Euston - Stafford with LM and Virgin: A Topsy Turvy World

[Mutant Lemming]

A strange day.
Me and the missus went from Euston to Stafford for £3 each with LM today and had our tickets examined at Euston and then twice on the train.
We returned First Class with Virgin and not only did we not have our tickets checked at all but didn't encounter any staff whatsoever on station or train.
I would have thought it had been the other way round considering our return journey cost 10 times the outward one.

 

[Badger]

Have only had my ticket checked once on a Virgin train, and that was yesterday; was beginning to think they don't have guards. London Midland however are more active. I've only really had regular, almost all-the-time checks by Cross Country.

 

[causton]

I can totally believe that, managing to go 1st class all the way from Hertfordshire to London to York to Manchester to Stoke on Trent to London to Hertfordshire without getting ticket checked!

 

[yorkie]

But without further information, it doesn't really tell us anything. It's quite possible the guard found other people with invalid Advance tickets or similar and was busy issuing UFNs.

 

[AndyLandy]

I've never understood that, it's also been my experience that Virgin are far less fastidious about ticket checks than other TOCs. Add that to the absence of barriers at their stations and it's a wonder they're not drowning in fare evaders...

 

[All Line Rover]

I've never understood why LM are so zealous with ticket checks. All of their regular stations between Crewe and London are covered by Penalty Fares, yet I see numerous people buying tickets on board (clearly trying to avoid buying one in the first place!). Why don't LM just scrap ticket checks and introduce RPI's?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I've never understood that, it's also been my experience that Virgin are far less fastidious about ticket checks than other TOCs. Add that to the absence of barriers at their stations and it's a wonder they're not drowning in fare evaders...

Milton Keynes Central has barriers, but I'm sure many people buy a Bletchley to MKC single to get through them. The number of times I've seen people buying Euston to Milton Keynes SDS's on-board is remarkable. What's even more remarkable is that Virgin permit this!