Refused train ticket.

photome

How much was the ticket?

I know you dont want to answer but have no idea why.

As for the TO having a bag of £1 coins, maybe he did but had used them all, there comes a point where most tills anywhere, if they dont have access to a cash office, will run out of change


how have you escalated your complaint?

k3lvc

consumer987 wrote: »

Railfuture is the UK's leading independent organisation campaigning for better rail services for passengers and freight

"If the station is unmanned and the ticket machine is not working (or will not accept cash), you should be able to board the train and purchase the ticket from the conductor or guard. Since you are technically breaking the railway byelaws, you should make every effort to contact the conductor or guard as quickly as possible."

so you can board without a ticket with good reason.

still searching for 'if the station is manned.' perhaps they assume the ticket office would be perfectly capable and this rule above therefore does not apply? I do not know yet.

You're seriously overthinking this - no-one here is likely to give you the advice you want (and I'm still not exactly sure what you're looking for)

Enterprise_1701C

They do not have to sell you a ticket.

Trains are private property, for which you pay a fee for use, this can be refused.

If the ticket office did not have sufficient change to deal with your request would you have been happy to hand over the £10 note for a £1.99 ticket (just guessing as you don't seem to give any idea of the price).

It seems to me that you expect him to close the ticket office and leave it empty to go into town and get change. Has it occurred to you this might even be a sackable offcence?

tho_2

You're really over analysing. His "threats" would have been if you slumped in the corner of the train and tried to get a free ride. if you'd gone find the GUARD (just a hint, banging on the cab of the driver to tell him all about your story would probably have copped you a fine as well. not a threat, pretty much a fact). you'd probably have been fine.

The reason people want to know if you caught the train or not and the ticket price is to add credibility to your story, as well as to try to see the other side of the story. you say it flared up. Did you then go on the rampage and smash the station up? if so the ticket officer was well within his rights not to let you on.was the ticket 91p? you can see if you present a £10 note or 90p when he has no change it maybe a problem? In terms of what's relevant, you seem to be deciding that yourself to be honest. The following (amongst other things) also aren't, but you told us anyway to support yourself.

"I did not wish to buy anything"
"I am a middle aged male."
"(I do have money in other accounts, but I had only a card for my regular food shopping account)"
"My whole day was damaged. I felt so very sick, I was not a happy chap for a long time after."
"I was meant to be in town, at least 7 miles away, for an interview"

agrinnall

wealdroam wrote: »

But before that, the OP told us in the opening post:


The story seems to be changing.

Which is exactly what I said in post #9.

However, the OP's story changes so much that I believe it is just that, a story.

dggar

Have the school holidays started yet?


You get similar tales appearing on the Banking thread quite frequently.

consumer987

Thank you all for your replies and thoughts on this.

I initially said 'he' thought I had a credit card, but it was actually a debit card. A few of you now feel that I am changing the story, no, i was not prepared to risk using my card, i came along with cash. I was well within my rights there.

ticket price (obviously under 10 pounds) I do not have the exact amount at hand. so i shall not say for certain. what I can say is I had the perfect amount of coins, so all he needed was to give me pound coins in return.

What happened to me after I left the station without a ticket is private and irrelevant.

Someone seems to think it was an idea to smash the place up. Hmm, that did not come to mind. Well, I bet someone would have felt that way. It was not a nice situation to be in with only a few minutes to go, to be trapped like that. it was so claustrophobic and stressful.

It is the policy that matters here, to protect, in particular, children and old people from missing their trains.

Either no one agrees with this simple premiss, or this is so obvious that its not worth talking about?

The company did have the facility to give change in my situation, on the train and at the destination. it would have been a simple case to guide myself and any other customers, such as old ladies and children who had only cash onto the train with no threats of life changing fines.

It seems there is a good policy in place if the station is 'unmanned'. just get on the train and pay on route, which is sensible.

however, if the station is 'manned' and they cannot accept legal and accepted currency as listed on their site, customers, including disabled people, have to go shopping first if they wish to use a £10 note?!

It would make sense to have a policy in place for when the station is manned also.

wealdroam

It doesn't appear to me that you have asked any organisation for their thoughts.

If you were to ask the station management, I don't mean the man behind the ticket seller, I mean the organisation that manages the station.
For example, to look up your station go to National Rail Enquiries, Stations services and facilities and enter your station name in the search box.
On the next screen, immediately under the station name you will see who manages the station - on a line starting 'Managed by...'.
Click on the name of the train operator to discover how to contact them. I would suggest you send them an email, but please make it a little shorter than your original post.

If you don't get a satisfactory response from the train operator that manages the station, perhaps you should ask Transport Focus for help.

I have seen the following written, but I can't remember where now, that one should buy a ticket at the earliest opportunity. If the ticket office, and ticket vending machine if available, are unable to sell you the ticket you require using the payment method you wish to use, You should board the train.
Of course the first opportunity may be staff on the train. If there's no staff on the train, perhaps an interchange station or your destination station is the first opportunity.

glentoran99

Would you have been happy had he took your £10 and offered no change, that's what the law states, its not a right to get change

In order to comply with the very strict rules governing an actual legal tender it is necessary, for example, actually to offer the exact amount due because no change can be demanded.

BethRobinson

Did you get the job?