South West Trains aggressive ticket inspector

[MarkLi]

I took the train from Fulwell station to Waterloo with my two children, aged 7 and 5. I didn’t realise that SWT don’t allow children to travel for free in London (a policy which I think is ridiculous by the way), and didn’t have the appropriate ticket.

At which point, a revenue collector stopped us at the ticket barrier. He asked for where I had come from – I told him. He also asked for the ages of my children, and I confirmed they were both over 5. He told me the cost of the appropriate tickets, and I paid for them. Fair enough – I made no complaint about that, and that’s not what this post is about.

The problem was, I had found the line of his questioning somewhat abrupt, so I asked him for his name. He pointed at a name badge that only had his first name on it. I asked him for his surname. At this point, his behaviour became truly shocking.

He began shouting at me and refused to tell me, telling me that all I needed to know was his first name. Seeing as he wouldn’t tell me his name, I took my phone out in order to take a photo. That was the point where he became really aggressive. Seeing the phone in my hand, he grabbed hold of it and seized it from me. This is completely unjustifiable behaviour. I was outraged, and demanded my phone back immediately.

I took my tickets, comforted my children, who were absolutely distraught at the situation, and walked away furious at the way I’d been treated.

What should be my next steps? Has anybody else had an experience of this kind of behaviour? I got a photo of him grabbing the camera off me (he has his hand outstretched), and I've e-mailed everything off to SWT, but assuming they ignore it, what steps can I take now?

 

[gray1404]

I had an incident where I was accused of avoiding a ticket inspection, even though he had checked and marked my ticket 2 minutes before. All I did was move to a table seat. He was really rude to me and he did not have a name badge even, when I asked for his name he became very rude so I can understand how you felt.

In your case, you need to wait and see what happens when SWT reply. They won't tell you what specific action they have taken with the employee concerned. They'll use Date Protection as the excuse for not doing that. They'll tell you that they take comments such as that so seriously and have passed it onto the relevant manager. I would give them 28 days to reply before taking it up again.

I do wonder though why in England people don't tend to like giving out their names? In countries I've worked in abroad there appears to be more of an openness as about who you are to customers.

 

[tony6499]

Can see both sides are wrong and pointless complaining as you'd lay yourself open to a counter accusation if you did

 

[AntoniC]

As someone who has previously been involved with debt collection at peoples business addresses and home addresses, I had a Warrant Card with which I used to identify myself to the people I was visiting.

(I never had a problem in the 12 months I did the job, perhaps that was because I never reacted to any of the verbal provocation I received.)

I agree that the SWT RPI should have provided enough info so he could be identified (like his badge number) but I also agree that he is also entitled to have his identity kept secret, and with the pax taking his picture whon knows where it would be posted to (and for).

 

[Mojo]

This whole thread is a bit chaotic I fear. If you feel you have been done an injustice, then perhaps the best action is to complain to the Toc, as advised above. I don't really think there is anything more to add. I have deleted a few posts from this thread just to tidy it up; this is not an indication of any wrongdoing if you have had your post deleted; merely the OP requested advice on next steps; and this question has been answered.