Hello !
I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about the rail enforcement officers use by Northern Rail ever since the following -
I was running late for a train once, and so didn't have time to get a ticket. Most days this was fine, as a conductor would come down the train and I could but one. This day however there was no such offer. When I arrived at Leeds station I went to the ticket office and asked to buy a ticket for my journey, and they refused to sell me one, and instead an enforcement officer was beckoned and issued me with a penalty fare. I was annoyed as I had really not tried to avoid getting a ticket, and feel like it was a trap !
So now when I see enforcement officers I am (wrongly or rightly) slightly aggrieved that I should have to show them my ticket.
Today I was in a bad mood already and was incredibly tired. I also had before the journey had to pay for another ticket as I couldn't modify my off-peak to peak. So when I saw enforcement officers at the station I didn't really feel like being compliant. When asked to show my ticket the conversation went something like this -
Enforcement - Can i see your ticket please?
Me - Why?
Enforcement -Because it is an offense to travel on a train without a valid ticket.
Me - I have a ticket - what if I don't show you?
Enforcement -I will take your details and issues yo...
Me - what if i don't give you my details?
Enforcement -We will look at CCTV and find you and stop you using the the trains.
*i begrudgingly showed my ticket*
My question is if i have a valid ticket (which I always do), what happen if I refuse to show it to them?
This might seem like a bit of a d**k move (you might be right), and realistically it was only an issue today because I was already annoyed. But am just interested if I could potentially get prosecuted simply for not showing my valid ticket.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about the rail enforcement officers use by Northern Rail ever since the following -
I was running late for a train once, and so didn't have time to get a ticket. Most days this was fine, as a conductor would come down the train and I could but one. This day however there was no such offer. When I arrived at Leeds station I went to the ticket office and asked to buy a ticket for my journey, and they refused to sell me one, and instead an enforcement officer was beckoned and issued me with a penalty fare. I was annoyed as I had really not tried to avoid getting a ticket, and feel like it was a trap !
So now when I see enforcement officers I am (wrongly or rightly) slightly aggrieved that I should have to show them my ticket.
Today I was in a bad mood already and was incredibly tired. I also had before the journey had to pay for another ticket as I couldn't modify my off-peak to peak. So when I saw enforcement officers at the station I didn't really feel like being compliant. When asked to show my ticket the conversation went something like this -
Enforcement - Can i see your ticket please?
Me - Why?
Enforcement -Because it is an offense to travel on a train without a valid ticket.
Me - I have a ticket - what if I don't show you?
Enforcement -I will take your details and issues yo...
Me - what if i don't give you my details?
Enforcement -We will look at CCTV and find you and stop you using the the trains.
*i begrudgingly showed my ticket*
My question is if i have a valid ticket (which I always do), what happen if I refuse to show it to them?
This might seem like a bit of a d**k move (you might be right), and realistically it was only an issue today because I was already annoyed. But am just interested if I could potentially get prosecuted simply for not showing my valid ticket.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.