I travelled again from London on Monday. The TM on the train was very nice - she marked my ticket and moved on. I showed my ticket to the gateline assistant at St Pancras and I was let through as per usual (my tickets rarely work the barriers
.)
However, the RPI I encountered on Thursday was standing near the far end of the barriers. As I proceeded to walk rather briskly to the train which was leaving in two minutes, he saw me and decided to chase me down the platform, shouting out my name multiple times. He ran up ahead of me and physically stopped me from proceeding. I told him not to touch me and again addressing me by name, he demanded to see my ticket.
I told him I didn't have time to have this conversation with him again as I had already shown my ticket to the barrier staff and the train was about to leave. He then started banging on about Thursday and how the ticket I showed him then was not valid. Seeing as he claimed he checked the NRG, I asked him which routeing points he had used to find the permitted route. He then listed a load of stations along the reasonable route. After three or four, I stopped him as it was clear he was confused. Because the ticket I held was similar to the Rice Lane one on Thursday - only this one was to Old Roan - I knew continuing this conversation was going to result in me missing the train, so I asked him to move out of my way. He kept demanding to see my ticket so I tried to get around him, but he continued to block my path. I looked back and could see the barrier / platform were looking on, surprised. They know my face as I have passed through regularly since late 2011 and have often made idle conversation, being from a railway background myself.
The RPI got more aggressive and was shouting in my face, so I pointed to the CCTV camera and informed him I would be having the footage downloaded, which clearly shows him persecuting me. I very much believe that he was attempting to goad me into reacting aggressively, but I wasn't born yesterday - I don't provide these people with any ammunition to use against me. I always hold a valid ticket or seek to obtain one at the first practicable opportunity. It's their personnel who are adamant on creating problems that don't need to be created. Eventually, the RPI moved out of my way and I got on the train. He was shouting something after me but I wasn't listening. If he really felt he was right, he could have gotten on the train and come with me to Leicester. Evidently he also functions as a roving RPI and I would have spoken to him about the ticket. However, he just created a scene at the platform then decided to stay there.
East Midlands Trains are aware of what happened and I want to see what they're going to do about it. I'm not going to tolerate being bullied by a representative of a company for whom I have paid for a service.
Other things have happened this week. Before Christmas, I complained because the ticket office at my origin station was shut and the gateline assistant refused to let me through the barriers. The ticket I wanted was not available from the machine and I wanted to part pay with Rail Travel Vouchers. Despite it being clearly advertised on National Rail Enquires and in The Manual that RTVs are accepted on train if no opportunity existed to buy a ticket before, the official advice from EMT was that their member of staff was right and that RTVs could not be accepted on board. They did however, offer to exchange any RTVs I held for a cheque. I replied to this stating I would accept this offer and pointing out the correct rules with regards to payment methods. They later relented and told me what I already knew, that in circumstances where there was no opportunity to buy the ticket, that RTVs should be accepted on train.
So last week, I took them up on their offer and sent them £300 worth of RTVs by Special Delivery. This week, they reneged on their offer, making up some excuse about them not wanting to do it because the RTVs were issued by a different TOC. This was not stipulated or inferred when the offer was made, or at any point since. They sent the RTVs back to me by Special Delivery. I got them back today and was disappointed that they didn't think to offer to reimburse the cost I incurred by sending them the vouchers Special Delivery, given it was entirely their fault that the money turned out to be wasted.
I also heard back from the only person at EMT who has provided good customer service following a dispute on Monday. I got the wrong end of the stick by assuming the TM who gave me the UFN last week didn't give IRCAS her details before checking my information. It turns out she went into the next vestibule to do that, then returned to the vesituble I was sitting in with the phone in her hand. The first thing she then said that she was calling to do a name and address check. She didn't verify her ID in my presence, but she did do it.
I was also reassured that everything in their power was being done to ensure I wasn't issued with any further notices, include repeated instructions going out to the managers to get their staff to stop trying to sell me a new ticket/issuing me with notices. For the first time in almost 15 months, someone has listened and is actually trying to do something to prevent recurrences of the same incident. Others in the company have given me a very hard time, first insisting their front line colleagues are right, then providing pathetic excuses for their transgressions, when I'm the one that has been wronged. It seems my complaints have also evaporated into thin air as I see staff I have lodged complaints against again trying the same nonsense and they confirm that nobody spoke to them about the previous incidents.
Revenue protection is about protecting the revenue within the rules - not a free licence to bully the punters. I feel staff who use the authority they are given to commit the passenger to a debt if there is a dispute as to whether or not the ticket is valid for that journey are abusing the system. They also have the power to show discretion. Consequently, I don't agree with the advice that has been given on this site for passengers to accept UFNs then appeal them, especially given my own experiences with the appeals people being in many cases, useless with determining validity and siding with the TOC by default.
Ah well - in the meantime, I have devised my own ways of dealing with ticket inspectors who try to make me pay for a new ticket when I have already showed them a valid ticket or combination of tickets. As I have stated, I now have RTVs, a Postal Order and a Traveller's Cheque. I also took delivery of £50.00 worth of 50p/20p National Transport Tokens this week. I don't have any moral objections to tipping them out on the table and letting the member of staff count them out at their leisure. Before anyone says it, denomination limits only apply to legal tender, which to the best of my knowledge, does not extend to vouchers or tokens. I may well use any or all of the above to pay for a new ticket, then the inspector can enjoy the fruits of excising their authority at the end of their shift when the paperwork needs doing (it was quite some doing in the ticket office.) Should they then accept the and issue me with a new ticket, there are then grounds for the TOC to be reported for a breach of their franchise agreement, as it is stipulated that passengers holding certain ticket types valid for their journey have the right to be able to have access to and egress from trains without further charge. Then instead of dealing with an unhappy customer, they can talk to the government about it.
Of course, at the ticket office or if on board is the first opportunity I have to get the ticket I want, I'll stick to conventional payment methods.
If the little man stands up for himself, the big boys won't be able to bully him so easily. The playground might be one matter, but in the adult world, people should really know better.
