Boarded wrong train - Did I do the correct thing?

[najaB]

Seems to me the railway shouldn't be charging for errors like this although the fact they might doesn't surprise me these days.

I agree they shouldn't be, but the problem is distinguishing errors from "errors".

 

[Chrisgr31]

One of the guards on the Uckfield line carries little post it notes. On the late trains she goes through the train waking those asleep to find out where they are getting off. She then writes it on the post it note which she sticks beside the passenger. Then when she comes through the train again approaching each stop she knows who she has to wake up!

She has in the past woken me up. It was a shame she wasn't on the rail replacement bus I fell asleep on!

I suspect in most cases there is an attitude test to pass to get a free ride back to where you wanted to be. Of course if people didn't argue they were over carried when they werent it would be a lot easier for the onboard staff to just agree to take everyone back.

 

[rpjs]

One of the guards on the Uckfield line carries little post it notes. On the late trains she goes through the train waking those asleep to find out where they are getting off. She then writes it on the post it note which she sticks beside the passenger. Then when she comes through the train again approaching each stop she knows who she has to wake up!

Here in the American colonies, every conductor does that (except for peak commuter trains). They call it a "seat check" and the trains have little holders for them on or above each seat. On the commuter rail I'm familiar with, New York's Metro-North, the conductor just punches the zone the passenger is going to. On the Amtrak Northeast Regionals, they use a mixture of punches, varying seat check stock and written station codes to make each passenger's destination clear to staff and they usually go through the train before it arrives at the next station to identify each passenger that's getting off there and remind them. For stations with low platforms they'll tell the passenger which door to go to as only a few will be opened.

Yes, that does mean that every single ticket is checked on train, but that's doable by them having extra staff than UK trains have: for instance, Metro-North trains have a minimum of one full conductor and one assistant conductor and some have two or three assistants. In the six years I've been here and commuting on Metro-North I can count the number of times I've not had my ticket checked on the fingers of one hand.

 

[Antman]

One of the guards on the Uckfield line carries little post it notes. On the late trains she goes through the train waking those asleep to find out where they are getting off. She then writes it on the post it note which she sticks beside the passenger. Then when she comes through the train again approaching each stop she knows who she has to wake up!

She has in the past woken me up. It was a shame she wasn't on the rail replacement bus I fell asleep on!

I suspect in most cases there is an attitude test to pass to get a free ride back to where you wanted to be. Of course if people didn't argue they were over carried when they werent it would be a lot easier for the onboard staff to just agree to take everyone back.

Surely nowadays (almost) everybody has a mobile phone with an alarm on it, just set it to go off a few minutes before the scheduled arrival time at your destination just in case you fall asleep.

 

[Chrisgr31]

Surely nowadays (almost) everybody has a mobile phone with an alarm on it, just set it to go off a few minutes before the scheduled arrival time at your destination just in case you fall asleep.

Presumably her experience is that many people dont do that, probably because they are not intending to fall asleep!

 

[Antman]

Presumably her experience is that many people dont do that, probably because they are not intending to fall asleep!

I do and I know many others that do, late night train particularly after a night on the lash, the risk is high!

 

[falcon]

Hello everyone,

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate forum as this is more a "what would have happened if I hadn't... would have I been liable for a fine/prosecution?".

In short, I bought a ticket from AFK to CBW but I boarded a train on platform 5 instead of 6 (same Southeastern high-speed train, only 2-3 minutes before my actual train). Once I got on the train and it started moving, I realised that I had taken a Stratford-bound train :roll: (non-stop to Stratford as well, as some call at Ebbsfleet). It was early in the morning (around 7.45) and I tried to find a member of staff on board to try to explain what had happened and even buy a ticket from them if necessary. However, I was unable to find anyone nor I had anyone checking tickets during my short 30-ish minute ride to Stratford. I got off the train and went up to the gates where I explained what had happened to a Southeastern lady at the barriers. She then told me: "Oh, just jump on another train back, then", to which I replied: "right, but I need to buy a ticket, no?", to which she said: "oh... then speak to my colleague at excess fares". Anyway, I go to his colleague and I explained the situation to him, and he sort of told me the same thing: "Right, go to platform 3 and take the next train". This was a bit weird, almost as if I was told by two DIFFERENT members of staff to just board a train in the opposite direction without paying for a ticket (even though it was clearly a silly mistake I had made, but still!). I bought a ticket eventually (I was sold a return) and travelled back to Ashford then to Canterbury, as originally planned.

My question is... did I do the correct thing? Should have I just followed these two people's instructions and just jumped on a train back without a ticket? (I don't think so!). I had a couple of well-travelled friends telling me: "no no, you shouldn't have bought a ticket! it was clearly a mistake! you never went past the barriers at Stratford anyway!" but of course I've been around these forums for a while now (not that I post much, but still), and reading some of the stories here I really did NOT want to risk a penalty fare, or even worse, prosecution.

What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your comments!

The mistake here is as usual nowadays.

Unprofessional and inadequately trained staff.

The correct procedure in the circumstance above are that the ticket checking staff assess the situatuation and use discretion. If they decide that the person has made a mistake they should endorse the ticket on the back or provide an "Authority to travel" BR7000 (IIRC) from a ticket office. As per ticket examiners handbook.

That way the person travelling has proof that authority has been given.

Under BR revenue protection staff had to take a two week course and then passs an exam to be fit for the job.

Revenue protection on the railways is nothing other than an utter shambles.:roll:

 

[tsr]

One of the guards on the Uckfield line carries little post it notes. On the late trains she goes through the train waking those asleep to find out where they are getting off. She then writes it on the post it note which she sticks beside the passenger. Then when she comes through the train again approaching each stop she knows who she has to wake up!

She has in the past woken me up. It was a shame she wasn't on the rail replacement bus I fell asleep on!

I suspect in most cases there is an attitude test to pass to get a free ride back to where you wanted to be. Of course if people didn't argue they were over carried when they werent it would be a lot easier for the onboard staff to just agree to take everyone back.

I know the conductor you mean, and there's certainly a good reason to wake people up. From my experiences on last trains, provided it's not too busy, I find it to be doable to only wake up the passengers who are particularly comatose and don't have anyone more sober travelling with them - which actually boils down to surprisingly few people, most of the time. You can then remember the destinations of the most vulnerable ones.

But from Thursday to Saturday evenings, it's getting to a point now where we may as well have all the Uckfield services running back in passenger service rather than ECS, just not advertised in the timetable (to avoid bus replacements carrying fresh air), to accommodate those who fall asleep. Each ECS train is fully crewed and usually has just about enough time for brief stops at the stations which it had served on the way south.

Presumably her experience is that many people dont do that, probably because they are not intending to fall asleep!

Indeed. Basically, as you know, you may as well abandon your phone beyond Woldingham for any other purpose, due to the lack of signal. If you then don't fall asleep properly until somewhere beyond Oxted, you're unlikely to have had the thing in your hand, so you may not have bothered to remember to set the alarm. And then you're at Buxted, and it's dark and cold and wet.