SWT Penalty Fare Rant

[hackbike 666]

Is it all SWT staff or is it all SWT ticketing staff?

I must admit sometimes im embarressed,don't know where to look.Am I allowed to say that?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I drink with several railway employees; great pub quiz team and all that etc..

Revenue Protection Officers aren't paid to be nice; they are paid to catch fare dodgers and however well meaning and nice and shiny and clean and well spoken you are if you catch a train intentionally that doesn't stop at your station and you gets off at the next one you are taking the risk of being seen to be a fare dodger. That most of the time you might get away with it because other railway staff don't fancy enforcing the rules (probably because of the amount of abuse they would face if they did) means you've ridden your luck a long time.

Seems that people who don't buy tickets for their journeys complain when caught almost as much as those who get trapped by speed camera's. Don't want to get fined; stick to the speed limit, simples.

Frankly I get sick of hearing besuited fare dodging middle class types kick off on the Southern and SWT and FGW trains I use in my leisure time when they get caught. Last journey I was on another passenger outed a fare cheat, complete with laptop and suit and loads of brass neck, who had claimed to the guard that he had got on the train at the previous station whereas in fact he had been there for several stops.

Buying a ticket at peak times takes time, everyone knows this, so does going to the bank, or post office at lunch time, so you factor this into your planning and you buy the right ticket so you'll never run the risk getting caught dodging fares no?

 

[marinyork]

Buying a ticket at peak times takes time, everyone knows this, so does going to the bank, or post office at lunch time, so you factor this into your planning and you buy the right ticket so you'll never run the risk getting caught dodging fares no?

Try stations with no or broken ticket machines. Perhaps you are meaning that you should then travel to the next station yourself and try and board there.

 

[hackbike 666]

Sensible post.Greg.

Not a job I would want to do.When I was a guard in 1985 we knew Driver only operation was coming in and I didn't fancy doing tickets,now way so I applied for job as driver.

Some of the time it does come up when the ticket machines aren't working(on the guards pager).

Hard to tell round the Hounslow loop or on the way to Weybridge who is pulling a fast one.(or anywhere come to that)

 

[Camgreen]

From SWT's Passenger Charter http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrains/Customerservice/Passengers+Charter.htm#Buyingyourticket

"If the ticket office is closed, the self-service ticket machine is not working and there is no Permit to Travel machine, you should board the train and buy a ticket as soon as possible. This should be from the guard, at an interchange station (if you change trains) or at the destination station"

Seems to me that if Mrs Twickenhamcyclist had money, original ticket in hand and actually made the initial contact with the SWT staff member, then it's difficult to see what more she could've done.

As others have said, complain in the strongest possible terms and refer to their Customer Charter.

 

[hackbike 666]

It's not though is it.Mrs Twickenham Cyclist got on a (fast) train that was not booked to stop at St Margarets (her target station).I know the stopping patterns round there so the only other option was to get off at Richmond and catch the slow train which is possibly less grief.

The reason was probably as the fast train is faster than the stopping train (doh) but same old problem.It doesn't call at St Margerets where the ticket would cover Mrs TC.

Easy for me to say jobsworth but im not a TTI or Ticket Checker.

 

[marinyork]

Fare dodging happens. It's a balance between revenue, amount of resources put in and cheesing off customers. Stagecoach are very good at cheesing off customers. I'm still annoyed at losing the footbridge into the city centre.

One of the reasons why I still occasionally use trains in Leeds is that although it's a closed station they have the right attitude. No ticket machine on a lot of the urban stations, packed train, staff stay in the cabin and packed train, get to leeds, not a problem, desk for dealing with this, can I have a ticket please, out of the station 30 seconds later. Efficient and reasonable staff.

 

[hackbike 666]

Never saying Mrs TC was fare dodging I can see the convenience here looks like they are doing it by the book.

 

[marinyork]

Never saying Mrs TC was fare dodging I can see the convenience here looks like they are doing it by the book.

The one thing I'll say in SWT's favour is at least they don't appear to be doing the I'll take your name and secretly take you to court thing...

 

[skwerl]

Just looking at it from a different angle. You know you're wife had good intentions but what if she plays that scam every day? Don't buy a ticket and when you get to the other end, if the barriers are open - free ride. If they're not, come up with an excuse about fast trains etc and offer to pay the extension. Odds on you'd maybe pay once/twice a week and ride for free the rest.
Why should SWT be expected to assess each person adn try to determine if they're genuine or a blagger?

 

[hackbike 666]

I know it may seem that way marinyork but im not SWT's biggest fan.There I've gone and said it now.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Try stations with no or broken ticket machines. Perhaps you are meaning that you should then travel to the next station yourself and try and board there.

a fare point (boom boom) and one that my three local ToC's have covered off quite nicely in their rules; buy a permit to travel and get the money back when you buy your ticket on the train. No ptt machine working. Identify yourself to the guard asap once boarded.

I've heard SWT guards refuse to "let people off the penal fare" on their trains when passengers have boarded at stations where they have tickets offices open and have waited in their seat for the guard to come to them. "but I was in a hurry" is the usual excuse. (Trans "I'm frightfully important, richer and with a better job than you, and I like the buzz that comes from living in a state of semi chaos") "So was everyone else but they managed to buy tickets" has usally been the weary reply and in a couple of instances passengers on the train have backed the guard up (Often a very fairminded lot Surrey folk)

I've never had a guard threaten to penalty fare me when I've gone and found him immediately, or indeed boarded the train near him, they are fairly easy to spot, when I've boarded at some concrete bus shelter station in the middle of nowhere. I havbe been threatened with it when I've waited for them to come and find me. Go figure.

 

[marinyork]

a fare point (boom boom) and one that my three local ToC's have covered off quite nicely in their rules; buy a permit to travel and get the money back when you buy your ticket on the train. No ptt machine working. Identify yourself to the guard asap once boarded.

I've already said that in Leeds, you go and find the guard straight away. Sometimes they are locked in their cabin at the other end of a packed train and won't come out. I suppose you could go and barge through and hammer on the door but I'd expect they'd think you were a terrorist or threatening them. Even this isn't a problem as I'll be happily sold a ticket at the main station. That's how it should be. Your fancy paranoid system in the south of England, you're welcome to keep. Unfortunately we'll probably end up with it too.

 

[gary r]

some of SWT staff are idiots.i was at Woking station to purchase a season ticket,I needed to go to the cash point to get money to use the photo machine.so off i went out of the station to the Nat West.on my return i was accosted by a gestapo guard. "wheres your ticket?"
"im not traveling i need to get to the office to purchase my season ticket,heres all the paper work"
"anyone could say that ,you are not coming through without a ticket"
"the photo machine is on the platform"
"dont care you are not coming through"
what a W****R.when i finally managed to dodge past him & back to the ticket office the staff there were encouraging me to make a complaint about him as they thought he was a knob aswell

 

[upsidedown]

The revenue protection officers are great, one of the ones who get on at Moor St could turn milk with a single glance, not to be messed with. You can see the panicked look in the students' eyes when she gets on.

London Midland are generally great, even if the trains aren't (we get the rough old ones, unlike the posh electric ones on the cross-city line).