to not want to pay a penalty given to me by a train conductor?

[crapcook]

I was late for my train this morning so I jumped on it knowing that when I got to my London station I would be able to pay for it before I went through the barriers.I have never done this before but knew that I would be able to buy a ticket there as I have seen people buying them before.

So I got to Cannon Street and got in the queue for my ticket. A conductor came over and said 'where have you come from?' so I told him. He said, humiliatingly in front of everyone, 'you know that as you got on the train without a ticket you are going to get fined?'. I told him that I thought that as I was queuing for my ticket now and I wasn't jumping the barriers then that would be a bit steep but I was willing to pay the £20 fine. He started to write a penalty notice, took my name and address etc and in a loud and very patronising voice, started to read me the riot act - this was in front of a huge queue of commuters I could have smacked him one. So unprofessional. I felt like he was treating me like someone who had intentionally gone into a shop and pinched something. I asked why this queue of commuters were not getting charged and he said it depended on where they had got the train from. I think you can use the ticket service there if your departing station's ticket office is shut. I didn't know that though.

He treated me like shit and I got quite upset and riled up. Told him not to patronise me and called him a jobsworth . Also shouted at him that their poxy trains are expensive enough as it is AND I have to stand up all the way into work. That really helped my case as you can imagine.

I had no change on me so had to pay with my debit card. Because of this they had to charge me half of the penalty fee so it cost me £10 to get into work this morning.

You can appeal the fee so I am thinking of writing to Southeastern trains and asking them to meet me halfway based on the conduct of their guard's behaviour and also because as I had seen other people buying tickets there then I assumed that I could too. So I will and have paid the tenner but I refuse to pay the other half.

What do you think?

God I was furious.

maybe they'll get people to pose naked next to their name next, a la gok.

It happened in London. Of course the conductor was rude. They don;t know how to be otherwise

SueW - that definitely sounds illegal

Interesting link, that.

Still don't think I'll be getting out of my car any time soon though.

You live in Central trains area SueW? They do that here, I think its not on really.

Surely it can't be allowed under Data Protection? The 'crime' does not really merit that, considering that even sex offenders details are not made public.

you're in good company - didn't cherie blair get done for fare-dodging on a bus or something?

The second link is about people who have actually been prosecuted and therefore found guilty of a criminal offence.

A fine is not quite the same and I do wonder how legal that is.

True. But still a bit much IMO.

Don't think there's anything wrong with smacking that soft underbelly. Fare-dodging is essentially stealing.

I live in Liverpool and there is a big problem with gangs of youths riding the trains, especially at night. The rail service is doing its utter best to ensure its safe and affordable for yer everyday punter. But if people who essentially can afford to pay , and ought to know better undermine the compeltely reasonable expectation of paying for what you use, things will never improve.

That's not directed at the o.p. by the way!

Yes, you can get season tickets for kids (and have been able to for years - certainly I had friends with them at school many years ago). I agree that the guards shouldn't be threatening with him, but then if it is the same guards that have picked him up before they may be thinking he is taking the piss. Still the correct route would be to contact his parents, not be nasty to him!

But yes, it does seem odd that sex offenders' details don't get posted up in public but fare dodgers do. Then again, i suppose fare dodgers don't generally incite mobs of loonies to vigilantism.

A friend of mine used to work for British Transport Police and she says that a massive number of fare-dodgers (the ones who actually went through the barriers) were also guilty of several other crimes. It always struck me how stupid they were - she and her colleague would apprehend the man for jumping a barrier, and would subsequently find that he was being hunted by the police for drug dealing/ bank robbing/ murder/ etc. Extraordinary that they couldn't be arsed to pay their fare, when they were basically on the run for a much bigger crime.

SueW - I bloody well hope not. It's not like I am a repeat offender and have been taken to court over it.

Bloody jobsworth...when I was 30 odd weeks pregnant trying to get home from sheffield my connecting train was cancelled ..was hurrying through a "barrier" (not obvious)..to get to info desk to see how I could get home...when some bloody arse of a jobsworth actually grabbed my arm quite hard and pulled me back and said very loudly "I said can I see your ticket"....I didn't see or hear him being intent on finding out where I needed to be and almost in tears knowing prat of H would be shitty if I was late....I am quite small and yong looking and wa sobviously pregnant and was totally shocked that he had grabbed me...I completely lost the plot yelling at him to get his hands off me, step back out of my space and asking if there were any transport police around as I considered what he had done assault...he could not have cared less and in fact became even more abusive....do they pick these prats on purpose!!!

I had a very similar experience a few months ago. I was getting a train three stops to the big Central city station, and one came along as soon as I got to the station so I hopped on it without a ticket and went looking for the conductor to buy a ticket as I and many other people had done numerous times before without and problems or even advice to get a ticket at the station next time. I (and friend) went the entire length of the train and there was no conductor in sight. When we got to Central, we went to excess fares to pay, as we had every intention of paying for the journey. We were duly charged £20 each for a journey that costs about £1.50.

Now, I don't so much have a problem with being charged per se, rather I think it's completely unfair to allow people to buy tickets on the train only sometimes. I have since been on the same route twice when they have actually announced, 'there will be ticket inspectors at station x, so can anyone without a ticket proceed to the front coach to buy a ticket from the conductor'. In other words, they expect people to not have tickets and rather than penalising the fare dodgers they warn them in advance so they can get one.

Just seems completely unfair to me, when friend and I actively went to attempt to be honest. I have honestly NEVER winged a train journey, as I think it's really wrong and unfair on the other passengers, as I'm sure they factor in a certain amount to the price to allow for dodgers. Grrr.

Sorry but 'I didnt have time to get a ticket' is a standard line from fare dodgers, you have no hope.

Here at my local mainline london station they have put gaurds on the door onto the platform and they will not let you through unless you have a ticket. In the first month ticket sales went up by £75,000.

Its a fair cop gov, pay up and move on.

{not insinuating you are a fare dodger)

The gaurds conduct was at fault.

But you shouldn't travel without a ticket. There may be lots of genuine reasons why this may be, and you see yourself as an honest person that has only done that once - but the conductors cannot take that into account.

I'm sure you agree they must hear stories like that every day and they have to be numb to it.

Still no excuse for his lecturing though - minimal chat and issue the ticket is all that is needed. He should realise that most people caught out will be annoyed - so just riling them further is short-sighted on his part.

He is probably one of these guys that like this though.

In one job i had i had to listen to a heap of sob stories when people get caught - you just listen to it all and still pursue it no matter what they might say.

agreed gaurd was a $%^& and obviously likes to intimidate women....think of his wife...

this happened to my friends 17yo son when he was late for college and there was a huge cue, he thought he'd by a ticket when he got there, and they went mad at him and fined him

for being honest!!

i dont get it, utter crap IMHO

Look, by all means complain, it's what customer relations was invented for after all. But remember the Revenue Officer deals with abuse everyday, I can guarantee that he/she will have been thumped at least once on the job (so to speak) and listening to a mouthful of bile will be an everyday part of his job. He might be feeling just a little jaded, no.
And they only put up the names of the people who've been prosecuted and fined, not the ones who've paid a penalty fare.

He shouldn't have been rude but I think if you didn't buy a ticket it's a fair cop really. I wouldn't get on a train without buying a ticket but I wouldn't be able to in any case, my commute involves 3 sets of barriers and I wouldn't even make it to the platform without a ticket tbh.

Santaoftheopera

My DS has a season ticket for the term. The first time I enquired the station didn't tell me about it just told me how much it would cost for day/week/month etc. But went to a different station and they gave us information on term tickets. Costs us £114 for a term which is slightly cheaper than buying weekly or monthly tickets.

You have every right to complain about the ticketman's behaviour. I would leave any mention of the fine being refunded out of it though as this was perfectly legitimate applied.