Jobsworth train guard

Boris_Allen

Ok so this was rather foolish of me I know, but at the same time, does not excuse this kind of unwarranted self-importance/jobsworth attitude of the train guard.

Fell asleep and missed a train I had an advance fare for - gutting as it was very cheap, and I needed to get where I was going urgently. NR employee told me the next one for that provider was over an hour away, so I looked around and noticed a faster train about to leave by a different provider. I don't have time to buy a ticket, so I hurriedly ask if I can pay the guard on the train. They say "sure" and radio to the guard to find me. The guard tells me to jump on and he'll find me. Train is in motion and he does find me, but won't let me use a railcard. I am annoyed at this and ask if I can get off at the next stop to purchase a ticket from a machine (at this point I would rather have waited the hour - as the other guy I spoke to said they would have accepted my other ticket). Anyway I get off and pay for a ticket - cheaper as it was a railcard, but same price as it would have been leaving from the earlier station due to the zone it was in. Train hasn't left so I jump back on, and promptly found by the guard who asks me to pay the full fare. Huge argument breaks out after I explain what happened - ending in him saying he won't cancel the ticket I just bought, will charge me for a full fare from the last station, and also claims I broke the door when I jumped back on and that I'm lucky not to get a fine and be chucked off (absolute nonsense - the door closed onto my arm as I got on, but counced back and then shut a few seconds later as it is programmed to do).

I know he followed the rules to the letter at this point but I still feel aggrieved for a few reasons:
a) He said it was ok to jump off at the next stop and buy a ticket from a machine to use a railcard
b) The price was the same as I would have paid had I been able to buy a valid ticket anyway - so just because the ticket didn't display exactly the correct station details to me just says he was being pedantic for the sake of it when he could have used discretion
c) Claiming I broke the door was both a lie, and an abuse of his position to threaten to chuck me off/fine me, all said just to get me to shut up and pay the fare he was requesting.

Is there anything I can do about this? What are the consequences if I phone up my bank and reverse the payments? I can't think a complaint to the Rail company will do anything, they'll just fob me off and say that the guard acted correctly.

benjus

Personally I can't see how you are going to get the bank to reverse the payment. You paid for it in person so you can't argue that the payment was taken without your permission, and you can't argue that they failed to deliver the service that you paid for. The fact that he chose not to exercise discretion in applying the rules is not a justification to reverse a payment.

maninthestreet

Was you arm injured when the door closed on it, even if it was just bruising?

TRace

Can't fully follow what you are saying, so the Guard who asked you to pay full fare was a diffrent Guard to the one who told you he would let you get off and pay on the platform at the next station on the same train?

dggar

Might be worth starting a new thread on this forum

http://www.railforums.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=105

you will need to tell them Times and date of the journey and what stations you started your journey at and any stations where you got on or off trains

Smi1er

maninthestreet wrote: »

Was you arm injured when the door closed on it, even if it was just bruising?

Oh !!!!!!!!...

thelawnet

Too much blather, too little specifics in the OP. Where were you travelling to/from?

You shouldn't have jumped on the train while it was leaving, that's against the rules and you are to blame for that.

How many tickets did you buy, including the original Advance, where from and to, and how much did they all cost?

Stigy

maninthestreet wrote: »

Was you arm injured when the door closed on it, even if it was just bruising?

I hope that's not going where it seems to be!

For starters if the door was closed enough for the arm to be trapped, I'm guessing it was closing? That being the case, the OP had committed a Byelaw offence which should (but probably wont) erradicate any law suit. :beer:

To the OP, yes, he followed the rules or so it would seem. If he said as you described it seems a little underhand on his part though. Bear in mind though, that buying a ticket from a location nearer your destination in order to get a cheaper journey is an offence under S. 5(3)b of the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 and could wind you up in the Mags Court and result in a criminal record.

I suggest if you feel hard done by, that you write to the TOC and complain, you might get a free ticket or something.

Sharon87

The correct procedure would have paid the fare until the next station, get off the train buy the ticket you bought and then hop back on. If you didn't pay the ticket between the 2 stations you stated then you travelled on it for free

As for the door, that is just being jobsworth, I live in London and see people every day hopping on as the doors are closing - mostly tube, but some rail services as well. It's an instinctive thing, hear the sound of the doors about to close you rush to get on it.

Livingthedream

Boris_Allen wrote: »

I can't think a complaint to the Rail company will do anything, they'll just fob me off and say that the guard acted correctly.

No, all complaints are investigated and if the guard's actions are found to be at fault, then it's remedial training for him and perhaps as Stigy correctly stated a free ticket or two for you.

However, the majority of trains and stations now have CCTV, so your actions will be view in this investigation, including any huge argument that happened. Also if as you described, you tried to board the train whilst the doors were closing this will not put your complaint in a good light.

Boris_Allen

Thanks for the replies everyone. To clear a few things up...
TRace: It was the same guard who told me I could leave the train and buy a new ticket, who then came and found me after I'd done that and still insisted I pay the full fare.
dggar: Thanks for the suggestion.
maninthestreet/Smi1er: LOL!!!
In response to other points: I have discovered that the ticket I bought was about £1 cheaper than what it should have been so fair enough in that case (I had assumed it to be the same price from memory of doing the journey but seems I'm wrong). Still, it was on the guard's "advice" as it were that I did this, so why didn't he charge me for the first leg of the journey when he told me to jump off, instead of insisting I pay the entire journey again?
As far as jumping on the train as it was leaving goes, a different guard was whistling it off, and told me to "be quick" and the doors closed on me as I was boarding.

I can't honestly see this going anywhere but I feel a lot better having ranted about it anyway. Tbh, the guard may not have done anything wrong, and I may not be entitled to any refund (even if I did pay for way more travelling than I did), but that doesn't mean he wasn't an extremely horrible, unpleasant jobsworth human being. That in my opinion is wrong.