I witnessed what I believe was an interesting scam recently.
I was on an afternoon train that was non-stop York to London. A woman with two small children also boarded at York. When the TM came to check tickets, she produced an ticket for London Kings Cross to Stevenage for a time earlier in the day and claimed to have accidentally boarded the wrong train which was first stop York.
The TM doubted this, questioning why she didn't board a train from York that stopped at Peterborough or Stevenage, but the passenger played up being a foreigner and confused about our rail system or something. She wasn't that confused though, as she then had the foresight and cheek to ask the TM to endorse her ticket so she could get through the Kings Cross gates, which the TM declined to do, as she wouldn't need to pass through any gates to join the (later) Stevenage train.
As predicted, upon arrival at Kings Cross, the gates were unmanned and left open as usual, and the passenger headed straight out and into the Underground. For a foreigner who supposedly was confused about our rail network, she knew exactly where she was going to get on the appropriate tube train with no need to stop or consult any signs or maps.
It's pretty clear to me that the passenger probably didn't originate in London, and bought the cheap London to Stevenage ticket purely to use to spin the sob story during the ticket check of their actual journey (York - London). Due to the lack of ticket gates at York and the ones at Kings Cross not being in operation most of the off-peak, this scam is very easy to pull off.
This is the problem with discretion - for every honest mistake there is always someone who will exploit the discretion like this. It was very frustrating to witness, as my hunch was only proven after we arrived at Kings Cross, and by then it was too late to do anything about it. If only the gates were actually manned...
I was on an afternoon train that was non-stop York to London. A woman with two small children also boarded at York. When the TM came to check tickets, she produced an ticket for London Kings Cross to Stevenage for a time earlier in the day and claimed to have accidentally boarded the wrong train which was first stop York.
The TM doubted this, questioning why she didn't board a train from York that stopped at Peterborough or Stevenage, but the passenger played up being a foreigner and confused about our rail system or something. She wasn't that confused though, as she then had the foresight and cheek to ask the TM to endorse her ticket so she could get through the Kings Cross gates, which the TM declined to do, as she wouldn't need to pass through any gates to join the (later) Stevenage train.
As predicted, upon arrival at Kings Cross, the gates were unmanned and left open as usual, and the passenger headed straight out and into the Underground. For a foreigner who supposedly was confused about our rail network, she knew exactly where she was going to get on the appropriate tube train with no need to stop or consult any signs or maps.
It's pretty clear to me that the passenger probably didn't originate in London, and bought the cheap London to Stevenage ticket purely to use to spin the sob story during the ticket check of their actual journey (York - London). Due to the lack of ticket gates at York and the ones at Kings Cross not being in operation most of the off-peak, this scam is very easy to pull off.
This is the problem with discretion - for every honest mistake there is always someone who will exploit the discretion like this. It was very frustrating to witness, as my hunch was only proven after we arrived at Kings Cross, and by then it was too late to do anything about it. If only the gates were actually manned...
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