B.R.'s policy on "Fare Dodging" on a line or at a station scheduled for closure?

[Chrius56000]

. . .I would be very interested to know what the answer to this poser is!

. . .If you "bunked the trains", as it was generally known in the 1950s to the 1990s, what would B.R. have done if the line or station concerned was scheduled for passenger closure, and the incident occured in the last day or two of passenger service?

. . .Did B.R. still pursue the case as strictly as they might have done on a permanently open line or station, or was it deemed "it doesn't matter now, the line is shut after today! – or was it "pot luck" depending on how strict the station staff were on the affected station(s) or line?

. . .(Many such lines were fully de–staffed several years prior to final passenger closure, for example, could you have got on a DMU at stations like Midville, New Bolingbroke or Tumby Woodside on the "New Line" in the first day or two of October 1970, hid in the toilet and got away with it @ Firsby or Skegness because the line was in its last two days of service?)

. . .Was the case dropped as soon as the line or station closure was implemented and could the Magistrates Court still deal with it after the demolition teams had done their worst?

 

[WesternLancer]

I can not ever imagine a policy that diverted from the usual level of enforcement right up until an end of service.

Individual staff, possibly demotivated by their own impending job losses, might turn a blind eye to such things or be less assiduous.

Magistrates would surely implement the law without regard to the state of the permanent way. Surely they would regard a fare dodger as a potential thief in another context and thus deserving of punishment.

 

[Magdalia]

. . .(Many such lines were fully de–staffed several years prior to final passenger closure, for example, could you have got on a DMU at stations like Midville, New Bolingbroke or Tumby Woodside on the "New Line" in the first day or two of October 1970, hid in the toilet and got away with it @ Firsby or Skegness because the line was in its last two days of service?)

No.

My experience is travelling on rural lines in East Anglia, I'd expect rural Lincolnshire to be the same.

Fares were collected by the guard, with tickets issued from a Setright machine just like on a bus. The guard would go through the train, usually a 2 car DMU, between the start and the first intermediate call, to check and issue tickets. At each intermediate station the guard would be at the open door of the brake compartment as the train pulled in, and would know exactly who was waiting to board, especially as numbers of passengers would be small. The guard would then collect fares and issue tickets immediately after departure.

The terminus station would be staffed and tickets checked on the barrier. In particular, getting off the station at Skegness would have been like crossing the Berlin Wall!

 

[Gloster]

A fare dodger would have been prosecuted by the The British Railways Board or some part of it: British Rail (Eastern Region) for example. This organisation would have continued to exist, even if the line that the offence took place on had closed, so the case could continue.