SWT Penalty Fare Rant

[TwickenhamCyclist]

South West Trains Penalty Fare Rant:


//rant mode on

I know it’s a cycling forum – but we’re all encouraged to get out of cars and cycle or use public transport as an alternative – and I don’t have an issue with that – but got really irritated today when Mrs Twickenham Cyclist came home in tears after getting a penalty fare:
Scenario – We live equidistance between St Margarets Station and Twickenham Station – She buys a return ticket from St Margarets up to Waterloo – On the way back a fast train is about to leave Waterloo (they don’t stop at St Margarets but do at Twickenham – one stop further down the track) so she got on it as she has a few times before as Twickenham always has manned barriers and usually a pleasant member of staff you can purchase an excess ticket from. She’s done it and I’ve done it several times in the past – no problems, just pay £2.60 for the extra stop. So she walks up to the member of staff at the barrier, with her ticket and £10 out and asks to pay the excess – guy gets very rude and shirty straight away and tells her she’s a fare evader and has to pay the £20 fine – She remains polite and points out that she has a ticket for most of the journey, approached him to pay the extra, has done it before with no problems and isn’t trying to evade the fare. He says she has to pay the fine – she says she hasn’t got £20 on her, so he asks for her address and then calls the police to check. The whole way through the experience she was really polite and, according to her, he was rude, arrogant and overzealous, and that the other ticket inspectors were looking highly embarrassed by his behaviour.
I know technically your supposed to buy a ticket for the whole journey before you make it, and again have no issue with fining people that are attempting to fare dodge, but FFS, talk about enforcing rules for the wrong reason.


Have always found SWT staff really pleasant in the past – anyone else ever had a problem with the little Hitler at Twickenham? I know the guy she means, when I was there yesterday he was having a right go at a young girl (who was obviously 13 or 14) for having a child ticket, think she was a Spanish or Italian tourist – she couldn’t speak English that well so he just kept shouting at her to prove her age… what a little cock!

//rant mode off

 

[porteous]

I don't see how your wife can be attempting to evade the fare if she offered to pay the extra at the barrier - how can that be any form of deception as long as tickets were not checked on the train (Which would also have been an opportunity to pay the excess)? Equally no SWT employee - from the chairman down- has the right to be uncivil to a passanger, especially as their service is so poor. Write a really indignant letter to the chairman personally demanding the penalty notice be cancelled and copy it to the local press - I suspect you will get a prompt apology and the removal of the penalty notice.

 

[marinyork]

I thought by reputation this was standard SWT behaviour. Also by various copycat tactics people have been taken to court.

It's one of the reasons why I don't use trains any more.

 

[HLaB]

Sounds like she came across a pr1ck, unfortunately there seems to be one everywhere.

 

[Bigtwin]

SWT are regularly tw@s with me.

Our village has an open station and no ticket machine. Usually no guard selling tickets on the train, or at least, not bothering to.

Change at main station to London is one/two min connection in the morning. Not enough time to get off train, walk across stations, queue up, pay fare and get new ticket to London without waiting 20+ mins for next train. No ticket selling on train to London either. No ticket machines on platforms - all outside station/on concourse other side or barriers.

Most times, get off at Waterloo, approach SWT person and pay fare.

Recently started giving same "evasion" grief.

All for £24 return for 40 min journey.

Nobs. No wonder people just drive.

 

[hackbike 666]

You saying that porteus but what gives the right for a passenger to be abusive to a member of staff of which I have seen many times before.Even if the trains are running late as usual.

----My later comment Deleted Not appropriate----

Saying that,The Twickenham incident does seem a bit unfair.
I think charge the extra but not the penalty fare.There isn't a lot of difference anyway as both stations are very near to each other.

But alas im not a TTI and I don't actually know what rules SWT work by.
(That's why I deleted original comment)

 

[TwickenhamCyclist]

You saying that porteus but what gives the right for a passenger to be abusive to a member of staff of which I have seen many times before.Even if the trains are running late as usual.



As a member of staff this is generally the behaviour and attitude we have to put up with.

Actually that's unfair because (most) passengers are ok.

Saying that,The Twickenham incident does seem a bit unfair.
I think charge the extra but not the penalty fare.There isn't a lot od difference anyway as both stations are very near to each other.

Don’t think porteus was in anyway condoning passengers abusing SWT staff, or have I mis understood your post hackbike?

 

[yello]

That's just shite, it really is. It's not even jobsworth, just plain wrong. No way is it fare evasion!

I had a similar thing happen to me many many years ago. The conductor (yes, it was THAT long ago!) told me to get off at the station before my ticketed stop (where the train did not stop) and actually held the train until I got off! I didn't even get the option of paying the difference! The guard on the platform came up to me and asked me what was happening (when he'd waved the train off) and when I told him he shook his head in disbelief and apologised. Oh, my ticketed stop? West Ealing. First stop after there? Ealing. We're talking maybe a mile. Probably the same ticket price!

 

[hackbike 666]

Strange.I've never had any problems and that includes travelling on railways in Japan/USA/Hong Kong and Spain and England either come to that.

 

[purplepolly]

This does seem to be a very strange way to avoid paying a ticket, usually people hide in the toilet and try not to get noticed. Perhaps you could approach the army and sell them the idea that instead of spending £xxxxxxxx on camouflage they should just approach the enemy directly in order to avoid contact.

We, however, are completely feral oop north. The queues of people waiting to pay on arrival at Manchester Piccadilly if they're unfortunate enough to find the ticket collectors deployed stretch back for miles and no-one ever gets a penalty fare whether on the train or on the platform.

Once I forgot my season ticket and the conductor not only didn't charge me, but she also go me past the ticket collectors.

 

[hackbike 666]

Don’t think porteus was in anyway condoning passengers abusing SWT staff, or have I mis understood your post hackbike?

my apologies I think I went into one again.As I said I think it's very unfair.

I think my post was irelevant as this is about penalty fareing.Sorry.

 

[marinyork]

I'm not bothered how rude the staff were, if they were even that bad at all (I don't know where I said anything about the rudeness). I really would prefer if people behaved themselves on trains. The issue being talked about for me is this business of deliberately fining/taking to court/threatening of passengers that may not have the means to pay earlier (for example broken ticket machines). I thought it had been written about a fair bit with respect to this TOC. By copycat companies a well known bus company did the same with broken ticket machines. It just strikes me as an incredibly lazy and unprofessional way of going about business. In Sheffield the same company by way of conflict of interest is abusing it's position to close off Sheffield Station and has always refused to install an adequate number of ticket machines and keep them in reasonable repair (as has it's predecessors, but they never closed off the station).

 

[jonesy]

This sort of thing sends a really bad message- that people who board a train in good faith, intending to pay will be treated in exactly the same way as those who are intending to evade paying. What's the point of being honest if you'll be treated like a criminal whatever you do?

 

[hackbike 666]

I'm not bothered how rude the staff were,

Don't agree,the staff shouldn't be rude.IMHO.

Yes sometimes it's hard and I have my bad days myself but you know what I mean.I hope.

Saying all that though, there should be room for discretion and it seems like your wife got a jobsworth.

Im wondering if he was a jobsworth or whether it was 'instructions'.

Don't actually know the answer to that one.

 

[marinyork]

I meant it is not of primary importance to me. Staff are busy, tired and have a lot to do, it is understandable if they aren't smiles all the time. In anycase I wrote that before I'd seen what else you'd written. I wasn't actually talking about staff rudeness at all . I find threats/ringing police/taken to court as other companies have done disturbing.

I would go with what Jonesy says as a better way of saying what I think.