A New Series of "Fare Dodgers At War With the Law..."

[MrJeeves]

The photo of the man in the shelter looks like Witley. It’s two stations south of Godalming.

They left a great hint in the show. Blurring out the names of the stations in the spreadsheet they filmed, then showing a CCTV image that had a file name of "GOD 250203.jpg"... Who knows what station that could have been...?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Although they did say that because they had scanned the ticket of one absconder they did have their details?

Does that always necessarily yield results?

 

[Ediswan]

So now we have to do a 'Guess the Station' to work out where the high dodger got on his trains - those stations with the nameboards blacked out should have been pretty instantly recognisable to most on here (though failed myself).

The most curious shot was a full frame view of just a blanked-out station nameboard, and some bricks.

 

[AlterEgo]

Although they did say that because they had scanned the ticket of one absconder they did have their details?

They have the details of whoever purchased the ticket, which is not evidential proof of the traveller committing the offence.

 

[Krokodil]

They have the details of whoever purchased the ticket, which is not evidential proof of the traveller committing the offence.

But it is a start. They may be able to use this name to get a photo, and can match this photo with CCTV stills.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I'm enjoying the series so far and the revenue protection team members featured seem quite pleasant and personable. I say that as the female TfL officer Karen as featured in the promo image on the right, I found to be absolutely insufferable in the last series. Awful woman.

 

[Egg Centric]

Watched the second episode just now and I'm fortified in my previous conclusion this is a disastrous documentary for SWR (who I appreciate no longer exist as such) if dedicated fare evaders are watching. Everything so far screams to those inclined that way "Run - and if you can't, don't co operate. And have a better story and backup ticket ready".

These are things those of us who read Disputes and Prosecutions would already know but broadcasting it like this is just "saying the quiet part out loud".

 

[crablab]

I'm fortified in my previous conclusion this is a disastrous documentary for SWR

Oh not at all, it's exactly what they want. I think you misunderstand the psychology.

The people pushing through barriers, running away, being abusive and causing ASB will do that anyway. They will not be watching this, and it wouldn't change their behaviour anyway.

Those don't run away, readily admit to ticketing offences when asked and hand over their details aren't going to suddenly start pushing through barriers. They're the ones that are terrified in the moment!

SWR presumably hope that by demonstrating their 'thorough' approach, they'll scare a few from the latter category (directly or transitively) into paying the right fare, saving them the investigation and converting a few people they'd never catch into fare paying customers

Case in point.

The former are probably a bit of a lost cause, so they'll make their lives annoying and difficult, getting the BTP where they can.

Nothing in that documentary is new to anyone with half a brain cell and/or Google.

 

[nanstallon]

Which surely tallies with what we see in Disputes & Prosecutions...

It's been an issue for a while that the railway does very well in tackling the passenger who cooperates or somehow a bit more vulnerable (perhaps older, younger, or not familiar with UK custom and practice). It's rubbish at dealing with the hardcore evader who doesn't give a stuff and will happily just barge past/through people probably with a few choice words to boot.

Admittedly those are a lot harder to deal with and really require a police presence. But still. Its a trend I've noticed for a long time now.

Typical British authority - strong with the weak and weak with the strong. Which is why I despise them.