Didn't pay train fare!!!!
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toffeentom wrote: »Thankfully I don't have a disability or I may have been offended by that remark!!! Easy to say if you travel by train every day. At least 30+ got on at the station and I didn't witness them in large numbers wandering around the train in search of a guard!
Why should they its up to the train company to collect your fare.
I would forget about it0 -
Next time don't collude to defraud the train company and its users. You should be ashamed and disgusted with yourself.
IDIOT!
Our local station does not have a ticket office or machine, and the penalty fare machine has been regularly vandalised (quite possibly by vagrants who want a nice collection of 5p pieces to put towards their alcohol fund).
Therefore there is no option but to purchase the ticket on the train or at the station which you are getting off. Sometimes there is no conducter, or they spend their time skulking in the compartment at the end of the train.0 -
You'd need a parachute if you fell off that high horse of yours.Heres a handy guide for you. Don't listen to people that help you evade fares even if they work for the train company - they are abusing their job. Find another guard and inform them of the practice and pay your way like you should have. If not look left and right and you will find a policeman on the street to assist you.
Your wrong doing is obviously still with you - and I suggest you make amends now - its never to late to pay reparations for your errant behavior. You know you did wrong so pay for it.
I actually laughed out loud at your ridiculous post. You come across as a manic bible basher.
I drove 1mph over the limit today. Should I turn myself in?0 -
I think you'll find that Zanzibar's post was a p*sstake of Tricky's equally preachy post to the OP
If the train companies don't provide reasonable facilities to pay in all cases (to reduce their operating costs) then there's no reason at all why the customer should take up the slack and do their job for them.
OP - don't sweat it, it was only 90p, which is probably why they don't want to pay for the cost of ensuring it's collected in every case. The charity box suggestion earlier is a good one if you genuinely feel bad about not being able to pay
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The vast majority of people I've reported have been for fares of around £1.90 (the minimum fare down south...). To most people that seems like an insignificant amount to potentially trouble the Magistrates with, but if you take in to account the thousands of £1.90 fares that go avoided each year, it soon mounts up to many thousands of pounds.Joe_Horner wrote: »I think you'll find that Zanzibar's post was a p*sstake of Tricky's equally preachy post to the OP
If the train companies don't provide reasonable facilities to pay in all cases (to reduce their operating costs) then there's no reason at all why the customer should take up the slack and do their job for them.
OP - don't sweat it, it was only 90p, which is probably why they don't want to pay for the cost of ensuring it's collected in every case. The charity box suggestion earlier is a good one if you genuinely feel bad about not being able to pay
It's the same however low the fare, all those 90p fares add up and are particularly vulnerable on short hop journeys such as this. Fare evasion also affects the yearly fares increase too...As does the staff payrise of about 5%pa of course. 0 -
Oh my god... this thread is out of control!!! :O
For what it's worth op, i'd have done the same as you and don't think you have anything to feel bad about.
Whenever i've used a train with a ticket system at the station I have always taken a seat and waited for the conductor to come around - in fact most people i've seen do this.
I'm betting had you walked around the train looking for the conductor and fell or something when the train was moving you'd be met with responses along the lines of 'you should have been seated whilst the train was moving'.0 -
It's the same however low the fare, all those 90p fares add up and are particularly vulnerable on short hop journeys such as this. Fare evasion also affects the yearly fares increase too...As does the staff payrise of about 5%pa of course.
Then if it is that crucial, the train companies should ensure that EVERY passenger at EVERY station can purchase a ticket as easily as possible.
They are supposed to be running a profitable business - employ more people and instal more machines, and the amount of people unable to purchase a ticket will decrease.
Not exactly rocket science is it?0 -
True in a lot of cases, but in general, there's ample ticket issuing facilities for it not to be an issue in an ideal world. I appreciate that it's different in the OP's part of the country, but that's not the same everywhere.Then if it is that crucial, the train companies should ensure that EVERY passenger at EVERY station can purchase a ticket as easily as possible.
They are supposed to be running a profitable business - employ more people and instal more machines, and the amount of people unable to purchase a ticket will decrease.
Not exactly rocket science is it?0 -
Before Boarding
If there is a TVM (Ticket-Vending Machine) at the origin, you should purchase a ticket before boarding, however if the TVM does not accept your method of payment (card only machine if you want to pay by cash, for example), it is considered that you have not had an opportunity to pay. If the machine takes cards only, you are not obliged to pay by card if you wish to pay by cash, even if you have cards with you, and vice versa.
If there is a Permit to Travel (PTT) machine, you need to insert as much in coins as you can up to the fare due, and the machine will issue a receipt. You can then exchange the receipt onboard or at the destination for the ticket by paying the balance. PTT machines take coins only so if you wish to pay by card then that is not an opportunity to pay.
If there is an open ticket office at the origin then obviously you need to pay there. If the ticket office is closed, then that is not an opportunity to pay either.
Onboard
If you had no opportunity to pay before boarding, you are not obliged to find the guard onboard. Contrary to what many people believe, this is not a requirement. Just take a seat and wait for the guard to come around. Indeed if you go off in search for the guard, this is considered very bad manners if you then jump in front of other paying passengers on some local lines.
After the Journey
If by the time you alight at the destination station, you have still not had an opportunity to pay, then you pay at the destination station if possible. If facilities are not available at the destination station, consider it your lucky day. You have done all you can and it is not your fault that the railway companies made no facilities available to you.
It is debatable if the only facility at the destination station is a TVM, whether you should purchase a ticket for the reverse direction. Previously contacts with some railway companies suggest yes, while others no. Bear in mind that the fare for the reverse direction could well be different. I believe that you do not have to purchase a ticket from the TVM at the destination as in most cases, it would not sell you a valid ticket for the journey you have undertaken.
At Interchange Station
If you have to change trains en route, you can make an effort to pay at the interchange station, however you are not obliged to miss your connecting service if the interchange time is short.
Finally
If you really feel bad afterwards, you can always ask the railway company to send you a bill for the remaining balance or send a cheque in.
I hope I have covered everything.
I think that's pretty thorough and thanks very much. I thought I did everything I possibly could, i even went back onto the platform after the journey to see if i could see anyone.
And Tricky Wicky I didn't take offence, you just p'd me off a bit with your comments so i thought i'd do the same to you. Clearly I was not deliberately fare dodging. that is obtaining goods/services by deception which requires the necessary intent.
I just felt bad about it, having given my kids a lecture about avoiding paying fares that very week (not that they ever have) and there I am doing exactly that (well sort of).. I've worked in the criminal justice system for over 25 years and don't want to see a file with any of my family's names on it!!! Even if it was only 90p!!0 -
The vast majority of people I've reported have been for fares of around £1.90 (the minimum fare down south...). To most people that seems like an insignificant amount to potentially trouble the Magistrates with, but if you take in to account the thousands of £1.90 fares that go avoided each year, it soon mounts up to many thousands of pounds.
It's the same however low the fare, all those 90p fares add up and are particularly vulnerable on short hop journeys such as this. Fare evasion also affects the yearly fares increase too...As does the staff payrise of about 5%pa of course.
In which case the companies should ensure that there's a way for people to pay without having to go searching a moving train for someone who may, or may not, be there.
A passenger's job is to pay the fare and sit on the train. A train company's job is to collect the fare and drive it. If the companies cut their costs by skimping on the collection side then that really isn't the passnegers' problem any more than it's my customers' problem if I save money by not raising invoices.0
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