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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:
HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 06/06/2019 21:26

Of course you can hold a company to account for shoddy service that has cost you money. OP ask the first company for a refund for the second ticket you had to buy, the one that you bought on the train. I bet you'll get one. I did.

Smellbellina · 06/06/2019 21:26

Good luck with that attitude you have - it stinks. Pot, kettle Hmm

Nottheduchess · 06/06/2019 21:26

If your tube was late you could have had it validated at the station.
Maybe you should have spoken to the train manager before you boarded the train, and explained your circumstances. It’s the polite thing to do when you don’t have the correct ticket. You book in advance then you get a cheaper rate, one downside to that is that you are tied to that service.

HolesinTheSoles · 06/06/2019 21:27

I've also been given discretion I find most rail workers really helpful it's just like any profession there are a minority of jobsworths.

I was once stuck with my then 2 year old in a station in the middle of nowhere for 3 hours. The train just said delayed and every time we rang up we were reassured the train was now on route from the previous station, but it never came. When I rang again I said it was now 9pm, getting dark and my toddler was starving I needed them to send a bus if the train wasn't coming. I wasn't shouting or swearing. The man on the phone said my attitude was awful and hung up on me! I was bloody livid after that!

Ivestoppedreadingthenews · 06/06/2019 21:27

I left my wallet at home (with season ticket, card and money in) and was running late for work, feeling dreadful with a virus but teaching in a very cash strapped school and had to be dead to call in sick so was struggling in.
I was at the platform (no barriers at that time, early) dithering about whether to get on the train or not. The conductor beckoned me on. He recognised me as a regular & he had checked my ticket the day before and printed me a free return ticket.
I will always remember his kindness. A bit of humanity goes a long ways
Sorry OP & happy birthday! Cake

MonkeyTrap · 06/06/2019 21:29

@Amanduh

Being pregnant is a protected characteristic?

So you think at 9 months pregnant it was acceptable to expect me to stand?

Wtf.

Justaboy · 06/06/2019 21:30

Tell you what write to Both the railway compaines concerned tell them what happemed and tell them about the ticket collector and see how you get on.

I wouldn't be surpised if you'd get some sort of refund.

His actions are very bad PR for the railway and I think their getting a bit more concerneed about that than hitherto...

nauseous5000 · 06/06/2019 21:31

Look, all jobs come with KPIs at mo and in some lower paid jobs him pulling you up on this might man he hits targets etc. At end of day the trains are insane fir this and particularly in London area- I stick to national express these days- far less comfy but cheaper and more flexible

AphidEater · 06/06/2019 21:31

He sounds like a twat OP but try not to give this so much headspace that it ruins your memories of a nice weekend

Original poster
memorial · 06/06/2019 21:32

Nottheduchess. RTT.
I have said a number of times now. I genuinely did NOT realise it was an advance not a super off peak. Until he started shouting at me.
So I couldn't have addressed it before hand because I DIDNT know.
I have admitted this was my mistake.

OP posts:
sqirrelfriends · 06/06/2019 21:32

I don't see how it's your fault tbh OP. You were late due to a delayed train, these things happen. For the conductor to be rude and treat you like a fair dodger is unreasonable.

For all of you saying she bought the wrong ticket- would you have bought a new one if you were slightly late due to no fault of your own? No need to crucify the OP, she's already had to deal with a nasty jobsworth and a fine.

Jent13c · 06/06/2019 21:33

Train conductors earn around 5% comission from ticket sales on board the train so not really in his best interest to let you off with it.

Technically your ticket was not valid and the fine/ticket price is a valid penalty for travelling without a ticket. However I doubt most people would have been so unreasonable unless there was a personal advantage to them.

I'd write a calm complaint outlining the facts to both companies..if you get some money back bonus, if not at least its documented that you were unhappy with the service. If you are unhappy with the resolution just keep saying that and waste some of their time! I find the whole process of complaining about poor service pretty cathartic

MonkeyTrap · 06/06/2019 21:33

OP MNers seem to relish in others misery so don’t expect any empathy here...

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 06/06/2019 21:33

Kennehora just does what everyone should do and is an infinitely better person than the OP.

Although personally I always allow 24 hours extra when I'm travelling anywhere and if I get there early I just bed down for the night in the bog with Big Al The Hobo. I don't mind inconveniencing myself you see, and I am not so querulous and demanding as to expect a train to run on time simply for the sake of my convenience.

NoBaggyPants · 06/06/2019 21:34

I'm not stupid enough to think I can use a ticket on a different carrier

Yet you failed to read your ticket, that would have stated it was valid only on the train booked.

Had you just paid when asked, the rest would not have happened.

PeppermintMe · 06/06/2019 21:34

Sounds like a horrible jobsworth. You had paid for the journey so not a dodger and weren't taking a seat from someone else. I would definitely complain. There's just no need for this. What would have happened if you couldn't pay? What if you had been a vulnerable person? Sounds like he needs some training.

needmorespace · 06/06/2019 21:34

Kennehora, actually I think your attitude is pretty stinky tbh.
OP, I get you - I was fined for not paying my fare on a bus one morning. Except I did, there was cctv footage of me doing so. But the inspector was a plumped up shitty little man with a complex who seemed to think it was appropriate to embarrass me in front of other passengers (a couple of whom told me to complain about him).
I submitted two appeals but still had to pay the fine. Despite on three occasions since witnessing inspectors letting passengers who had not paid simply tap their card with no more being said.
The worst for me was his attitude in front of other people, like I was a shitty little criminal rather than a middle aged woman simply on her way to work trying to explain that I had paid. I was utterly shocked to be treated in the way that I was.
So I think yanbu. he didn't need to be rude and he could have explained that you would have to pay for a new ticket but how you could claim a refund for missing your connection.

GCAcademic · 06/06/2019 21:35

I don’t understand why, in this situation, you have to buy a whole new ticket rather than just paying the difference between the fares.

And there was no need for this man to shout. Some people are just drunk on the little bit of power that they have. It’s unprofessional.

Bumper1969 · 06/06/2019 21:36

Op are you being a bit precious? That's the reality of London travel. You have no leg to stand on with complaining. I commuted there for 20 years, I know. Your case is not even a case, it's risible in the context of what goes on in the transport system if a major world city. Maybe just don't go to London again.

darjeelingisrank · 06/06/2019 21:36

YABU

Treaclesweet · 06/06/2019 21:38

You're a "middle class professional" so the rules shouldn't apply to you, am I right? I'm sure you were terribly polite, in which case on a quiet train... Oh wait no, you didn't have the right ticket.

Entitled middle aged middle class boomers like you make my blood boil. I'd of been rude you as well when you tried to weasle out of paying the right fare.

Jaimemai · 06/06/2019 21:38

I also got the fright of my life at how expensive the trains in England are . I got a return train from London to a destination that was two hours away. It was 75 pounds! It cost me 20 pounds to fly to England! I got a train for the same distance in a different country yesterday, it was ten pounds. Add to that the trains in England are shit and do not get you there on time. I can really synpathise with you op because I had absolute train rage at the English trains last weekend. I thought, for these extortionate prices , they should at least get me where I am going less than forty minutes late

purplecorkheart · 06/06/2019 21:38

Look at it from his point of view, for all he knew you could have been a mystery shopper planted by the Railway company to ensure that he did his job to fine people with wrong tickets etc. Chalk it up to experience and let it go.

Sickofphd · 06/06/2019 21:39

Wow, some people on this thread seem to delight in being nasty. I travel to London fairly often and the conductors have told me it's ok to get on an earlier train if I've arrived earlier so yes, there is an element of discretion there. I've also unknowingly gotten on the wrong train to Birmingham as I didn't know the one I'd bought was Chiltern only and I was on a West Midlands train. I find trains in this country extremely confusing compared to trains in my home country - I'm not surprised people make mistakes! There are so many different categories of pricing and timings it seems designed to deliberately catch people out. Hope you're ok OP.

NoBaggyPants · 06/06/2019 21:39

I genuinely did NOT realise it was an advance not a super off peak.

At no point did you read your ticket?

I don’t understand why, in this situation, you have to buy a whole new ticket rather than just paying the difference between the fares.

Like with air fares, it's not possible to do that with the cheapest type of ticket. If you want flexibility you have to buy a more expensive ticket.