Adult on Child Ticket

[bunnybear47]

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[bb21]

Unfortunately it is your responsibility to check you have the correct ticket.

Otherwise every fare dodger can use this as an excuse.

 

[bunnybear47]

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[Greenback]

As bb21 has said, it is ultimately your responsibility to check that you have been given the correct ticket. I'm afraid your defence of 'I didn't ask for it and I didn't know' doesn't have a high chance of success in my view. But you never know, if you tell them your story they may believe you and take no action, then again, they may not...

 

[Clip]

Thanks for your prompt reply, much appreciated....but surely the railway company will have to prove that I'm the guilty party as I maintain that I never asked for a child ticket, nor do I look like one?

And then it boils down to he said she said.

And you are the one who is in posession of a child ticket and didnt check or rectify the mistake that you alledge has been made

 

[Romilly]

But odd things do happen age-wise.

I remember that once when in my mid-30s I was taking a bus from a town in SE England to a nearby village. Having asked for a single to the village concerned, the driver asked: "Is that a half?"

I can't believe that I looked to be under 16 or over 60, and briefly wondered whether the driver's eyesight was good enough for driving, but it was the last bus of the day so I took the chance.

The simple moral of the tale, though, is that sometimes people can make surprising mistakes about other people's ages. I had no idea of the fares for my particular journey so, if the driver had simply charged me for a half-fare ticket without any comment about my age, I would not have known I had been undercharged and could quite easily not have looked at the ticket. It certainly wouldn't have occurred to me that someone would get my age wrong by more than 20 years!

 

[bunnybear47]

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[Deerfold]

But odd things do happen age-wise.

I remember that once when in my mid-30s I was taking a bus from a town in SE England to a nearby village. Having asked for a single to the village concerned, the driver asked: "Is that a half?"

I can't believe that I looked to be under 16 or over 60, and briefly wondered whether the driver's eyesight was good enough for driving, but it was the last bus of the day so I took the chance.

The simple moral of the tale, though, is that sometimes people can make surprising mistakes about other people's ages. I had no idea of the fares for my particular journey so, if the driver had simply charged me for a half-fare ticket without any comment about my age, I would not have known I had been undercharged and could quite easily not have looked at the ticket. It certainly wouldn't have occurred to me that someone would get my age wrong by more than 20 years!

I've had similar. On a tourist bus service in Edinburgh I (40) was sold 1 adult ticket and 2 senior tickets. I was with a 93-year old and a 44-year old who I think looks younger than that. I'd asked for 1 Senior and 2 Adults.

We caught one other bus and I only noticed the mistake after getting back to the hotel (the discount for Seniors is not much!).

 

[bb21]

I can appreciate that it's my responsibility to ensure that I'm holding the correct ticket but isn't there then a legal responsibility upon the guard to ensure I've been sold what I asked for on the train?

As I mentioned earlier, I certainly don't look under 16, despite being in my mid 20s, and I didn't realise the error until my ticket was checked at the barriers at my destination.

I'm not trying to be defensive, just trying to gauge what chance I have at court if it ends up that far? As you say, it's one word against the other, though will the guard necessarily remember selling ME in particular that ticket or not...they deal with so many people don't they! And the man at the station wasn't on the train when I was sold the ticket.

While I appreciate what you are saying, unfortunately as things stand there is very little defence. Had you checked your ticket, you would have noticed the error straight away. Did you not suspect that the fare was too cheap?

I am not sure how your explanation will go down with the train company. If this were your first offence, they may make an exception and let you off, however that cannot be relied upon.

It may be an expensive mistake unfortunately.

 

[tony6499]

While I appreciate what you are saying, unfortunately as things stand there is very little defence. Had you checked your ticket, you would have noticed the error straight away. Did you not suspect that the fare was too cheap?

I am not sure how your explanation will go down with the train company. If this were your first offence, they may make an exception and let you off, however that cannot be relied upon.

It may be an expensive mistake unfortunately.

Selling tickets I've asked people is that a child fare and then told they were in their 20's so it is possible the 'man' did make a mistake but as you say did the OP suspect their ticket was too cheap ? Unless the 'man' who sold the ticket comes forward and says he did make a mistake their is no proof of this.

 

[bb21]

I am not denying that it is possible the guard might have made a mistake. He is human after all.

But that does not change the complex of the situation.

 

[Bill Badger]

If you just ask for a ticket to X and the guard says that will be £3.50, and it's not a journey you do very often, then are you expected to check the ticket in detail to make sure it is actually what you asked for and if so how are you expected to know what all the codes stand for?

Whilst Child is pretty unequivocal, say the guard inadvertently sold you a Network Card discount, then if you weren't a Network Card holder you wouldn't necessarily associate seeing NSE on the ticket as meaning you had been sold a discounted ticket by mistake. And as for understanding the myriad of different ticket type codes.....

 

[bb21]

If you just ask for a ticket to X and the guard says that will be £3.50, and it's not a journey you do very often, then are you expected to check the ticket in detail to make sure it is actually what you asked for and if so how are you expected to know what all the codes stand for?

No, but these are all factors the train company may consider.

It still does not provide any meaningful defence for the OP.

Whilst Child is pretty unequivocal, say the guard inadvertently sold you a Network Card discount, then if you weren't a Network Card holder you wouldn't necessarily associate seeing NSE on the ticket as meaning you had been sold a discounted ticket by mistake. And as for understanding the myriad of different ticket type codes.....

I don't think it is helpful introducing another level of complexion into this case. Please open a separate thread for it if desired.

 

[furlong]

So might you be trying to argue *both* of the following?

- No reasonable person could believe your age was such that you qualified for a child ticket? So then there's no way that the employee should have knowingly sold a child ticket for your use - it can only have been a mistake attributable to the company. (If it went as far as court, you might be able to obtain documents from the company or expert opinion to back up your position that the ticket should not have been sold in the circumstances you describe.)

- Additionally, you'd no idea that the ticket was not for an adult until stopped at the barrier? (So you didn't read it? You didn't know what the price was supposed to be as it's not a journey you've made before or you didn't check or query the amount you were asked to pay or paid?)

The codes on the ticket will allow the company to trace the employee who issued it so they can be asked to provide a statement to see if that sheds any further light on the situation. Do you remember the actual words spoken and any relevant context? You might be lucky: the employee might remember and realise it was a mistake and how it happened. Depending where it was, there might be CCTV footage to help jog their memory, or you could supply a photograph of yourself if that might help.

 

[Greenback]

If you just ask for a ticket to X and the guard says that will be £3.50, and it's not a journey you do very often, then are you expected to check the ticket in detail to make sure it is actually what you asked for and if so how are you expected to know what all the codes stand for?

I would say so, yes. It's a good idea to double check by asking the ticket issuer again if you have received what you asked for, if you are in any doubt. It's far better to do that than to inadvertently find yourself in trouble.

Although I never worked on the trains, it has happened to me on both sides of the ticket window. I much preferred for customers to question what I had issued so that an innocent could be rectified quickly and easily without inconveniencing them too much. On occasions, I have returned to a window after purchasing a ticket, if I thought I had been issued the wrong ticket. It happened a couple of times in London alone, both before and after I worked for FGW.

Some people, of course, may realise a mistake has been made in their favour and say or do nothing. Not that I am suggesting that this happened here.

 

[hounddog]

At the age of 51 I inadvertently walked through a seniors' turnstile at a non-league football ground without being challenged. I hadn't noticed that unlike most of the grounds at that level this one had separate turnstiles for each class of spectator rather than two or three turnstiles all selling the full range.

 

[nw1]

I've had similar. On a tourist bus service in Edinburgh I (40) was sold 1 adult ticket and 2 senior tickets. I was with a 93-year old and a 44-year old who I think looks younger than that. I'd asked for 1 Senior and 2 Adults.

We caught one other bus and I only noticed the mistake after getting back to the hotel (the discount for Seniors is not much!).

I was born in the early 70s and was asked for ID when attempting to buy alcohol in a bar in Colorado in 2011. Luckily I had passport.
On another occasion, albeit in 2002, I was downright refused entry to a club in California as I had no ID... despite having been legally eligible to enter for almost 10 years!

Moral seems to be.... always have ID on you if you're under 50 and want to drink in the USA!

 

[richw]

I can understand the OP situation to an extent.
I recently bought a ticket onboard a service, unstaffed origin.
I requested a single to destination and was automatically sold a child ticket. I'm mid 20s with a beard. I questioned the staff member and his response was "you'll be ok"
My journey was wholly on that one service with destination unstaffed but i felt quite nervy throughout the journey knowing I'd been sold a child's ticket.

 

[Greenback]

You should have insisted. My guess is that the guard made a mistake and didn't want the hassle of rectifying it. The fact is, as we cans ee here, that you may not have been OK.