to make complaint about ticket inspector who detained child and took their phone?

[SmellsLikeTeenSpirits]

15 yo DD bought wrong train ticket today. She got off at stop after the one she'd bought ticket for because of a last minute change of plan with her friends. So a £2.70 journey rather than a £3 one.

At the final destination her and her friend were stopped by ticket inspector. They tried to explain what had happened and pay the excess. He wasn't having any of it. I can kind of sympathise with that.

What I would like your view on / experience of is this:

He detained them for 20 minutes. DD called me and was a bit shaken. I heard him say - you can't talk to your mum now - and then her phone went off. I tried calling and she messaged saying she'd call back in 5. He took her phone off her and went through her apps to try and prove she was over 15 (she looks 16 maybe - no older). In the end he accepted that she was in fact 15 and has written on the fine notice that he verified her age through her Vinted app. DD said she felt really uncomfortable as he went through her vinted page (where she is modelling some crop tops etc) and scrolled through the pictures. I got through to her again on the phone and asked her to put him on the phone but he refused.

Eventually he gave her a fine of £52 and let her go on her way.

Is this acceptable? Am I being unreasonable if I complain. I don't feel that an adult man should be detaining 15 year olds and confiscating their phones? She had the wrong ticket - just issue the fine if you need to?? Or am i being unreasonable - not having correct ticket is a crime - suck it up - the guy was just doing his job?

That is absolutely creepy and inappropriate. Please report him.

Totally inappropriate. Report him!

I would say that she did have the wrong ticket and anyone can access Vinted, so it’s a good lesson to make sure you are happy with anyone viewing pictures of you in crop tops especially if a minor. He’s under no obligation to talk to you but I also don’t think he should have gone through her phone without consent, unless I’ve misunderstood and she did allow him to. Ultimately, he is doing his job.

Completely inappropriate. A normal human dealing with a young teen would try to resolve the situation as kindly as possible. Please report this he sounds very dodgy

Omg this sounds really inappropriate. I would definitely report! And asap. Hopefully they'll have CCTV.

Definitely report him if this is how he behaved.

I also agree with the PP that it's a good opportunity to speak to your DD about putting photos on the internet, that she's not absolutely happy for everyone to see.

But that's a conversation for another time.

Christ on a bike what a jobsworth!

I personally think he needs some training in customer service over a 30p - 30p!!! - discrepancy.

I would definitely pursue this in your shoes.

Report report report. What an overreach of his ‘authority’. I’d be furious.

Pretty sure he isn't allowed to go through her phone. Surely he should have just wrote the fine and given it to her without all the phone checking

Totally inappropriate - report him.

Also even when dealing with the police minors can't be grilled without a responsible adult present, so stopping your DD from speaking with you is absolutely over-reach in his position. The more I think about this the crosser I'm getting.

I'd be reporting him and I wouldn't be paying the fine either.

I agree she shouldn't have photos anywhere on line she isn't happy for people to see but at the same time he should not have detained her for 20mins or gone through her phone.

What a total jobs worth. Who could easily have made children late for something, connecting bus, cinema, sports session etc.
Surely while he was faffing over 30p he must have let other people go without tickets too.

Outrageous. Complain for sure.

Something similar happened to my dd whilst dh and I were there! We had passed through the barrier first, the inspector stopped her (didn’t believe she should have had a child ticket - she’s tall!) He took her away into a corner and even tried to prevent us coming over to see what was going on! I verified that she was only 15 and he still gave her a warning about trying to pass through with a child ticket!!
It made her very anxious at the thought of travelling anywhere in case she’d be stopped again. We did complain to the transport company and they didn’t even bother to respond!

Totally inappropriate and yes you should complain.

This is taking his authority to extreme lengths, I would be telling her not to hand over her phone in these circumstances!

This type of "authority" is what happened to Sarah Everard and our children should be taught that they can say no.

I would be raising merry hell.

Totally inappropriate. If that was my daughter when I heard you can’t talk to your mum and hung up I would have called the police right then. I’d still report to the police.

So did the train and all the passengers just sit for 20 minutes whilst he scrolled through her phone?

Are you sure you are hearing the whole truth about what happened?

No. He was OOO. Contact the rail company. Complain. Complain. Complain. He had no right to access her phone, may have commissioned an offence doing what he did.
If you get no joy, talk to your MP about it.

This behaviour is unacceptable. She had a right to speak to you have because she is a child.

What an arsehole. I honestly dont think this is a trao ing issue, they are really well trained. He needs sacking.

Also a £52 fine for 30p is disproportionate, get them to squash it.

This happened to me when I bought a +zones 12 rail ticket but was told I needed a +123 ticket - station on boundary of zone 2/3.

Id spent £140 for a return ticket and I said mate, i spent £140 for a ticket why would I not pay £144 instead? Its ridiculous. I'll pay the fare 2 to 3 and he agreed.

Man who impersonated police officer in Wiltshire sentenced - BBC News

This kind of horrible shit happens too often...as a petite female I've frequently been stopped by "security" guards, or men allegedly in positions of authority just looking to cause trouble

(possibly planning worse - I am fairly articulate and well spoken and sometimes I get the impression they are "testing" boundaries to see if I am someone isolated and naive they can escalate things with....What would he have done if he hadn't known you were on the phone?)

Thanks for highlighting this OP.

Definitely try to have a strategy in place and also complain, publicise etc. This guy probably does this to women/people he sees as vulnerable a lot.

That's disgusting. How dare he treat and speak to her like that. Definitely report him.

Absolutely complain and vociferously.

He is an outright bully. All he needed to do was issue the fine. that behaviour is really creepy and alarming.

It would be one thing if she had opened an app to prove her age, but him going through her phone is totally out of order. Definitely complain.

Going forward, make sure she has some form of ID on her. This is only £15. And teach your underaged daughter not to post photos of herself on the internet. There is no need to be model crop tops to be able to sell them on Vinted.

I'm surprised the guy even knew how to navigate Vinted to find someone's age. I don't see how that is proof. My date of birth isn't even on mine.

Even the police aren’t allowed to take your phone and search it without documents or consent to. And no consent if in fear.

IANAL but I’m pretty certain ticket inspectors do not have the legal authority to prevent anyone from making phone calls, and certainly not to confiscate a person’s phone and snoop through it. Even more so for a child.