GWRjake
Member
I'm presently returning from a trip to Berlin, where, on one occasion, my tram ticket was checked by a plain clothes inspector. Are such schemes ever used on the British network?
I'm presently returning from a trip to Berlin, where, on one occasion, my tram ticket was checked by a plain clothes inspector. Are such schemes ever used on the British network?
I'm presently returning from a trip to Berlin, where, on one occasion, my tram ticket was checked by a plain clothes inspector. Are such schemes ever used on the British network?
Yes - I see them watching the gateline on the Underground sometimes. Subtle they ain't.
I'm presently returning from a trip to Berlin, where, on one occasion, my tram ticket was checked by a plain clothes inspector. Are such schemes ever used on the British network?
Most if not all TOCs do this. When the barriers first went in at Waterloo there were routine plain clothes Ops, Monday to Friday during peak times. There are a lot of Ops now too, and some TOCs have dedicated Plain Clothed officers that are on the lookout for the more....professional fare evader.
They are used on the London Underground and i think Merseyrail but i could be wrong.
Personally I've never seen anybody in plain clothes checking tickets anywhere in the UK
The London Underground inspectors were quite effective. They would board different doors in the same car and only produce their ID and ask for tickets as the doors closed. With the advent of the S Stock it is much easier for evaders to spot them further down the train and nip off smartly at the next stop.
Plain clothes ticket inspection squads are used all over Germany on buses, trams, U-Bahnen and S-Bahnen. As there are generally no ticket barriers anywhere it is the only way to control ticketless travel.
In view of controlled access to buses, via the driver, and to many stations through ticket gates I don't see the need for so many here. But they do exist.
Also, Germans still have an innate aversion to uniformed people demanding compliance.
Were? Are they now a thing of the past?
I've been using the tube regularly for the best part of half a century and have never seen revenue inspectors on trains so I assume they were few and far between?
Were? Are they now a thing of the past?
I've been using the tube regularly for the best part of half a century and have never seen revenue inspectors on trains so I assume they were few and far between?
SWTs do have plain closed RPIs as well. Seen them on the Reading route a few times. They wear their SWT ID round their neck and act the exact same as every other RPI.
Greater Anglia do it and it goes back to FGE days at least. I suspect that it's like many things on the railway... new manager comes in and thinks it's a waste of time... the manager after says I've got this wonderful new idea...