Given what you say, you must have a long and consistent record of short train fare purchases from St Helens to Eccles?
I don't doubt the logic of your journey choices, and I'm surprised the Northern guard did seem to. A word about buying a ticket before you travel next time and warning what would happen if you did not would have seemed to me to be a more appropriate and proportionate response in the circumstances you describe.
I have a record on my bank statement for all the purchases I've made on my card. I also pay by cash often. I have some old tickets that I rescued from my wallet before he confiscated it. On the day in question he sold me a ticket first, then has said 'can I just have a word', so I followed him to a doorway and he said 'because this is the second time I've sold you a ticket on the train I need to confiscate your season ticket'. I was utterly confused. He then went on to say 'you must buy a ticket before you board the train. If you hadn't bought a ticket from me then you could have still left the station.' This is true and I am not disputing that. But I did ask him for a ticket. On both days I passed him my season ticket and asked if he could make up the difference. I said this to him. But he just said 'yes but it looks suspicious so I'm confiscating your season ticket and I will have to send it off with a written report and you will be prosecuted.' (please note this is not verbatim, but just how I remember it). He then took my ticket off me, and asked for my debit card back. He said he had to do a refund as I wasn't allowed a ticket now.
I tried to explain to him about how I drive and park, and its more economical. I even gave him my whole life story about how I always got the train, and then started driving, and then a few months back started to drive to eccles instead. I even explained to the lady in Victoria. The lady in Victoria was very nice bless her. She was very nice as well when I approached her on a different day and asked her if I'm allowed to repurchase my season ticket.
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