Fare dodging/short faring all round me tonight

[pemma]

Again, they had been on since Piccadilly and hadn't invested in a return ticket on their way out, if they had bought a ticket at all.....

I haven't been in to Piccadilly since 1st April, are there still RPIs at the doors to platforms 10/11? If they are that usually gets the majority of ticketless passengers on Chester-Manchester services who stay on to Piccadilly. If they try and claim they traveled from Levenshulme-Piccadilly and traveled from Stockport instead of Piccadilly on their return journey then they might actually be paying more than by buying a return between their origin and Piccadilly.

 

[GarethJohn]

Coming back from the Man City game tonight on the Chester train, the guard makes a ticket sweep leaving Stockport. Guy behind me, who was on the train as I boarded at Piccadilly, asks for a Single from Stockport. Couple of blokes ahead of me, who I recognised from the trip in earlier in the evening, ask for the same - a ticket ex-Stockport. Again, they had been on since Piccadilly and hadn't invested in a return ticket on their way out, if they had bought a ticket at all.....

Got to wonder why the guard is selling tickets from a station with adequate purchasing facilities?

Also wondering how much Northern is losing from poor revenue protection.

In the circumstances it is the best option the TOC gets some fares and the passengers didn't get upset.
You could of helped the guarded by shouting aloud that ''these are short faring''. I wonder what the response would have been.

 

[yorkie]

No EMT guards have ever been Penalty Fare 'authorised collectors' as far as I know. ...

That is good to hear, as it certainly isn't appropriate, so wherever I heard it from, that source was obviously misinformed. In that case, I can't think of any Guards who are authorised collectors, though I'm sure someone once told me that some are, somewhere... hopefully that was just wrong!

 

[6Gman]

Get everybody home safe and sound, including yourself. Everything else is a bonus.

Quite.

 

[exile]

There is an element of injustice here though - it seems being drunk and aggressive is the best way of avoiding paying your fare.

 

[craigybagel]

There is an element of injustice here though - it seems being drunk and aggressive is the best way of avoiding paying your fare.

Up to a point - be too drunk and aggressive between Manchester and Stockport and you'll find your journey ending at the latter station whether you wanted it to or not.

In any case though, have you a better solution? You are absolutely right when you say it is an injustice, but unfortunately there are rarely any alternatives.

 

[al78]

Up to a point - be too drunk and aggressive between Manchester and Stockport and you'll find your journey ending at the latter station whether you wanted it to or not.

In any case though, have you a better solution? You are absolutely right when you say it is an injustice, but unfortunately there are rarely any alternatives.

Taser.
Knuckle duster.
Tranquiliser dart.
Chloroform.
Blunt instrument.

 

[455driver]

Coming back from the Man City game tonight on the Chester train, the guard makes a ticket sweep leaving Stockport. Guy behind me, who was on the train as I boarded at Piccadilly, asks for a Single from Stockport. Couple of blokes ahead of me, who I recognised from the trip in earlier in the evening, ask for the same - a ticket ex-Stockport. Again, they had been on since Piccadilly and hadn't invested in a return ticket on their way out, if they had bought a ticket at all.....

Got to wonder why the guard is selling tickets from a station with adequate purchasing facilities?

If you were so concerned why didnt you speak up and tell the Guard they had got on in Manchester before the guard issued the tickets?

 

[yorkie]

I think both the passenger and Guard were avoiding conflict! And understandably so.

 

[Puffing Devil]

I think both the passenger and Guard were avoiding conflict! And understandably so.

Indeed - travelling with my 10 year old son. The guard had no choice, had there been addition resources, the outcome could have been different and maybe put other off taking the same approach in the future.

 

[6Gman]

Indeed - travelling with my 10 year old son. The guard had no choice, had there been addition resources, the outcome could have been different and maybe put other off taking the same approach in the future.

Have you advised Northern of your concerns?

I wrote to LM about fare evasion on their services into Liverpool. There has since been a significant increase in enforcement (not attributable to my letter I'm sure) and on my last waltz through Lime Street there were two unhappy-looking ladies being issued with forms of some sort by railway officials. I suspect they may have belonged to the faction who consider fares payment between Runcorn and Liverpool to be optional.

 

[yorkie]

Have you advised Northern of your concerns?

I'm sure management read this forum! Writing to the company may not see the letter go past customer relations...

I wrote to LM about fare evasion on their services into Liverpool. There has since been a significant increase in enforcement (not attributable to my letter I'm sure) and on my last waltz through Lime Street there were two unhappy-looking ladies being issued with forms of some sort by railway officials. I suspect they may have belonged to the faction who consider fares payment between Runcorn and Liverpool to be optional.

Northern already do enforcement exercises, but I doubt they'll change their policy of mostly going after commuters and instead going for more troublesome late evening services

 

[pemma]

I wrote to LM about fare evasion on their services into Liverpool. There has since been a significant increase in enforcement (not attributable to my letter I'm sure) and on my last waltz through Lime Street there were two unhappy-looking ladies being issued with forms of some sort by railway officials. I suspect they may have belonged to the faction who consider fares payment between Runcorn and Liverpool to be optional.

LM took action on Liverpool-Birmingham services because of multiple incidents where BTP had to get involved. The end result was BTP being present on certain services probably meaning the guard feels safer.

 

[AndyHudds]

The worrying thing for me here is that people think people that attend football matches are thugs and lack the power of rational thought, have the inability to pay for train fares and are criminals!! Although there may well be some justification for the 'fares' bit on the behaviour of these people but I attended a football match yesterday and I paid for my train fare, from Halifax to Blackburn, all £14.30 of it and I suspect did many of my fellow Town fans did too.

The most amazing thing on this matter is that Piccadilly has no ticket gates and at such a major station, thats pretty poor.

 

[craigybagel]

The worrying thing for me here is that people think people that attend football matches are thugs and lack the power of rational thought, have the inability to pay for train fares and are criminals!! Although there may well be some justification for the 'fares' bit on the behaviour of these people but I attended a football match yesterday and I paid for my train fare, from Halifax to Blackburn, all £14.30 of it and I suspect did many of my fellow Town fans did too..

Have you tried working a football train as a guard? If you ever get to do it you might understand where we're coming from.

Incidentally, I don't believe anyone has said that this applies to all football fans. Any decent guard should use their judgement on the day as some fans are worse then others. But trust me, a lot of the time they are hard work.