Refused train ticket.

stclair

I can remember someone refused me a priv ticket once.

As the person said my ID card said Mr A Smith and my pass said Mr Alan Smith.

I've used it hundreds of times before without any issue I just purchased a ticket on the train lol

tho_2

Vaskor wrote: »

"Just as a aside. The fine wouldn't have been life changing...
£20 or twice the fare to the next station, whichevers greater..."

Depending on the train operator, that could be highly risky. In 2009, I was hauled in front of a magistrate's court after a malicious SWT employee falsely claimed my ticket was invalid. Fortunately, the magistrate was more reasonable, but before the hearing I was threatened with £300 of fines and a criminal conviction, and I was never offered the chance to pay a penalty fare. I subsequently was shocked to find that I had been targeted by a gang of malicious SWT employees who did this regularly, and that the SWT MD had publicly stated that profits could come before ethics.

The fact you weren't offered a penalty fare probably helped with the magistrate. See the link further on. That's the immediate penalty. Yes fines at magistrates court are much higher (I think the highest is about £750), but thats normally for people who refuse to pay on the spot.

Vaskor

I suspect that I probably wasn't offered a penalty fare because the ticket inspector actually knew that my ticket was in fact valid, even though he claimed it wasn't. His behaviour was completely different in the courtroom, where he was a witness for the prosecution, and he seemed to be doing a lot of back pedalling in relation to previous statements he had made which I referred to as part of my defence. In court, he seemed to be trying to show that he was a helpful and professional inspector, although in my opinion, he wasn't very convincing, as a result of his previous actions and contradictory statements. I suspect the magistrate was not convinced either, based on the result of the hearing.

scd3scd4

I am not reading all this poo poo...............if you had an important meeting. Give him the £10 say keep the change and lets have the ticket pal. And off you trot...........no??


Then he can poke it and I will take a chance.


Ticket machine was not working at the Docklands one night.........I still used it and never paid. there really is more things to worry about.....honest!

DCFC79

If it was that important why did you leave yourself enough time ?

Did you get to where you were wanting to get to by another means ?

Any response from who you complained too ?

Must have been an awful situation to be in.

haras_nosirrah

pay with debit card, after interview in town go to bank and pay £10 back into bank account

if same day then you would not have been overdrawn

rach_k

OP, have you considered that this whole silly situation might have been avoided had you arrived with enough time to spare at the station? 6 minutes before your train is due to leave without a pre-purchased ticket is not enough to account for easily predictable and likely situations. Suppose you had been 5th in line at the ticket office, or there was a sweet little old lady needing 6 minutes of travel advice there in front of you, or the till system crashed and needed rebooting... millions of possibilities. Give yourself more time next time.

AndyPix

Wow, long thread, I gave up at page 3 but I will say that if this is true then I do feel for the OP ..


The guy in the booth sounds like a right jobsworth and i would have been tempted to bounce the change off his head !!


However, what i probly would have done, is walked off, got on the train, and explained to the guard that the ticket man had no change so can i buy a ticket from you please ?


I suspect you didnt handle this very well, and the guy in the booth got his back up and decided that "with your attitude im not doing squat to help you" ..


Just my 2p

martinbuckley

consumer987 wrote: »

Hi

I was refused a train ticket by a stations ticket office.

Altarf

rach_k wrote: »

OP, have you considered that this whole silly situation might have been avoided had you arrived with enough time to spare at the station? 6 minutes before your train is due to leave without a pre-purchased ticket is not enough to account for easily predictable and likely situations. Suppose you had been 5th in line at the ticket office, or there was a sweet little old lady needing 6 minutes of travel advice there in front of you, or the till system crashed and needed rebooting... millions of possibilities. Give yourself more time next time.

Or perhaps the incompetent train company should anticipate it might need some change to enable it to sell tickets, and not employ dimwits who can't be bothered to take any responsibility.