SW Trains - treated like a terrorist!

Funkadelia

Hi all

Below is a letter I recently sent to South West trains. It details a serious complaint: reporting a very difficult and traumatic situation I found myself in whilst travelling on one of their trains two weeks ago.

What do blog readers suggest I do?....

I am writing to make a very serious complaint.

On Wednesday 3rd December I was due to travel from London Waterloo to Southampton Central.

I pre-booked a ticket through the Great Western Railway booking website for which I received a £5 discount

I attach an email copy of the booking.

On arrival at the station, I duly entered the code in a self-service ticket machine (after entering my debit card) but unfortunately the machine responded with a non-specific onscreen error. I entered it three times to no avail. As my train was due to leave in a couple of minutes I had to board the train. I assumed that I would be able to explain this situation to the guard – as I had the code and my card as proof of purchase.

Shortly after getting on the train, the guard asked me for my ticket.
I explained the situation in a polite manner.

However his response was very confrontational and he stated that as I had no ticket I had to leave the train.

I explained the situation several times and each time encountered the same response. I replied that I would not leave the train as I had genuinely bought a ticket and could prove it. If I had left the train I would be abandoned at a station with no means of return.
What followed caused me great anxiety and left me shaking.

A plain-clothes police officer was called by the guard. The officer told me that I had to leave the train. Once again, I stated my case and said that I would not leave the train. The officer also told people in the carriage not to video or photograph what was happening!

Finally, at Basingstoke I was incredibly shocked to find six police officers running down the platform – subsequently boarding the train and surrounding me.

Six police officers mobilised for me?! A person sitting quietly on a carriage hoping to get home.

The senior officer informed me that I had to leave the train. Once more I stated my case.

The officer in charge was polite and told me several times that I was obviously being honest about the ticket purchase but that he had to follow the guard’s call to force me off the train. I told the officers that this was the most outrageous waste of police resources I had ever witnessed; a completely over-zealous response to a simple matter.

One of the officers said to the officer in charge ‘shall we get him off the train?’ At this point I feared that I was about to be seized and bundled off the train. At this time I was shaking.

I really felt like I’d committed some heinous crime – almost as if I was a suspect terrorist.
I continued to state my case until the officer asked me if I could pay for a ticket. I then realised that the incident had been holding up the train and to avoid further inconvenience to fellow passengers I kindly paid for a ticket.

Even then the guard told me I had to pay £30.70 and was not allowed to use my network card which I had originally used to pay for the ticket.

I attach a photocopy of this ticket.

I am asking for a full apology and at the very least a full refund of my ticket.

I am also requesting that a full investigation takes place into this very serious matter.

In addition, I would like to point out that since the event I have suffered symptoms of anxiety.

A copy of this letter has been sent to my MP Alan Whitehead and Rt. Hon. Geoff Hoon.

I will l also be sending this letter to several online websites, BBC Watchdog and newspapers. I am a journalist and have several contacts on broadsheet newsdesks.

I am fully prepared to take this matter much further.

fatgit

buy a car...

bryanb

Not really "Treated like a terrorist" They didn't shoot you in the head!

Timmne

Sounds horrendous but you really ought to take the guard's name out of your post, even if he wasn't particularly friendly.

redux

Funkadelia wrote: »

.
I continued to state my case until the officer asked me if I could pay for a ticket. I then realised that the incident had been holding up the train and to avoid further inconvenience to fellow passengers I kindly paid for a ticket.

Good luck with the complaint, but ...

You are supposed to get a ticket in your hand before travel, which could have been done at the ticket office. There are 3 to 5 trains an hour from Waterloo to Southampton; even if your booked ticket was specific to one train, the ticket clerk could have overridden this in the circumstances.

It should be foreseeable that the guard or ticket inspector on the train would not have access to the computer systems or telephone to check your booking

But when you insisted on doing without, why didn't you simply pay up when getting on the train, intending to claim the fare back later, instead of arguing at tedious length with the guard and forcing all that disruption to be caused?


I turned up at the Channel Tunnel on one occasion to encounter something like this, the card reader would not recognise my card (maybe the magnetic strip was faulty), and the machine didn't want to let me check in using the booking reference number, as I was a bit early. So they let me in and I went to the customer services desk to sort it out; I didn't attempt to drive straight to the train.

lush_walrus

Sorry to not be supportive about that, but my honest opinion is that you should not board a train without a ticket. If you travel by train frequently you will be well aware that although you may be telling the truth, others dont.

It sounds to me as if the guard did his job correctly, he asked you to leave the train (as you were without a ticket), to which you refused. My guess is there is a missing bit here, which is where he asked you to pay a penalty fare...which I am guessing you refused (even though if you did do this you could later, when you had acceptable proof that you had purchased a ticket, have claimed the money back). So, no ticket and would not get off the train, so the situation was escalated to the police, initially with a plain clothed officer, whom you still refused to co-operate with and get off of the train. He then escalated the situation for support and along came the police.

If you turn the situation around, and imagine yourself at work with someone refusing to do what you ask (and company policy asks), what would you do....Personally, if it were a criminal offence (as this was, whether you had a ticket or not you did not have it with you) I too would call someone for back up to remove you.

The problem with the situation that you present, is that I hate to say it from your own description you show complete disrespect for the authorities, firstly the guard doing his job, secondly the request of the under cover officer, and lastly the police who arrived mob handed to deal with someone unflustered by all of those who had tried before.

Sorry, but in my opinion you were in the wrong from the starting post...You boarded a train without a ticket.

lonestar1

Funkadelia wrote: »

........Six police officers mobilised for me?! A person sitting quietly on a carriage hoping to get home..............

Thats not the way I see it

6 Officers arrived to get a passenger to leave who had been asked by the authority on that train to get off the train and refused to do so.

And I must commend you on remaining seated throughout the entire incident.

I agree the Guard could have handled things better but at the end of the day if your asked to leave the train you should do so

anewman

Funkadelia wrote: »

I am a journalist and have several contacts on broadsheet newsdesks.

I am fully prepared to take this matter much further.

Sounds like a bit of an idle threat to me.

I'd make an issue about the machine not working more than anything.

Livingthedream

Funkadelia wrote: »

Hi all
On arrival at the station, I duly entered the code in a self-service ticket machine (after entering my debit card) but unfortunately the machine responded with a non-specific onscreen error. I entered it three times to no avail. As my train was due to leave in a couple of minutes I had to board the train. I assumed that I would be able to explain this situation to the guard – as I had the code and my card as proof of purchase.

I'm sorry to hear whats happened, but a good warning to us all, don't mix trains and last moment together. If you do decide to pick up your tickets from an automated machine at the station then give yourself time to sort out any problems with the station staff. As stated above you can't blame the guard for doing his job in his eyes you didn't have a valid ticket, so all he could do was enforce his companies' polices or kick you off the train and as you said 'No I'm not leaving' it left him with no option but to get assistance to remove you from the train.

Anyway good luck with your complaint

bargepole

When I read stories like this, I wonder why anyone ever bothers to travel by train, it just seems like an excuse for wannabe little hitlers to dress up in ridiculous uniforms and boss people about.

Six officers from the Transport Police? What a great use of public funds that was. And all because the train company couldn't be arsed to make sure their ticket machine was working. If these people had to work for a proper non-monopoly private company, where Customer Service matters, they'd soon be out of a job.

As for putting the guard's name on the internet, the OP should have put his address as well, then people could go and spit on him.

SweetPea73

You boarded the train without a ticket , and by refusing to leave the train was silly. You cause delays , annoy other passengers and stop the Guard from doing his job,

Next I suggest getting to the station sooner so that you have enough time to sort it out.