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Times staff bent the rules to help you

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GW43125

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I had a similar story going from Glasgow to London, the train manager let us go in first, there was no catering but she got us all a cup of tea and a sandwich, and then proceeded to furnish us with bags of out-of-date pretzels.

Had similar stories on the last southbound VTEC (as was), where we got about three rounds of sandwiches as they'd otherwise have gone in the bin at King's Cross.
 
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HST274

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Once on the tube we switched from thameslink to the tube at Farringdon with a Pancras to Farringdon ticket and the other person on PAYG but didn't have a chance to get a ticket for me and the worker at Paddington let us through anyway.
 

nanstallon

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18 Dec 2015
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Once in my youth I needed to go from Plymouth to Leeds; cheapest way was to book advance tickets restricted to specific services - coach from Plymouth to London and train from there to Leeds. I allowed plenty of time to cross London. All was well until after Reading, when there was an accident and we were trapped on the M4 for two hours. I missed the connection with my specified train, and the booking office confirmed that I'd have to buy a new ticket for about £60, which I didn't have, for the next and last train of the day. The alternative was to hitch-hike in the middle of the night. As a last ditch hope, I waited for the next Leeds train to come into the platform; in those days there were no barriers, so I found the conductor, showed him my ticket - was there any chance I could ride this train? he said 'don't worry, find a seat'. Very lucky!
 

SteveM70

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I had a weekend away cycling in Norfolk a couple of years ago. On the Sunday afternoon I misjudged the length of the ride I was doing which meant doing the last 10-12 miles absolutely full gas back to Norwich, in and out of the Travelodge where I’d left my bags, down to the station and made the EMR to Peterborough with about 30 seconds to spare, hot and sweaty and still in my cycling gear.

It was full and standing through to Peterborough so I was still red faced and sweaty when I got off there. A short connection into an LNER to Leeds which was again absolutely packed. Put my bike in the cycle storage bit and started to walk through looking for a seat, when the lady on the buffet trolley tapped me on the arm, told me to sit in a vacant seat on first class and gave me a couple of cans of lager
 

OuterDistant

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Another "not me, but someone else": about 15 years ago, just as we started away from a smallish station, a lone female arrived on the platform. Fortunately, she was just in the driver's vision, so he stopped again and got the guard to reopen the doors.

FWIW because of industrial action, this was the last train of the day.
 

SteveHFC

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When attending 6th form college, the college bus started about 3 or 4 miles from where I lived, so I got a regular service bus to/from a connecting point. However, the college bus (run by the same company) ran dead from the depot to the start point - often passing me waiting for the regular service bus to come. A number of the drivers would stop and pick me up (didn't save me money as I had an annual pass) but it saved the connection. Same happened on the way home, a number of drivers would drop me close to home, and one or two would actually drop me outside the front door!

With the same company, I often spent days as a teenager riding around on the buses so got to know some of the drivers quite well, and often stood at the front talking to them (against the rules I know). A couple of them would let me change the blinds - so before the days of electronically operated roller blinds, you'd get a bus driving along with the blinds changing especially if they were running late. I'd also be allowed to sit in the cab and operate the ticket machine at terminal points.

This was late 80s/early 90s
 

jumble

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i would like to see what people think is the funniest if theres a few or only if one time staff bent rules on trains or platforms to help them you may only give the location and toc concerned to protect anonymity.

mine would be being on my way back from a scout camp in full uniform the rrb was late by about 30 mins into Llanelli and even though it made good time to Carmarthen i missed my onwards train when i got on platform and asked staff a helpful person about to finish his shift and leave the station unstaffed took me to the office said your under 16 right i said no he's like say yes i can help u then i said yes and he ordered me a taxi had he not i would have had a long 2 hour wait with no money and little phone charge very thankful to that person whats your story
A couple spring to mind

In Newcastle RRB was scheduled to York and advance tickets from there to KGX
We arrived in York before the previous train had left
Many people asked platform staff if they could travel on this train and were told certainly not
I found the Train Manager who told us to jump on
Arrived back in London 1 hour early.
Result!

On another occasion My partner had first class advances NCL KGX but had to change them and could afford the new price for first and so booked standard
The TM on inspection took one look at the old first class tickets and told my partner
" As you originally booked first I am not going to make you sit in second now so toddle down to the first class end and enjoy"
Result!




 
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Ken H

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I was travelling from Southampton to Leamington. I managed to leave my wallet on the Basingstoke - Reading train when changing. Ticket, cards, money. I discovered the loss on the next train, and went to the office on the down platform @ Oxford. He said the wallet had been found and issued me with a free return ticket to Reading to get it. It was there, the money was still all there. So the railway staff got me out of a right pickle, and also were honest to hand the wallet to the station supervisor. I did write to Thames Trains to thank them. Some years ago...
 

johntea

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This morning I caught the tram from Fitzalan Square to Sheffield Station, I had the £1.90 'lazy bugger' tax ready only for the conductor to come down and tell me not to worry about it with a smile on his face

Such a small gesture but for some reason set me up in a really positive mood for the rest of the day!
 

185143

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A story from not too long ago - although rather than a personal experience, I witnessed this happening to somebody else.

A passenger had boarded the train with a railcard-discounted ticket, but claimed to had left their railcard at home. When the guard came through the train checking tickets, instead of issuing a penalty fare (or charging for an entire new ticket), he offered to sell the passenger a non-railcard fare from one of the major stations en route, where he knew there would be an onboard crew change. He even said something along the lines of "I'll sell you a ticket from x, so that if the next guard comes around, you can show that so you don't get into trouble."
I've witnessed similar too.

Again, not me, but another passenger boarded my train and asked for a ticket to another small halt a couple of stops down. I think this was the Heart of Wales line and it was around 10 years ago. The passenger clearly had a disability so the guard asked if she had a railcard, but then proceeded to sell her the discounted ticket anyway.
 

Anonymous10

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wales
I've witnessed similar too.

Again, not me, but another passenger boarded my train and asked for a ticket to another small halt a couple of stops down. I think this was the Heart of Wales line and it was around 10 years ago. The passenger clearly had a disability so the guard asked if she had a railcard, but then proceeded to sell her the discounted ticket anyway.
sometimes train staff can be the best ive had conductors waver the cost of a fare on a local stoper due to having no wallet broke down car and failing data due to how busy the tourist town was really appreciated that gesture
 

185143

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sometimes train staff can be the best ive had conductors waver the cost of a fare on a local stoper due to having no wallet broke down car and failing data due to how busy the tourist town was really appreciated that gesture
I remember being on a Cumbrian 37 running to it's usual levels on punctuality. Guard came through advising of short platforms, several people offered fares who'd boarded at unstaffed stations-ie the majority of them. The guard point blank refused to take people's money due to the length of the delay (not far off two hours down!) Pointed out it'd be pointless as they could just get delay Repay refunds anyway.
 

mervyn72

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23 Jul 2015
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A big one for me was in Germany when the overnight sleeper from Hamburg to Innsbruck which was to drop me off at 0200 ish in Nuremburg was severely delayed awaiting the connecting portion from Moscow due to heavy snow. I was booked on on a 0500 flight from NUE to Tenerife which I knew I would miss. I managed to get a flight booked from Munich later in the day but I would have to rush, and despite not much English from the conductor and basic German from me, he let me travel through to Munich. Even better was his wife picked him up from the station as his shift was over, and as they lived near they airport they took me right to the terminal.

One I witnessed was the last train on Saturday night from Liverpool Street to Cambridge doesn't stop at Shelford. I overheard the request a couple of young women made to the driver to stop at Shelford as they had missed the last train to there. Not sure if the driver squared it with control, but stop at Shelford we did.
 

tomwills98

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Back when I first started working on the railway with my mate, went down to Dawlish for day but only got our tickets to Exeter as we didn't know what we were going to do. Got back on the train at Dawlish Warren and couldn't use the machine as we had privs so waited for the guard to come around. Guard turns up, mid 60's, shorts, couple buttons undone, blacked out sun glasses, perfect for the summerly downpour that just started.

We asked for a priv single to Exeter and he looks at us like we were aliens, and he calmly says "I don't sell privs..." We're bricking ourselves thinking we're getting our privs taken away, then he turns to a random couple opposite us and says " these guys work for the railway and they're trying to buy tickets haha". Random couple look at us with disgust but don't say anything and fair enough I'd do the same, we smile back thinking WTF is this guy on. Guard tells us he never sold a priv and never will. Had a little chat where he told us he was ex-BR and went on his way.

Was fun to explain to the staff in Exeter who kindly let us out :lol:
 

zero

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3 Apr 2011
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On a Northern service, a young woman showed a child e-ticket and was unable to state her date of birth. The guard made her buy a new ticket but only from the stop where he started his shift, not from the child ticket origin.

The same guard then made some members of a stag party buy a new set of tickets when they could only present a ToD reference, even though they had all just bought the tickets on their phones on the platform. (The others correctly chose the e-ticket option or maybe it was Northern m-ticket.)
 

NoOnesFool

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A member of staff in the West Midlands (I will say no more to protect their anonymity) allowed me to change the date of my ticket after a booking error. I had an exchangeable ticket but I expected to be charged an administration fee. It was especially kind as I wasn't even travelling on their TOC's service.
 

Class800

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Several years ago, Scotrail staff treated Pollokshaws West and Pollokshields West tickets as interchangeable, despite the lack of an official easement, due to the amount of issuing and booking errors both by customers and staff. No idea if it's still accepted.
 

Bayum

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After one of my first surgeries in London, I lost a tremendous amount of blood on the ward that night. My original ticket had been for the following day but I stayed in hospital for three days to ensure no recurrent bleed and that I was well enough to travel back home solo (Overground, underground and National Rail). I somehow managed to book a ticket on Thursday for Thursday instead of Friday and didn’t realise this until I was at Kings Cross and unable to access my ticket. One of the LNER guards allowed me onboard and helped me book a ticket online as I had managed to leave my debit card at home.
 
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