Hiya,
I live in a fairly remote area and often take the train on a small branch line. There are two stations very close to each other, and the fares from either of them are identical in off-peak hours. The service is buy on board because we don't have any ticketing facilities at the stations, but quite often (especially when the conductor isn't one of the regulars) I get a return ticket issued which is from the closer of those two stations to my destination even though I've boarded at and explicitly asked for a ticket from the first station.
I raise this with the staff once I see, but they tell me that it doesn't matter because the fare's the same anyway. I know that technically this isn't true although most staff won't care.
The problem is that there's one conductor who isn't exactly friendly towards me. I did use to sit in a part of the train they'd less often reach and once absent-mindedly asked for a single on my way back even though they'd seen me on the outward journey before I got off - they had a go at me and charged me for a return which is fair. But since then every time I see them they obsessively checks my ticket, squints at the date on my railcard even though it's obviously the same every time etc. I've tried being very polite to them but they're constantly rude.
I'm worried that if I'm issued one of these technically incorrect returns and they happen to check my ticket once I'm already past the station my ticket technically ends at, they'll accuse me of deliberately having the wrong ticket and try to cause trouble for me.
Is there anything I can do to make sure this doesn't happen? Do I have the right to insist on my ticket being changed to the correct one? It'd be a real hassle especially if it's bought when I'm nearly at the station already but I don't want to risk it going wrong.
I live in a fairly remote area and often take the train on a small branch line. There are two stations very close to each other, and the fares from either of them are identical in off-peak hours. The service is buy on board because we don't have any ticketing facilities at the stations, but quite often (especially when the conductor isn't one of the regulars) I get a return ticket issued which is from the closer of those two stations to my destination even though I've boarded at and explicitly asked for a ticket from the first station.
I raise this with the staff once I see, but they tell me that it doesn't matter because the fare's the same anyway. I know that technically this isn't true although most staff won't care.
The problem is that there's one conductor who isn't exactly friendly towards me. I did use to sit in a part of the train they'd less often reach and once absent-mindedly asked for a single on my way back even though they'd seen me on the outward journey before I got off - they had a go at me and charged me for a return which is fair. But since then every time I see them they obsessively checks my ticket, squints at the date on my railcard even though it's obviously the same every time etc. I've tried being very polite to them but they're constantly rude.
I'm worried that if I'm issued one of these technically incorrect returns and they happen to check my ticket once I'm already past the station my ticket technically ends at, they'll accuse me of deliberately having the wrong ticket and try to cause trouble for me.
Is there anything I can do to make sure this doesn't happen? Do I have the right to insist on my ticket being changed to the correct one? It'd be a real hassle especially if it's bought when I'm nearly at the station already but I don't want to risk it going wrong.
