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Alleged Fare Evasion

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LondonJohn

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I have seen someone boasting about fare evasion on a social media site and they have put photos of their tickets on the site and are boasting to their friends what they have done.

As an annual season ticket holder this annoys me.

If I were to copy the postings and email them to the TOC would they be likely to do anything or should I just do nothing.

Person is identifiable from his postings.
 
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AlterEgo

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Which social media site is this, and which TOC?

I know of at least one TOC which takes a very dim view of blatant fare evasion and would chase up on this...
 

RJ

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Which social media site is this, and which TOC?

I know of at least one TOC which takes a very dim view of blatant fare evasion and would chase up on this...

I also know of a TOC which very proudly announced the catching of two fare evaders who were boasting on Twitter on the front page of their intranet :p

 

trc666

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It's not uncommon to see tweets relating to people bragging that they got away with using a child ticket (especially girls in their early 20s) or that they're hiding from the 'ticket man' in the train toilet. It's worth passing this on to the TOCs, we do appreciate this information.
 

IanXC

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There was a recent VT one:

Hiding from the ticket man for 2 hours on the Virgin train shall be a challenge.

@VirginTrains: Do you want to tell the train manager or shall we?
 

LondonJohn

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Thank you everybody for your input I have sent an email to Tfl and its down to them to do anything if they want to.

I resisted the urge to cc in the individual's employer from his Facebook page as I am guessing that TFL/BTP would be following this link from Twitter if they wanted to track him down unless they have other ways.
 

class303

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i'm sorry i'm amazed that you would report this person. friend or no friend i find it absolutely disgusting. that's my opinion, cue the abuse of me.
 

LondonJohn

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i'm sorry i'm amazed that you would report this person. friend or no friend i find it absolutely disgusting. that's my opinion, cue the abuse of me.

They have committed an offence though, possibly criminal as it would appear they had no intention of paying what they should have.

If someone was to break into your car or burgle your home and someone saw that happen would you still be disgusted if the person that saw them doing it reported it to the police ?
 

323235

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i'm sorry i'm amazed that you would report this person. friend or no friend i find it absolutely disgusting. that's my opinion, cue the abuse of me.

If they are wise enough to incriminate themselves on the internet for all to see then I think they should get a valuable lesson on the consequences.

Too many people don't seem to realise that what they post on social media is not immune to the law.
 

class303

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no i wouldn't and it's not a fare (see what i did there?) comparison to make. i think it's disgusting that there are people would rather see some skint teenager (for example) landed with a criminal record for saving a few £££ on his train ticket at the expense of shareholder's and executive's bonus. i'm aware companies try and spin it to make it seem like the front line workers foot the bill, but they really don't. i genuinely wonder how people with such disrespect for humanity sleep at night.
 

Ivo

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no i wouldn't and it's not a fare (see what i did there?) comparison to make. i think it's disgusting that there are people would rather see some skint teenager (for example) landed with a criminal record for saving a few £££ on his train ticket at the expense of shareholder's and executive's bonus. i'm aware companies try and spin it to make it seem like the front line workers foot the bill, but they really don't. i genuinely wonder how people with such disrespect for humanity sleep at night.

It doesn't work like that though. This person is clearly bragging about his success and may well use it as an indication that he can do it again - as could anyone reading his messages. This kind of behaviour must cease.
 

class303

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i used to work for a corporate company and i hated them. they paid me poor wages, unsociable hours, i had to deal with scum of the earth customers all the time. all the while the real earners were sat in some office somewhere doing very little for a LOT of money. i coudn't care less and even enjoyed the thought of depriving the fat cats of money.

thankfully i'm now self employed. shame on any worker who tries to defend his master at the expense of another working man.
 

bb21

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i used to work for a corporate company and i hated them. they paid me poor wages, unsociable hours, i had to deal with scum of the earth customers all the time. all the while the real earners were sat in some office somewhere doing very little for a LOT of money. i coudn't care less and even enjoyed the thought of depriving the fat cats of money.

thankfully i'm now self employed. shame on any worker who tries to defend his master at the expense of another working man.

Have you actually done their jobs? If not, then how do you know that they did very little?
 

ainsworth74

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thankfully i'm now self employed. shame on any worker who tries to defend his master at the expense of another working man.

What the heck this got to do with the poor working man versus the rich fat cat manager? Why has this suddenly wandered into the terrain of industrial politics rather than a simple case of fare evasion?

I have absolutely no issue with what's transpired here. Whilst I'm not aware what way the person mentioned by the OP has evaded their fare they are clearly gloating about it and to my mind that's unacceptable. If they'd said nothing about it and just carried on then fair enough they've got away with it and shame on the TOC for not being more strict about revenue protection. But by going onto a social media website showing off about the fact that they evaded the fare then I have to say they do deserve to be prosecuted for their actions.

Or do you think that fare evaders should be let off? Perhaps because they're depriving the fat cat TOCs of their money?
 
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class303

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Or do you think that fare evaders should be let off? Perhaps because they're depriving the fat cat TOCs of their money?

no i don't. nor do i condone fare evasion. the fact that there are many front line railway workers here saying "report him to tfl" or "the police" really tests my faith in humanity. legally there may be no issue, but i find act of reporting someone to the police far worse, morally, than the act of fare evasion itself. despicable, no less.

if he's posting pictures of tickets then it sounds like he's a youngster using a child ticket at 17 or "summit". who cares? i appreciate this is a rail forum but i do wonder what planet some people live on. i'm actually quite appalled by some of the suggestions here.
 

GadgetMan

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Some of the attitudes of people in our society, which is well reflected in this thread go some way to explain why this country is f***ed up.

Fare evasion is now acceptable because there's no victim,
Cheating the benefit system is also deemed acceptable for the same reason,
Ofcourse, establishments like Tesco can also afford to cover the costs of petty shoplifters etc,
I suppose credit card fraud is perfectly fine as the Banks take the hit and compensate their customers whose cards have been scammed.

Are people really that thick, do they not realise that it isn't the government nor the shareholders taking the hit of these so called victimless crimes. The costs are being covered from the more honest citizens, in higher taxes, shop prices, fares, insurance premiums and so on.

This just goes to prove that prosecutions are well justified when genuine fare evaders are caught to try and reverse the above mentality. If only other 'petty crime' was also treated more seriously, perhaps this country would not be in the moral mess it is now.

Weldone on the OP for doing what they feel is the right thing and reporting the matter, there are already too many people who are happy to turn a blind eye to criminals.
 

class303

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Fare evasion is now acceptable because there's no victim,
Cheating the benefit system is also deemed acceptable for the same reason,
Ofcourse, establishments like Tesco can also afford to cover the costs of petty shoplifters etc,
I suppose credit card fraud is perfectly fine as the Banks take the hit and compensate their customers whose cards have been scammed.

.

these are not fair comparisons. if i knew of any of the above crimes happening i'd happily phone the police. but you are talking about getting some poor kid a criminal record for trying to save a few quid on a rail ticket. your moral compass has gone haywire.
 

GadgetMan

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these are not fair comparisons. if i knew of any of the above crimes happening i'd happily phone the police. but you are talking about getting some poor kid a criminal record for trying to save a few quid on a rail ticket. your moral compass has gone haywire.

If you don't want to pay the correct fare due, then don't travel. Perhaps I'm too simple minded.

Are they really unfair comparisons?
The person YOU would report for cheating the benefit system might be a poor young single mother trying to keep her kids fed and clothed.

The same poor student could be pinching stationary from Tescos to save a few quid.

Where do you draw the line?
 

hairyhandedfool

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....the most commonly prosecuted offences are no different to riding a bicycle through a red light (illegal but not wrong).

If it is against the law, it is against the law.

no i don't. nor do i condone fare evasion. the fact that there are many front line railway workers here saying "report him to tfl" or "the police" really tests my faith in humanity. legally there may be no issue, but i find act of reporting someone to the police far worse, morally, than the act of fare evasion itself. despicable, no less....

Really? You need to sort your morals out.

....if he's posting pictures of tickets then it sounds like he's a youngster using a child ticket at 17 or "summit". who cares? i appreciate this is a rail forum but i do wonder what planet some people live on. i'm actually quite appalled by some of the suggestions here.

If he is '17 or "summit"', he is old enough to know right from wrong. I'm quite appalled that someone who claims not to condone criminal activity is condoning criminal activity.

....but you are talking about getting some poor kid a criminal record for trying to save a few quid on a rail ticket. your moral compass has gone haywire.

If you don't want the time, don't do the crime.
 

dcd

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thankfully i'm now self employed. shame on any worker who tries to defend his master at the expense of another working man.

I wonder what your view will be if in your self employment you find yourself so busy that you need to employ help and they take the view that you as the boss do nothing and are fair game for ripping off.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

BrianTheLion

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In my head I always compare blatant fare evaders with uninsured drivers. Both scenarios ultimately cause normal law abiding citizens to foot unnecessary bills in the form of future rises.

This whole attitude of victimless crime is rubbish. In these instances its the rest of the population that become the indirect victims.
 

RPM

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Fare evasion is one thing, but someone who does it and then brags about it on Twitter is clearly an arrogant little sod who deserves to be taught a lesson. Being brought down a peg or two might actually do them some good in the long run.
 

BrianTheLion

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these are not fair comparisons. if i knew of any of the above crimes happening i'd happily phone the police. but you are talking about getting some poor kid a criminal record for trying to save a few quid on a rail ticket. your moral compass has gone haywire.

This "poor kid" could "try to save a few quid" every time they set foot on the train. If they did this 365 days a year it could amount to a lot of money... I know I wouldn't fancy being ripped off to the tune of a few thousand pounds!
 

EM2

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thankfully i'm now self employed. shame on any worker who tries to defend his master at the expense of another working man.
So when a customer of yours won't pay you for the services you have provided, because they're trying to save a few quid , that will be OK, will it?
 

Pen Mill

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Fare evasion is one thing, but someone who does it and then brags about it on Twitter is clearly an arrogant little sod who deserves to be taught a lesson. Being brought down a peg or two might actually do them some good in the long run.
agreed.
The twit has tweetedly set up his own courtroom and trial and deserves at least twice the sentence that anyone keeping quiet would get .

A brain transplant should be mandatory also.

Tweet !
 

district

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I have seen someone boasting about fare evasion on a social media site and they have put photos of their tickets on the site and are boasting to their friends what they have done.

As an annual season ticket holder this annoys me.

If I were to copy the postings and email them to the TOC would they be likely to do anything or should I just do nothing.

Person is identifiable from his postings.

Going back on topic, in my opinion you are completely right to report them to both the relevant TOC and the BTP. If you are uncomfortable to do this, PM me the details and it'll be my pleasure. Fare evasion is a crime, and just like others have said it is important to report any alleged criminal offence, no matter how petty you believe it to be (not directing that at you OP) to the relevant authorities.
 
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