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?

What a violation. I'd report to the police.

Absolutely not, get a complaint in

Those of you who are focusing on the crop top pics need to have a word with yourselves. This was an adult man going through a child's phone. This is an adult man bullying a child. No, he wasn't just 'doing his job' because you can bet your bottom dollar he wouldn't do this to an adult male.

This is creepy, highly inappropriate behaviour from this man and he needs to be stopped asap.

So stop with the victim blaming and focus on the real issue which is another man, with perceived power, overstepping the mark with a child.

Definitely report to train company and police. That’s way over the top, creepy and scary for your daughter.
@TedRunBye thanks for the link, that is bloody scary. And a suspended sentence, wtaf.

Absolutely report him.

Obviously, everyone should pay the correct fare and fare dodgers are a problem (although in reality not one's like DD) for all of us, but it's strange how these people always pick on youngsters or the vulnerable. I bet the burly builder who fell asleep and missed his stop wouldn't have been treated like this.

If it's like our station, they're having a crack down, which is good, but they've employed private security to do it and from their behaviour, I'm willing to bet they have targets to meet and very little training. How would they think they have any authority to look through someone's phone or stop anyone making a call, let alone a minor?

He clearly thought she was over 16 and treated her as such until she was able to use an app to prove that she was under 16, which is when his approach changed - phone your mum, just a fine.

How much of it was unprofessional and how much of it was just part of an unpleasant experience that isn't really meant to be pleasant?

I guess they treat fare dodgers like shoplifters, just stealing a service instead of a product.

Make sure your anger isn't primarily indignation that your dd was lumped in with habitual fare dodgers and treated the same despite it being a genuine error in this case.

Make sure you are complaining about actions that were genuinely unprofessional and against policy.

Omg absolutely my thoughts! I would feel uncomfortable if I a random old man took my phone off me and started looking through any of my apps - everyone knows that anyone can see the pictures you upload online but it’s entirely different for an older man to take your phone, look at pictures of you while your standing next to him and he refuses to let you call your mum!

No they are not allowed to detain you or search your phone. Only the police have authority to do that.
I would report him

Forget reporting him, I’d be heading down there myself. He’s a perv and clearly got off on detaining a young girl.

So he’s essentially kidnapped her and forced her to show him personal info on her phone? Police and local press!

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.

Yes this - super creepy. Complain!

i would go absolutely mental. If under 15 they are children they train company has a duty of care to them and not treat as mini adults. I have gone mad as bus companies before for dumping DD on the street in the dark when they change the service or various other things. No one should be going through a phone. A call to you would have been sufficient. I also thing the fine should be refunded - it is way too disproportionate to the infraction.

Don’t be silly 😂

Totally inappropriate and he should be complained about. Her phone is personal property not his to take and go through.

Where I live, all the ticket inspectors wear body cameras now, and only ever work in pairs. I would be asking the train company to view this footage and to provide a report of the incident. See what they have to say before bringing out the big guns.

Initially I thought maybe he was having a bad day and your daughter got the brunt of it, but the point at which he knowingly prevented a minor from speaking to their parent, and thus didn’t shake him out of his power trip..it’s extremely worrying. His behaviour was completely disproportionate to the 30p mistake your daughter and her friend made, and extremely inappropriate. I agree with people who have suggested contacting the police, as it’s such an overstretch of what would have been the expected response. I fear if you just contact the train company you might just get fobbed off, and actually this behaviour is a complete abuse of his (very insignificant) power.

You should complain, but make sure you have the facts straight. DD has just been issued a big fine due to her own mistake, it's possible she may be exaggerating? Maybe not, but make sure you're not going to look stupid. The inspector was probably wearing a bodycam..

Also make sure you're complaining about the right things. He was correct to challenge someone without the correct ticket. He absolutely shouldn't have taken her phone, but did she have an eticket, so he did need to look at it? If he did look through her phone, that's enough, it doesn't matter what he looked at and the crop tops are a red herring.

Talk to the friend, but if it's as it seems, yes definitely complain. I'd consider police too.

I’m with you. Took DDs call at work and my anger slowly escalated during day. To Yh point where I had to come on hear for a sense check! And everyone’s been really helpful.

Surely he just stopped her and, when she insisted she was under 16 (they all say that!), he asked for proof and she opened Vinted and handed him her phone?

The alternative is that she couldn't prove it and she'd have been dealt with as 16+

Did he really scroll through her photos, or was she just aware that the photos were on there when she showed him her account info?

I can't help feeling sceptical. I teach kids that age and am often shocked at their skewed perception.

If he really did 'detain her' and forced her into unlocking her phone for him, and scrolled through her photos, then yes of course complain.

The train companies can run their own prosecutions, like the Post Office. They abuse the power, like the Post Office, as demonstrated by ticket inspectors acting as though they actually are police.

Your friend might want to start a little careful arse-covering now, just in case a bit of Post Office backlash comes to the train companies. It would be better to treat people fairly than end up the person in front of an inquiry tearfully saying you thought it was your job to bully and detain minors.

This.

Your DD is unfortunately getting the brunt of the manner in which fare dodgers behave.

I’ve heard them and they are full of crap as they slowly get caught out in all their lies.

DD was at the station not on the train. And I do believe her as (a) I heard him tell her she couldn’t talk to me (b) I heard him refuse to talk with me so I could verify age (c) I have the carbon copy of the fine where he has written ‘vinted’ as age verification. He’s also ticked ‘no ticket’ on the form rather than the ‘travel beyond validity’ box. Also DD is not a liar generally - she’s a crier if you know what I mean.