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?

I’m going to say you don’t have the entirely full story.

I just don’t believe a ticket inspector said let me scroll your Vinted account. What I do believe is that he started from the POV of you are travelling on a child ticket and not a child AND you’ve gone a stop too far. And she’s panicked and heard not a child - and immediately wanted to prove that she is right. So suggested ways she could prove it, and this was Vinted etc. He should not have gone through it though, he should have said no, that’s not proof of age.

From my experience with my child, this is where panic takes over. Rationally, I asked him why on earth he didn’t just ask me to send a pic of his passport - but in the moment he wasn’t thinking clearly and panicked.

I say this from experience as very similar happened to my child (who was also 15 and not believed). They were very over zealous with him. They’re not allowed to speak to a parent on the phone for GDPR (again I know this as I happened to be really close as was picking him up at the station, so dashed to where they had detained him and asked these questions in person). At the time when I was on the end of the phone I was really panicked and couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t come to the phone - I thought they were being difficult but when I got there they were lovely and explained they could lose their job for it.

However, what I would challenge is - the fine will be an on the spot penalty. It’ll be the same whether you have no ticket/the wrong ticket.

So they already had the wrong ticket (went a station too far). He decided to be a jobsworth and issue a fine (you don’t have a leg to stand on with this as they did have the wrong ticket - where people tell you that inspector X let them away with it etc, that’s because inspector X was not a jobsworth, was a decent human but actually, from a job POV they actually didn’t do their job properly, and this inspector did). Therefore whether she was 15 or not (and the subsequent phone scrolling) is irrelevant.

If the fine was based on age alone, you could/he could argue that this was an attempt to verify age and therefore not fine her - fair enough (ish)? But he was fining her anyway so this is where I think you have grounds to say abuse of power/overstepping.

His counter argument would be the above, so you would in your complaint immediately debunk that theory by pointing out that the fine was being issued regardless.

He should have very calmly said - in future, please carry proof of your age. You could be fined for travelling on a child ticket if you cannot prove you are a child. However, because you are travelling on the wrong ticket, I am issuing you with a fine for that anyway - here you go. That would have saved the drama and panic and confusion.

Oh give over, everyone will fib to save their skin.

Lesson learned, don’t steel by not paying for what you take. That’s what she did, whether it was a ‘mistake’ or not.

And you verifying her age. Honestly OP that just makes you sound daft. Parents lie too!

No they don't. Many of them don't even work for the rail companies and are contracted to it from agencies. They have no authority at all, the most they can do is call the British Transport Police.

As for someone saying if they show humanity they aren't doing their jobs properly - there are inconsistencies anyway. Apparently I have to buy a ticket before I board a train, but if I buy it on the train the guard (not the same as a ticket inspector) gets commission. It all depends on whether my non-ticket is checked by a guard or a ticket inspector. The rules are ridiculous.

I would have asked what they needed and offered to send photo of her passport - not (sadly) expected to be believed.

Are you 100% certain this is the whole story? A ticket inspector grabbing her phone and scrolling through and finding pics of your daughter in skimpy clothes? All for 30p?

Yes of course. If there was anything relevant to add based on that I would have included in original post?

You've made a lot of good points here, but unfortunately there are no incentives for ticket inspectors to NOT intimidate and belittle lone minors.

I've noticed that inspectors actually reign it in a bit if they're checking tickets on a crowded train because they have a lot of witnesses, and ironically they can be very polite-but-firm with a crowd of young men who've ALL tried dodging the correct fare because they know they need British Transport Police backup if anything escalates!

But on the platform with fewer witnesses, and with people they see are more vulnerable (like lone minors), too many ticket inspectors are all too willing to give into their worst impulses. They have zero incentive to improve on that and it seems little behavioural oversight.

Cops

There us/was a man at Milton Keynes who routinely threatened people with arrest for getting cross about the machine that read the magnetic stripe on their season ticket swallowing it.

If this guy took DD's phone without her explicit consent he needs reporting.

This.

What train company/station was it?

It’s not relevant to the question I asked the group. Of course I spoke to the parents of other child that was present- and the parents of the kids who were waiting at station for them - before sense checking with a group of strangers on internet. The friend - a boy - had ID with him so his phone was not taken. But he also called his parents and was told he could not speak to them. They are also up for making some form of complaint.

WTH???
This is my fear for my teen and I feared I was paranoid. Also security stopping them in shops on the suspicion of shoplifting. I try and tell mine not to put their mobile in and out of their pocket as I could be misconstrued as shoplifting if any security guy fancies a power trip.

The ticket iffier was bang out of order, I hope he gets dealt with.

The penalty fare notice was issued by GWR. But I couldn’t say whether the inspector works for them or a sub contractor. Going to drive over later today.

They were off the train and in the station.

I hope your daughter isn’t too upset by this - some ticket inspectors are awful.

I remember almost being kicked off a train as a teenager because the inspector was convinced I had the wrong ticket (I didn’t - it was one of those that allowed you to travel via X or Y and the twat thought it was for travel via X and Y). Thankfully there was an off-duty staff member in the same carriage who sorted it out but it’s really frightening to have an aggressive man having a go at you.

She deserved to be pulled up for not having a valid ticket for her journey. 15 is old enough for the consequences of her actions.

If she wears crop tops in public and also poses with them on the internet how it that any different to someone seeing them via her phone? If that worries her then stop posting then.

If the story unfolded exactly the way you tell it, then definitely complain as he should not have taken her phone without permission, but I would be prepared to hear another side of the story too.