chip' on my shoulder. It was just a ridiculous thing to say. And I'm questioning why you think class is relevant to your assertion that you were 'non-threatening'.

I was once charged for a genuine mistake (I had a ticket that turned out not to be valid) while the man in a couple of seats down was only warned for the same thing.

So they can use discretion.

The difference was that the man was 6ft, drunk & aggressive...

Okay, so maybe he thought you bought the cheaper ticket for the earlier train but actually wanted the later train which was more expensive and came up with a good cover story.
Maybe he thought you had been a lazy cow who just didn't get up on time.
Could be any reason why you were on the wrong train. The reason why isn't important in most cases, it's the simple fact that you didn't have a valid ticket. Not his fault you didn't buy the right ticket

Littlemiss yes I should have done that. Unfortunately it was an actual genuine mistake so I didn't realise until he started shouting at me. I guess no one here ever makes a mistake.
It was the very next train. It wasn't like I went off shopping for hours and hoped to use my ticket for a later peak time train.
It's a shame the world has become so unfailingly black and white.

I guess no one here ever makes a mistake.

I have made the same mistake. And been fined. It’s a policy.

Yanbu, they need to sort the whole system out. I have gone from being a very regular train user to hardly ever, due to poor customer service, inconsistent policy changes on tickets and absolutely crap rail service.

Bianca. It was exactly the same price in fact maybe a few quid cheaper than my original ticket. And literally half hour later (So 12:15 and 12:45 trains).
Hercules. They can use discretion. He didn't have to charge me.

You have my sympathies - my teen dd made a simple mistake and suffered a brutally unpleasant and nasty ticket collector once, who left her really upset and in floods of tears.

He sounds awful and didn’t need to be so aggressive. A bit of discretion would have gone a long way.

Years ago my sister travelled from Reading to Bristol for the first time on the train on her own on this particular journey.

She was in her early teens and my mum purchased a child’s ticket and put her on the train for a relative of ours to meet her at Bristol station.

Not long after my mum got an irate phone call from a ticket collector because they didn’t believe my sister was under 16. He had shouted at her and demanded my parents phone number to ask her date of birth! She was understandably very shaken

Did you miss the connecting train because the previous one was delayed? If so, I would hope they'd be more lenient with you, considering it was a knock on effect of the train being late and out of your control.

It’s really annoying that you had to get a new ticket but it must also be really annoying for the conductors to have passengers try to avoid paying and to be continually arguing with them. Expecting him to use discretion is tricky as there were other passengers there. The conductors have to be seen to treat everyone fairly regardless of what they look like.

It doesn’t sound like he was rude in what he said although it sounds like his tone was rude. You could complain if you want but I think I’d probably not bother.