Inspectors on Buses

Busaholic · 31 Jul 2019

Darklord8899 said:
....last time I was in Prague, the inspector jumped on to the tram and waved his ID around with a great flourish..... given his 80's style bomber jacket, jeans and curly hair I felt he had just binged watched the entire Professionals tv series the night before.....

When we had a local tax office there was a guy who looked like that working there - he used to spend his lunch hours nursing a half in local hostelries listening in to selected conversations! Still see him around, though I'm not sure he's not retired now.

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Aictos · 31 Jul 2019

Stagecoach in Cambridge and Peterborough had Inspectors, course there was more chance of seeing Santa fly by in his sleigh!

Saperstein · 31 Jul 2019

Chris217 said:
2 inspectors at Gillmoss to cover the entire
Merseyside & South Lancashire and Wirral/Chester area.
And if they ever do get on,they go after drivers first for not wearing their ties for instance!
We complain constantly regarding MY tickets which offer children up to the age of18 all day travel for £2.20.
Every single day I see blokes with tattoos getting on with MY tickets.
Some going home from work 1130 in the evening. Women with 3 kids with one MY ticket! And when you question them,they always say they are 18 and the kids are all under 5.
A bloke got on recently. Tattoos all round his neck,down both of his arms. Must have cost him a fortune. When I asked him his date of birth ,it worked out his 18th birthday was 2 weeks ago!
Another lad has been 18 for 3 years at least!
You inform the operations manager and all we get is let them on.So they get clean away with it every time.
Stagecoach says having inspectors checking tickets is a negative vibe towards passengers.
Obviously they ain't bothered about losing at least a quarter of a million pound each year for lost revenue and ticket misuse.
And I reckon that figure is an under estimate too.

At risk of going OT for this thread but wasn’t this “My Ticket” reputed to cause one of the independents on the Wirral to go bust a year or so ago?

Saperstein.

Tom B · 31 Jul 2019

Darklord8899 said:
Given Lothian have had only single door buses until introduction of the new B8L's, it is pretty hard to board a bus and get on without a valid Ridacard as it has to be placed on the ticket machine.
Also the Ridacard is valid for all Journeys on Lothian City, Airlink and Skylink (including Airport fare zone) so no reason to check validity (its not like you can ride into a zone where ridacard is not valid*) Only need to check that photo matches person presenting card for inspection.
(* this only becomes an issue if travelling on LCB or ECB, but I'm assuming you were referring to Lothian Buses city routes)

At the time, Lothian operated a fleet of approximately half dual door, half single door buses. All Olympians, and all save the long 52/04 Tridents were double door.
But yes, fair point that it's probably not an issue (this was 12 years ago! )

Darklord8899 said:
....last time I was in Prague, the inspector jumped on to the tram and waved his ID around with a great flourish..... given his 80's style bomber jacket, jeans and curly hair I felt he had just binged watched the entire Professionals tv series the night before.....

I'm not sure that trams were really the style of Bodie and Doyle. Handbrake turns must be a bit more difficult than in a 3.0S!

Chris217 · 1 Aug 2019

Saperstein said:
At risk of going OT for this thread but wasn’t this “My Ticket” reputed to cause one of the independents on the Wirral to go bust a year or so ago?

Saperstein.

It wouldn't surprise me tbh.
Smaller companies will have no inspectors for certain.
Both Stagecoach and Arriva see constant misuse.
When Merseytravel introduced this scheme,they should have introduced an ID style card with an expiry date that needed to be presented before purchasing tickets from the driver. Would have stopped this missuse.
Passengers over 15 without the ID wouldn't be eligible to purchase half fare tickets.
It was a lot easier when it was under 15s,but they upped it to under 19s.
How do you tell the difference between an 18 and 19 year old without ID?
As inspectors cannot interrogate passengers without police back up,,its pointless having them for revenue protection.
The fact that everyone knows this,is why we have this problem.

A touch off topic but fir the right reason...
I saw graffiti on a timetable in a bus shelter in Kirkby in which someone had written
" buy a My Ticket as the drivers are not allowed to ask you your age"
This was reported and removed but still no inspectors!

Darklord8899 · 1 Aug 2019

Tom B said:
At the time, Lothian operated a fleet of approximately half dual door, half single door buses. All Olympians, and all save the long 52/04 Tridents were double door.
But yes, fair point that it's probably not an issue (this was 12 years ago! )

Aye Lothian were still on dual door buses long after pretty much after everyone else of note had switched to single door.

I'm not sure that trams were really the style of Bodie and Doyle. Handbrake turns must be a bit more difficult than in a 3.0S!

Agreed, but the look of the guy and his over exuberant jumping on and ID waving, wouldn't have been out of place in the Professionals.... :lol:

BrumKev · 2 Aug 2019

LowLevel said:
They've always been a thing in the West Midlands, used to get big gangs of them checking entire buses quickly while they stood at the stop, often with police backup. A quick Google shows numerous 'Angry People In Local Newspaper' style complaints about them so I assume they're still about.

I still see them when im going into Birmingham on Newtown Row at the Price street stop. Its a lot less regular now which is a shame as I feel there needs to be more. If you buy a ticket on the app, you dont have to scan it when you board (unlike Arriva), you just show the screen to the driver. Its the same if you buy a daysaver by cash, you just show it and theres no bar code or QR code on the ticket. Its more open to abuse so National Express West Midlands need to increase ticket checks imo.

The last time I was checked was a few months ago going into Solihull town centre on the X2. I always pay contactless now so you get no ticket, seems they just do a print out and check the last 4 digits of your card.

Geordie driver · 17 Sep 2019

omnicity4659 said:
Arriva Northumbria & Durham County have 2, both with the same first name who regularly are out on the buses. Had four ticket checks from them in as many years.

Go North East also have them, had two off them, although haven't seen them since.

Does Nexus still have its own inspectors for services they provide?

Springs Branch said:
In the past, I believe roving inspectors were just as much about detecting fiddles by bus crews as ticketing irregularities by passengers. For example conductors who helped to minimise wear-and-tear on their mechanical ticket machine by issuing some of the tickets from the "spare" machine they kept secreted away. Or early adopters of the recycling ethic, who "re-purposed" tickets retrieved from the Used Tickets box.

.

Have you been on my bus?!!

Chris217 said:
2 inspectors at Gillmoss to cover the entire
Merseyside & South Lancashire and Wirral/Chester area.
And if they ever do get on,they go after drivers first for not wearing their ties for instance!
We complain constantly regarding MY tickets which offer children up to the age of18 all day travel for £2.20.
Every single day I see blokes with tattoos getting on with MY tickets.
.

If I could give you some advice, let it go mate. It's their money, not yours. I know how frustrating it can be.

I started with the NBC in Newcastle in 1985, did nearly 20 years. We were told by the old hands we would never see a checky after 10pm and I never did. One checky ( now long gone) used to sign everyone's waybill at 6pm then go to the pub!
In twenty years I never saw an inspector issue a ticket fine, I was never helped in any way by them, I always felt they are there to catch you out.
I was only ever booked once, for wearing a hat!

Edit, I have cut some of this thread as it has been waiting for moderation a few days and must have had bits in against the forum rules, my apologies!

As said in this thread, all day tickets and video 24/7 have eliminated the ability to fiddle.

omnicity4659 · 20 Sep 2019

Geordie driver said:
Does Nexus still have its own inspectors for services they provide?

Only ever came across one on the Shields Ferry, never on any NexusBus services.

arbeia · 20 Sep 2019

A driver's union representative went into my Managers office to complain about myself and colleague. The complaint? "You never know where they are going to be." Isn't that the general idea, was the Managers obvious reply. Absolutely unbelievable. This I find an interesting thread, but only seem to have the Driver's and Public's point of view.

Geordie driver · 20 Sep 2019

arbeia said:
A driver's union representative went into my Managers office to complain about myself and colleague. The complaint? "You never know where they are going to be." Isn't that the general idea, was the Managers obvious reply. Absolutely unbelievable. This I find an interesting thread, but only seem to have the Driver's and Public's point of view.

Indeed it is hard to believe, most union reps are reasonably intelligent guys and would understand this. It is nice to hear an inspectors view, never had a problem with being checked, my problem was they always looked for the easy report, never helped of backed me up ever. In 19 years of service work I never saw them issue a penalty ticket, withdraw a pass,stop bad behaviour or even ask for a top up ticket for someone over riding. Seems unlikely that I was so good at issuing tickets, checking passes and keeping order that they never found one fault. Perhaps your company is different but mine ( united, northumbria, arriva) didn't seem to be there for any other reason than to catch the drivers out.

Chris217 · 20 Sep 2019

Same here tbh.
The fact that passengers can over ride,bunk on, pay lower prices or buy child tickets and get away with it,but if the driver isn't wearing his tie.....that's the report that goes in!

Seems like it's bad PR for inspectors to actually confront passengers. Well that's the excuse we hear.

Quite a few years ago,we had an inspector on one of our buses accusing a driver of not giving a ticket to the passenger who didnt have one when he was checking.
The passenger said the driver didnt give him a ticket,so the driver said,if you are accusing me of theft,you better call the police.
The inspector got the driver taken off his bus for investigation which turned out fine for the driver as he hadn't done anything wrong.
That's where the CCTV came in handy,but shows examples of the company believing passengers before their own staff.

I was accused of running 8mins early on my last bus of the day on my route.
Someone who missed my bus because she was inbetween stops when she saw me go past.
She phoned up,and I was dragged in for it.
I asked if the cctv was viewed,which I was told no!
So I got my trade union rep in with me who advised that I was not supposed to be cautioned or disciplined without the evidence.
I was assured it would get looked in to.
A few days later,I went into the opps manager's office to hear of the evidence.
Apparently was 2mins late on the cctv.
I demanded the information with regards to the malicious person who complained about me,but I was told that was not possible.

LiviCrazy · 20 Sep 2019

I have to say that, as a passenger, I’ve twice been charged for a ticket by an inspector. Both times I accidentally picked up my previous week’s pass. Never received a fine or anything but had to pay for a return ticket.

Ken H · 20 Sep 2019

Used to see inspectors all the time in Leeds when I was a kid. This is LCT days, and they still had conductors. The inspector would take the conductors clipboard where he wrote down the ticket numbers at the end of each journey. He would check the tickets against that clipboard. Tickets were Bell Punch Ultimates. He would initial the conductors board, and the conductor would inital his worksheet. He would do his inspection between stops and would work alone

when I lived in Brussels in 2001, the inspectors went mob handed. Some of them would block the doorways while others checked tickets.

As an aside re Ultimates, the preprinted numbers on the tickets were written on the conductors tally sheet, but also the 'numerators'. What was the point of the numerators? There was a button on the machin which if pressed, allowed the ticket issue lever to issue 2 tickets. I think the numerator only advanced 1 for a double ticket fare but I dont know.
The machine printed the stage in a box bottom of the ticket. A double ticket, it printed slashes over the ticket number for the 2nd ticket and no stage printed.
The stage was changed with a knob at the side. They would pull the knob out to issue a child ticket. The stage would be printed in the middle box on the ticket. Dont know what the 3rd box was for.

Whistler40145 · 20 Sep 2019

Blackpool Transport still employ Inspectors, they randomly choose a service to check ticket machines and passengers tickets

arbeia · 20 Sep 2019

Geordie driver said:
Indeed it is hard to believe, most union reps are reasonably intelligent guys and would understand this. It is nice to hear an inspectors view, never had a problem with being checked, my problem was they always looked for the easy report, never helped of backed me up ever. In 19 years of service work I never saw them issue a penalty ticket, withdraw a pass,stop bad behaviour or even ask for a top up ticket for someone over riding. Seems unlikely that I was so good at issuing tickets, checking passes and keeping order that they never found one fault. Perhaps your company is different but mine ( united, northumbria, arriva) didn't seem to be there for any other reason than to catch the drivers out.

You obviously didn't work at my depot!
I can honestly put hand on heart and say I was there to compliment what the drivers were doing. Having said that, there was always the odd "rotten apple" in the barrel which needed sorting out. Believe me most of the information that came our way came from decent drivers that were unhappy with the "rotten apple." Like most people, I could write a book.

Geordie driver · 20 Sep 2019

May I ask, which company did you work for?

Welshman · 20 Sep 2019

Ken H said:
As an aside re Ultimates, the preprinted numbers on the tickets were written on the conductors tally sheet, but also the 'numerators'. What was the point of the numerators? There was a button on the machin which if pressed, allowed the ticket issue lever to issue 2 tickets. I think the numerator only advanced 1 for a double ticket fare but I dont know.
The machine printed the stage in a box bottom of the ticket. A double ticket, it printed slashes over the ticket number for the 2nd ticket and no stage printed.
The stage was changed with a knob at the side. They would pull the knob out to issue a child ticket. The stage would be printed in the middle box on the ticket. Dont know what the 3rd box was for.

Wasn't the point of the numerators so the checkers could tell how many double tickets had been issued?
As fares increased, companies using the smaller 5-bank ultimates had to resort to doubling tickets - eg issuing 2x6d for a 1s. fare. The numerators showed it was a 1s fare that had been issued, not 2 6d ones.

IIRC, the third fare stage box was for parcels. Many companies carried unaccompanied parcels/newspapers - passed to the conductor, placed under the stairs, and collected by another person at a later stop. The knob was pulled out to its fullest extent to issue such a ticket, which was attached to the parcel, and when it was collected, the conductor could see if the correct fare had been paid or in an excess needed to be charged.

Tom B · 20 Sep 2019

Chris217 said:
Quite a few years ago,we had an inspector on one of our buses accusing a driver of not giving a ticket to the passenger who didnt have one when he was checking.
The passenger said the driver didnt give him a ticket,so the driver said,if you are accusing me of theft,you better call the police.
The inspector got the driver taken off his bus for investigation which turned out fine for the driver as he hadn't done anything wrong.
That's where the CCTV came in handy,but shows examples of the company believing passengers before their own staff.

Yorkshire Terrier buses always used to have signs on the bulkhead saying "DID YOU GET A TICKET? If not please ring and tell us on (0114)...". There must have been major issues if they had to appeal to passengers so blatantly to prevent fraud.

As I probably said up thread, a number of firms in the area had drivers who would pocket takings in my experience. It is probably less of a thing now with CCTV, GPS ,smart cards etc.

arbeia · 20 Sep 2019

Geordie driver said:
May I ask, which company did you work for?

Go Ahead. Well, when I started it was VFM, then merged into Coastline.

jon0844 · 20 Sep 2019

Tom B said:
Yorkshire Terrier buses always used to have signs on the bulkhead saying "DID YOU GET A TICKET? If not please ring and tell us on (0114)...". There must have been major issues if they had to appeal to passengers so blatantly to prevent fraud.

As I probably said up thread, a number of firms in the area had drivers who would pocket takings in my experience. It is probably less of a thing now with CCTV, GPS ,smart cards etc.

Still easy to make a few quid if you take cash and say the machine isn't working. My local bus firm used to have drivers who would do this, but in recent years if the machine isn't working then you don't pay anything.

That doesn't stop someone trying it on though.

Saperstein · 20 Sep 2019

I remember a story, once told to me about a Southdown driver (the old Southdown before Brighton & Hove) who had apparently refused to pick up an inspector in Hangleton one rainy day because his vehicle was full and was dismissed!

Saperstein.

Darandio · 20 Sep 2019

jon0844 said:
Still easy to make a few quid if you take cash and say the machine isn't working. My local bus firm used to have drivers who would do this, but in recent years if the machine isn't working then you don't pay anything.

That doesn't stop someone trying it on though.

Reminds me of the old days with Martindales in Ferryhill, Co.Durham, i'm sure there will be some enthusiasts here who remember John Martindale with the local services around Ferryhill/Chilton and the Sun Travel operation to Spain.

There weren't any ticket machines, it was a flat 14p fare around any of the route to the town market called the 'Village'. Drivers used to take the fare and it was '4 for me and 10 for John'. 4p doesn't sound like much but do a full shift but I bet it mounted up, it was always busy!

Ken H · 21 Sep 2019

Darandio said:
Reminds me of the old days with Martindales in Ferryhill, Co.Durham, i'm sure there will be some enthusiasts here who remember John Martindale with the local services around Ferryhill/Chilton and the Sun Travel operation to Spain.

There weren't any ticket machines, it was a flat 14p fare around any of the route to the town market called the 'Village'. Drivers used to take the fare and it was '4 for me and 10 for John'. 4p doesn't sound like much but do a full shift but I bet it mounted up, it was always busy!

Donny Waites, who used to do the Settle-Horton in Ribblesdale bus, didnt bother with tickets. you just gave them coins. No passes for schoolkids, he just knew who was entitled to a free ride. My kids tried it on a few times and failed (We lived too close)

Geordie driver · 26 Sep 2019

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Arriva definitely used secret shopper style inspectors, they board and pay a fare then watch your driving and interaction with the punters. I have seen inspectors stop me and, when they realize it is a full bus, wave me past then board the empty bus behind me. When the Northumberland Plate is on they put 2 inspectors on the town moor to make sure all drivers stop ( normally expresses wouldn't stop there) ,I have seen them stand back while 20 people board a bus without paying, ( I was a passenger,) driver asked for help and they walked away.

Whenever things went crazy, due to weather or traffic both revenue and the stand inspectors would be invisible.

I am aware that one driver fiddling will take far more than one punter, which is why they focus on the driver.

arbeia · 26 Sep 2019

Boss had me in the office one day saying a driver was sick of people, especially on a Saturday night, just walking on the bus dropping pennies in the tray telling him to keep the ticket. So I was asked to "sort it." Now this was before mobile phones and bus radios. So what to do? Wait at the next stop and be landed with 20 or more drunks? No, the answer? Got on the bus a couple of stops before the Pub. An easy check of half a dozen passengers, and stood on the platform when they boarded. So they start dropping pennies in the tray. I used the humorous approach and said "come on you don't do this in front of an Inspector." Worked a treat, they all paid correct fare and even had a bit of banter when they got off. I reported Monday morning to the Boss that it was sorted. He raised his eyebrows, as he must have been expecting me with a black eye etc.. Just shows that with a bit of savvy and humour/common sense, then things can be sorted. From purely a personal point of view, the Boss wasn't interested that he was trying to drop me into a bad situation which could have put myself and the driver in real trouble. I never trusted him after that.

Simon75 · 3 Oct 2019

First Potteries had 2 on today (First time in 4 years according to them) on the 3 Hanley to Crewe (got on in Kidsgrove , then got off in Alsager for the 3 back to Hanley

SeveerYeliab · 6 Oct 2019

Stagecoach south east have about 3 for the entire region see them about once every 2 months. Tbh they are there to check the drivers defect card etc not to actually see the tickets.
They also check loadings on routes that they have had capacity related complaints about.
(Not that they actually do anything about the problem) :rolleyes:

richw · 7 Oct 2019

I’ve seen the inspector twice in the last year, I only work 2 days a week so I guess he’s about a fair bit considering how many buses we run. The last time was 2220 in the evening.
I’ve seen him with a speed gun in the bus stations as well!

Personally I think the biggest issue is child m ticket abuse by adults, and we were asked to note time and boarding location of suspicious use and they’d watch out. Apparently they can block abusers accounts .

6Gman · 7 Oct 2019

arbeia said:
You obviously didn't work at my depot!
I can honestly put hand on heart and say I was there to compliment what the drivers were doing. Having said that, there was always the odd "rotten apple" in the barrel which needed sorting out. Believe me most of the information that came our way came from decent drivers that were unhappy with the "rotten apple." Like most people, I could write a book.

Please do!

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