Occasionally, indeed very occasionally, I see Revenue guys on the underground. Usually just one side of the barriers at a busy station, checking certain types of ticket that flag up on the barriers. As I have a staff Oyster I usually get asked to 'show my credentials'.
Today, however, I saw something completely different. At around 1530 a team of approx 8 Revenue guys were in a connecting passage at Green Park. The passage in question is the link between the Victoria and Jubilee lines, and everyone going in either direction was stopped and had their tickets / cards checked. Given that almost the whole tube network is fully gated, I couldn't see how anybody would be in that particular passage without a valid ticket. The only examples I could think of were
a) someone who got through an ungated part of the wider system (eg DLR or Overground) changed on to the Jubilee at Stratford or Canning Town, and was aiming for another ungated part of the system from the Vic Line, eg a connection at Finsbury Park or Seven Sisters.
b) someone who had a travel card for outer zones only doing a journey via zone 1 whereas the Travelcard is only valid via an orbital route (eg Walthamstow to Wembley Park)
c) a gate jumper
All of these seem pretty remote, and yet the team had evidently targeted that particular passageway at Green Park. And it paid dividends, as there were two separate people having 'an interesting chat' with RPIs when I went through.
This poses the question: is there a particular brand of fare dodging that makes this particular location a target for a revenue team action?
Today, however, I saw something completely different. At around 1530 a team of approx 8 Revenue guys were in a connecting passage at Green Park. The passage in question is the link between the Victoria and Jubilee lines, and everyone going in either direction was stopped and had their tickets / cards checked. Given that almost the whole tube network is fully gated, I couldn't see how anybody would be in that particular passage without a valid ticket. The only examples I could think of were
a) someone who got through an ungated part of the wider system (eg DLR or Overground) changed on to the Jubilee at Stratford or Canning Town, and was aiming for another ungated part of the system from the Vic Line, eg a connection at Finsbury Park or Seven Sisters.
b) someone who had a travel card for outer zones only doing a journey via zone 1 whereas the Travelcard is only valid via an orbital route (eg Walthamstow to Wembley Park)
c) a gate jumper
All of these seem pretty remote, and yet the team had evidently targeted that particular passageway at Green Park. And it paid dividends, as there were two separate people having 'an interesting chat' with RPIs when I went through.
This poses the question: is there a particular brand of fare dodging that makes this particular location a target for a revenue team action?