Non-motoring > Fare Dodging	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: zippy	Replies: 30

New Mon 14 Apr 14 00:43   Fare Dodging - zippy

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27011497 And on my line too! Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 00:49   Fare Dodging - zippy

Should have added... I think he should be named and shamed. Also a bit peeved that he didn't do time. Lots of people get time for minor offences people who stole £100 trainers in the riots got significant sentences (I know the riots are a different matter). I guess the train company saw £43k and thought that is better than a small fine and a couple of months in prison but it does make it seem that there is one rule for the rich and another for everyone else!? Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 14:19   Fare Dodging - Mr. Ecs

Should just ban him from any public transport within London. Might sink in a little more. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 14:40   Fare Dodging - Mapmaker

>>it does make it seem that there is one rule for the rich and another for everyone else!? OR one rule for the big-time thief and one for the rest. One imagines the train operator would only have managed to get him for that day's fare plus a fine. The additional 42k through an out-of-court settlement made the non-prosecution route worthwhile. Wonder how they caught him though. Usually you'd expect he'd have just coughed up the standard twice-the-full-fare for travelling without a ticket. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 15:11   Fare Dodging - sooty123

I wonder if there were watching him for a while? Doesn't say much for the company if he got away with it for 5 years. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 15:13   Fare Dodging - Lygonos

I would be suspicious he boasted about it to the wrong person at work and was daubed in. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 15:19   Fare Dodging - Duncan

Sounds like a result for the train company, they got the amount claimed, plus a supplement. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 15:20   Fare Dodging - PeterS

>> I would be suspicious he boasted about it to the wrong person at work and >> was daubed in. >> Being daubed sounds messy... My guess is that he reached an out of court settlement that included not releasing his name in return for £47k. Proving that he'd avoided the fare for 5 years would be quite difficult, bar a confession, surely? Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 15:23   Fare Dodging - neiltoo

>> was daubed in. >> Interesting: I've always used "dobbed in" Maybe this is Scottish usage - it's certainly how a scot would pronounce it. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 15:27   Fare Dodging - Bromptonaut

Reading between the lines a member of the railway staff witnessed him doing the oystercard pass out thing. Either they knew where he got on or clocked him doing same swipe thing day in day out and decided to investigate. If the train's last stop was outwith the Oyster zone then nobody off that train should need to swipe out. You might have thought the Oyster system would 'sing up' if the same card was recorded regularly exiting the system without a corresponding swipe in. There's a lot of dodging on the basis of coughing up or daily fare if caught. On London Midland only the Revenue Protection Inspectors can levy a penalty fare and they're usually on the barriers at the major stations. Train Managers can only sell you a ticket. Although the suburban platforms at Euston are barrier controlled peak time expresses to/from MK and beyond use the west side platforms (16-18) which are open access. I used to see the same guy in same carriage of same train several times a week. Like me he'd sussed the most comfortable place on LM's long distance stock. Every time there was a ticket check he bought a single to New St (final destination). NS is fully barriered but if he changed to a suburban Centro West Midlands train there are plenty unmanned minor stops. No ticket check and he travelled free. I tried to report my suspicions but didn't get anywhere. Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 14 Apr 14 at 15:29 Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 15:55   Fare Dodging - Dulwich Estate

"Wonder how they caught him though. Usually you'd expect he'd have just coughed up the standard twice-the-full-fare for travelling without a ticket." It seems an inspector saw the £7+ non-tapped in fare and interrogated the system. Those of us in London have the dubious privilege (very dubious) of being able to receive London Live - the UKs first local TV station apparently. The stuff it shows is 95% repeats similar in content to BBC3 and is to utterly useless to me. Except, a couple of nights ago they showed a documentary about the efforts used to catch fare dodgers. Oysters are usually registered to you and dodgy patterns of usage can be picked up if you interrogate the system. Even when a card is not registered and they really want to get someone, they know the exact usage pattern and study CCTV (which can show EVERY touch-in / out point). Once a face is recognised and a pattern is picked up they can follow and observe them. From what was shown on the TV programme, had it been a London only fraud, they would, I reckon, have had him banged to rights in court. The fact that his entry point onto the system could not be proven was probably the reason for proposing the plea bargaining. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 16:10   Fare Dodging - Bromptonaut

He's going to be very lucky indeed to retain his anonymity. I also wonder whether banking regulations might require him to disclose facts, such as being questioned under caution, to employer or regulator. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 16:18   Fare Dodging - Dulwich Estate

As an aside, I challenge anyone to come forward and proudly declare that they have never ever dodged a fare or travelled past the point the fare entitled them. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 16:26   Fare Dodging - No FM2R

>>I challenge anyone to come forward and proudly declare Nope, sorry, couldn't do that. I was a proper villain on the rural routes I used when a yoof. Mind you, I always pay now because I'm such a nervous lawbreaker. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 16:28   Fare Dodging - Crankcase

Does "anyone" include those of us who last travelled on a train in 1967? Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 17:53   Fare Dodging - Aretas

My family and I got on a train at a station where tickets weren't available. Ticket inspector hadn't reached us buy the time we reached the terminus. He was on the platform when we got out and I went to see him but he didn't want to know. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 18:23   Fare Dodging - Bromptonaut

>> My family and I got on a train at a station where tickets weren't available. >> Ticket inspector hadn't reached us buy the time we reached the terminus. He was on >> the platform when we got out and I went to see him but he didn't >> want to know. Same thing used to happen when I was a youngster. Trains from Leeds to Ilkley were run as 'paytrains' with a conductor selling tickets. Sometimes he'd not get to the front before the first stop at Guiseley. Must have overshot my stop occasionally or forgotten to renew a weekly season a few times as a London commuter. Longer ago there used to be restrictions on cheap tickets for most Friday evening peak trains out of Kings Cross. The exception was the Middlesbrough service. I used to catch that on a weekend return, hop off at Doncaster and then board the Leeds service that ran ten minutes behind when that too stopped at Donny. I was never challenged. Nowadays you'd probably get an even better deal just by splitting the journey between several tickets. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 18:20   Fare Dodging - Alastairw

Well, DE, I can honestly say I have never dodged a fare, or travelled past the point of no return. I'm not really a goody two shoes, but I rarely used public transport as a kid, and once grown up such crimes were a sacking offence. That and I just look guilty, and would probably get caught the first time I tried. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 19:21   Fare Dodging - Manatee

I don't think I've ever dodged a fare either. Not deliberately at any rate. I'm not counting the times when I missed the stop and caught a train straight back to where I should have got off, mind! Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 19:30   Fare Dodging - No FM2R

>> I missed the stop and caught a train straight back to where I should have got off, And how many times did I end up in Didcot with the last train back to Goring already gone!! Last edited by: No FM2R on Mon 14 Apr 14 at 19:30 Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 22:21   Fare Dodging - Bromptonaut

>>And how many times did I end up in Didcot with the last train back to Goring already gone! Just once, on the last fast train, I missed Northampton and woke up at Rugby. OK, it was a joyous August night with loads of old friends including several women whose attractiveness is undiminished at four or five decades. Several pints followed by a few peaty whiskies then sudden realisation it was last train time (what is it about pub clocks that makes them run twice as fast after three pints?). Power walk and an 86 bus got me to Euston just as guard's whistle was sounding. Stirred myself at Watford and again at MK. Was even aware of crossing Hanslope junction but somehow ZZZZZZZ during approach to and stop at Northampton. Thirty quid for a taxi home. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 22:33   Fare Dodging - Zero

Ended up on the last train into Bournemouth once. That was a long way from home. Funny thing was it wasn't even the right train for my home station. Missed the last train out of Waterloo many times, had to fight the tramps for the copies of the evening news (or standard) from the bin to keep warm. Last edited by: Zero on Mon 14 Apr 14 at 22:35 Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 23:05   Fare Dodging - No FM2R

>>Thirty quid for a taxi home We come from different worlds, Bromp. My choice was kip on the station until the milk train or walk. £30quid on a taxi? Half my life was choosing between 10 fags, a pint of beer or Fish and chips, which were all about equivalent in price. And Taxi? I think the first taxi I was in that I paid for myself out of my own money when I was on my own was when I was about 28. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 23:27   Fare Dodging - RattleandSmoke

I slept at St Pancras station last year for a few hours. I got the 10pm train from Manchester which got me into Euston for midnight. Sadly with St Pancras been next door I had no excuse for a long night bus so had to get straight to the station. Was very cold and uncomfortable and most of all boring. A the time I was too skint to afford a hotel as I had used very penny on the holiday. If I was a bit tipsy it would have probably been fine having a 1000 mile train ride ahead of me through three different countries I had to keep a clear head and all the pubs near by were shut and probably would let me in with all my luggage either. Done it a couple of times in Manchester if I was with some of my madder mates but these days are all too long in the tooth for that, all we want at 3:00am is a good pizza and sleep. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 15 Apr 14 00:13   Fare Dodging - Armel Coussine

>> I slept at St Pancras station last year for a few hours. Trying to sleep or even rest in freezing clamorous London main line stations is simply ghastly. You are made of very stern stuff Sheikha. I do think you should use your car to go this couple of hundred miles though. It will die if you don't use it. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 23:39   Fare Dodging - Bromptonaut

>> We come from different worlds, Bromp. >> Not really. The £30 taxi was recent - post kids etc. Clue is reference to women whose attractiveness is undiminished at four or five decades Way back when in 1982/3 I'd walk from town home to Golders Green. Later it'd be last bus to Edgware and walk to Belmont Circle Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 23:43   Fare Dodging - No FM2R

>>Clue is reference to women whose attractiveness is undiminished at four or five decades Ahh, I misread. I took that to mean women whose attractiveness is undiminished looking back many years. My mistake for not reading properly, sorry. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 14 Apr 14 23:53   Fare Dodging - Bromptonaut

Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 14 Apr 14 at 23:54 Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 15 Apr 14 00:02   Fare Dodging - No FM2R

Well, nothing to disagree with there! Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 15 Apr 14 07:54   Fare Dodging - Roger.

>> Well, nothing to disagree with there! Wait a bit - Zero hasn't seen it yet :-) Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 15 Apr 14 08:29   Fare Dodging - Bromptonaut

>> Well, nothing to disagree with there! I briefly made a milf type comment but thought better of it. Reply to this message | Report message