Page 1 of People not paying for train tickets...

are really p***ing me off. I mean I`ve found in the last couple of weeks that I am getting my tickets checked at least three or four times a week(there`s no ticket barriers on either of the stations I use, its the same with most of them). Prior to this couple of weeks I had only had my ticket checked about 3 times in the last year or something.

Which is why when someone decides they`re not going to get a ticket and they get caught - and the ticket inspector is afraid to punish them(he let them get off the next stop without paying) it really annoys me. Why should I have to pay for them? I`ve seen it happen twice in as many days which frankly isn`t good enough. Twats.

Surely employing a full-time badass ticket inspector for each train would pay for itself in the amount of revenue it would recover, wouldn`t it? Incompetent management and its obsession with the false economy of cutbacks makes me sick!

Can you not send a strongly worded letter to the train company telling them about how the inspectors chicken out of fining the gits?

The free-riders are getting away with it and so are the inspectors.

The problem with employing a `bad-ass` inspector for each train is that within a day or two no one will be doing it, hence no more fines, hence the inspector is being paid for doing nothing. And if his wages don`t comes from the fines, they come from an increase in your ticket.

You`re screwed every which way.

The most cost effective way for the companies to police it is exactly what you`ve seen - collect a windfall in fines every couple of months or so. It probably works out about the same in the end.

Matt


This man blows goats. I have proof....

What will they do? Sod all is what they`ll do. I don`t even know which inspector it was so there`s no way they`ll punish someone for it. And like I said, the inspector seemed to be afraid of them. I probably would have been too.

Usually, the inspectors travel in groups so this kind of thing is stopped. Still, there`s no excuse for it and I will try and find out who`s the right person to complain to.

Quote:
The problem with employing a `bad-ass` inspector for each train is that within a day or two no one will be doing it, hence no more fines, hence the inspector is being paid for doing nothing. And if his wages don`t comes from the fines, they come from an increase in your ticket.

Yes, but you will get more people who buy tickets properly and less freeloaders. The attitude shouldn`t be to make money from the fines(believe it or not thats not the point of most speed cameras) but to prevent people doing it in the first place. And if that means one(or two) £25000 a year inspector(s) to each train instead of lots of them in one place at a time, I think it is worth it.

Most people who skip on the tickets only use the train occasionally(although I have been 6 months without having a ticket checked before now), so they wouldn`t know about the Policy change with regard to ticket inspection.

This item was edited on Thursday, 29th April 2004, 09:07

Quote:
What will they do? Sod all is what they`ll do. I don`t even know which inspector it was so there`s no way they`ll punish someone for it. And like I said, the inspector seemed to be afraid of them. I probably would have been too

You would lose nothing by telling them. If an inspector is shirking away from handing out fines then he`s not doing his job. If he`s afraid of handing out tickets then he shouldn`t be in the job.

I also hate it when I pay that little bit extra at the cinema for a posh seat and I know I am proberbly the only one sitting there who has paid for the right.

All the best,

The 42%er.

Your optimistic eyes seem like paradise to someone like me.

I thinks its worth paying the extra tenner upgrade fee for 1st Class on Sundays (was let in once by the TI as train was empty & we had a common friend also a TI), watching the ticket inspector dealing with the freeloaders especially at Glastonbury w/e can also be amusing.

Lost ticket from Paddington concourse to train.
My dad paid for the ticket, I dont have any cash.
Cant read was counting the stations till I got to Castle Cary.
I was going to cash my Giro when I got off the train (at 21.30 10 miles from Glastonbury in middle of nowhere????????)

All from the same guy (& his silent mate), kicked off train at Pewsey, there was much hilarity at the time in our coach. :)

This item was edited on Friday, 30th April 2004, 02:14

Well, I bumped into the same ticket inspector yesterday, he just walked past without checking my ticket. I guess he knows who I am but I appreciate having my tickets checked. When I asked him about letting those people go, his excuse was that they`d only been there for one stop(true enough I got on at the same station) and if they had stayed on for another stop he would have fined them(he did come back and check just after they got off).

Did you know, the penalty fare is £10 or double the cost of the fare to the next station? No wonder people try to get out of paying for tickets, especially with shocking attitudes like that of the ticket inspector. I mean you only have to make two or three journeys before it becomes worthwhile even if you get caught. September to December last year I had my ticket checked once.

Like I say, hopefully this increased ticket checking is a pernament thing, and not just a flash in the pan.

The reason he isn`t handing out fines is probably because he is unable to. There are special ticket inspectors who have the authority to hand out penalty fares and it is rare to get one on the train. In reality when the inspector comes around and someone doesn`t have a ticket they just pay on the train (the same as if they got on at a station with no ticket office), I`ve done it myself a few times.