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.

memorial

“They can use discretion.”

Can you point me to how you know this?

You might be able to claim back the fare for the missed train, as it was the Rail company’s fault you missed it.
And whilst I agree the ticket collector was correct in principle, there is no need for him to be belligerent. I don’t think you would BU to complain.

I've noticed that often times people who work in trains/stations tend to be rude. But I guess they are so used to rude customers that it's their default to be aggressive to start with. It's really unfortunate and it's really crappy to be a customer. I've learned to avoid asking for help unless I really have to.

I asked at our station the other day what happens if I buy an advance ticket for a specific train and my first train gets delayed meaning I miss my connection. She said then you are allowed to get the next train. This should be the case here too. I don't know if it's different with different companies, but South Eastern do delay repay, if your train is delayed more than 30 minutes you can get a partial refund. In this situation I would be contacting the train company to ask about this.
Also, no matter what the situation, if the person who has the wrong ticket is not being aggressive or unpleasant then there is absolutely no justification for a ticket inspector being aggressive or unpleasant. Doing his job, yes, insisting she buy a new ticket if that is the situation, yes, being intimidating and aggressive, not acceptable in any customer facing role.

I would be complaining about his attitude and also inquiring about a refund for the original ticket.

The tube is separate company u wont get much joy theyre always delayed-if it was another rail cpmpany ask about their delay policy

They can use discretion - was recently on a train where a girl was on an earlier train than she should be, but the following was was actually quicker, so ticket inspector advised her which station to get off at to get her original train. Next lady she checked was also on wrong train - she'd missed her earlier one. Inspectors response 'well, I can't get you on that one now, so you'd best just stay on this one as we're not too busy'. Lovely lady.
No need to be snotty with everyone, some people do make genuine mistakes. Hope it hasn't spoilt your birthday too much

Definitely check if you can get a refund on the first train. Depending on which company and how long you were delayed you may be entitled to money back. I used to get trains on South Eastern and we were delayed by 40 minutes once because of signal failure. I was told to claim by the ticket inspector - got a full refund as the train was over 30 minutes late to its destination.

GWR is 15 minutes as a starting point for example...so if it was a GWR train for the first leg you could certainly claim if you were delayed by over 15 minutes.

As far as the second train was concerned, I think (but could be wrong) that being allowed on another train only applies if both legs of the journey were on an advanced ticket - so basically the ticket was used on the first train which delayed you on the second. Because you'd have had to use the specified first train rather than just taking your pick - and, by being 'made' to use that particular first train, it made you late for the second one. If that makes sense

I would complain about his manner. That's unacceptable. Would he have been as rude to a 6'3" hulikng strong man? I doubt it, so he needs some retraining.
Just out of interest can't you buy an off-peak return to your final destination even if it is 2 different companies? So London Acton Central instead of London Waterloo for instance. That would maybe cover you if the first train was late.

Sadly someone being a middle class professional is no guarantee of honesty. I have attached a link below to a case where the managing director of an asset management company lost his job and was fined £43000 for train fare evasion.

Ticket inspectors have seen and heard it all and I can understand that they are sometimes a little jaded. Of course he should have been polite but the fact is that he didn’t fine you. He just insisted you paid the fare - something you should have done before you boarded the train.

I live in London and travel around the UK on trains a lot. I also buy the advance bargain tickets so I always allow extra time to get across London to catch the correct train. I’d rather pay £3 for coffee and wait at the station for 40 minutes than risk having to pay the high fares charged on the day.

www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/15/ca-ban-43000-fare-dodger-financial-services-industry-blackrock-jonathan-burrows

Forgot the link

Personally I don't think that you're being unreasonable. He made you feel lousy over it. He shouldn't have. He could have explained nicely that his hands were tied, but explained how and where you could have got redress for your missed train. And personally, I think that he could have allowed a little discretion. And I don't think that you should be picked on for a few hastily chosen words describing yourself as frumpy and middle class. You were painting a picture of yourself as being unassuming. You had a bad experience. It spoiled your birthday. Do you really need being 'attacked' of 'chastised' a second time! Have a look at the train's policy re missed connections and write about the manner with which you felt treated. Finally, Happy Birthday!

Blimey hennenora. How much time do you leave for crappy service then? Or shop for them to be crappy but not for me to make a simple error.
FWIW I hate being late and wanted to get some biltong in Paddington. So I left an HOUR and 45 mins for an Hour's journey. I can't believe that I should have left even longer.
Seriously am growing to hate London.

Your first mistake was in believing the timings on the TFL planner.......

People who keep saying the inspector should have taken into account the previous connecting train being late - if the OP took a train into London after overnighting at her sisters, then took tubes to the terminus where her home bound was going to leave from : they were different rail companies , GWR is not going to know or give a monkeys about Southern or Great Anglia etc being late. The OP states that they were different operators .

I can understand you being cross at something blighting your birthday treat and it is unfortunate if he was brusque about it, but I don’t see why that justifies you thinking he should let an invalid ticket slide, tbh, just because you think you don’t present as a typical fare dodger ( not that that there is such a;thing)

I think it would make conductors jobs a million times more difficult if they were routinely allowed to chose to use their discretion when they wanted to. Imagine how pissed off people would get if a conductor tried to fine them if they knew the conductor didn’t have to.

Having said that I think in the OPs situation surely the conductor showed some discretion by NOT giving the OP a fine. 🤔

I missed a train as I couldn't get across the concourse due to a fatal accident taking place at that time - understandably the area between disembarking the tube and getting to the mainline bit of the station was closed off to allow the person attempted treatment and a bit of dignity, and people were being re-routed outside onto the street - I didn't know the station or area well and had to ask for help to find the platform, by the time I got there the beeps at the doors had just gone.

I still got an earful and threatened with having to buy a new £200 ish ticket plus fine (London to Edinburgh). He let me away with it in the end as the original train ended up terminating at York for some reason, so I would have been transferred onto the one I was on anyway. But if he had made me get off again in London it was the last train of the day and I would have had nowhere to stay. I was only there for the afternoon for a job interview, and was pretty traumatised by the whole day, tbh, he really didn't make it any easier. I hope you are feeling better about it soon.

He shouldn’t have been rude and belligerent to you. I would complain about him and ask for a refund. You may get one for your original ticket that you didn’t use.
Give some people a little bit of authority it goes to their head.

Should none of us ever buy tickets then? I pay £65 per day return to get to my office. I’ve heard every sob story going when the ticket inspector goes round. Makes me seethe when he lets them off and the rest of us are being robbed blind for the same train. YABU.

36degrees. I think that's why I am so upset. There was literally no humanity at all. Those who are saying he was terse/brusque. Believe me I am no delicate flower, he was aggressive and intimidating before I even opened my mouth.

They can use discretion. He didn't have to charge me

Your ticket was invalid as you missed your train. Therefore you needed to buy a new ticket to travel which you did not. So yes he had to charge you for a new ticket. It’s your own fault. Suck it up and leave earlier next time.

Op did have a ticket clearly intended for travel on an earlier train.
He maybe entitled to make op pay again but did not have to be rude.

Like Anna said above I bet he has heard every sob story and excuse in the book and gets pissed off with people trying there luck.

I can empathise because I was in London last weekend and the trains are a nightmare. I left the house with plenty of time and I nearly missed my flight due to the driver simply stopping the train on the tracks for forty minutes due to some incident up ahead. This happens to me every time I am in England. The last time I took a train in England, the driver said we will be stopping at this town and we will not be going to the destination at all due to a lorry on the tracks. The amount of incidents and delays are bizarre. I am currently in a much kess wealthy country than England and the trains run like clockwork

Definitely complain and ask for a refund. Bloody bully boy