£0.00 (ZERO) excess, is it a crime?

[pethadine82]

A certain section of line allows me to double back.
I do not want to get anyone into trouble so I will keep it as vague as possible.
2 operators run to the terminal station, one fast and one slow.
At the terminal station I double back on the slow service for about 5 miles.
The slow service has RPIs and I have had a penalty fare cancelled on appeal but to please the RPIs I show them the excess, and that seems to work.

I now find that ticket offices are refusing to issue £0.00 excess as they say the auditors are cracking down on this.

I have never met an auditor before, ( are they some super RPI?)
I would love to meet one, but why should I have to pay more money for my ticket when I am legally allowed to double back?

Many thanks

 

[hairyhandedfool]

If you are getting an excess each time now, is there a reason you can't buy the full ticket to start with and save all the faffing about?

 

[Clip]

The auditors are people who count up the money and tickets sold as such and are not super rpi's.

But advice as above really. What ticket is it anyway and what route?

 

[maniacmartin]

The whole post is too vague to comment on really.

By "allows you to double back", do you mean that this is the quickest route, or that it's actually a permitted route due to a Routeing Guide easement, as normally doubling back would not be permitted, irregardless of whether you have an excess.

 

[island]

You are going to need to post the specifics for us to be able to give you meaningful help, beyond saying that I am informed that some TOCs require forms to be filled out by ticket office staff when issuing a zero fare excess.

Feel free to PM me if you are very concerned.

 

[pethadine82]

yes there is an easement that allows me to double back.
I start my journey at the terminal station and the return leg finishes while doubling back.
The fast trains do not stop at my final destination, so I double back.

 

[bb21]

If you are getting an excess each time now, is there a reason you can't buy the full ticket to start with and save all the faffing about?

Precisely, if the excessed ticket permits doubleback then it would be much less hassle to purchase the ticket to/from the eventual intended station to start with, given that it is the same price. That is, unless, the doubleback is permitted for interchange purposes only which would not have allowed the OP to start short at the start of the journey.

yes there is an easement that allows me to double back.
I start my journey at the terminal station and the return leg finishes while doubling back.
The fast trains do not stop at my final destination, so I double back.

I understand that you might not want to reveal the stations in the public area, however your question is far too vague and difficult to answer.

In short, zero excesses can be issued, nevertheless if it is seen as you taking advantage of some loophole then you may well encounter problems.

Without knowing which journey is involved it is difficult to comment whether there is any workaround if that is what you are interested in. An alternative is PM a selection of people and ask for their opinion on the matter. That, of course, is entirely your decision.

 

[island]

I am in PM contact with pethadine82.

 

[wintonian]

The auditors are people who count up the money and tickets sold as such and are not super rpi's.

No but they are super funny about money - or rather the lack of it!

An auditor only ever has 1 main question on their mind "Why haven't you managed to extract more money out of people?"

 

[sheff1]

An auditor only ever has 1 main question on their mind "Why haven't you managed to extract more money out of people?"

Auditors who only major on that question are not doing their job properly . I have seen plenty of audit reports asking "Why has this person been paid less than their full entitlement?"

If a Zero Fare excess has been issued correctly then an auditor should have no concerns. Although the case in this thread is vague, the implication is that a Zero Fare is not necessary .... if that is indeed so then it is no wonder the auditors are concerned.

 

[tony6499]

The dreaded green pen, back in the day you were forbidden to use any kind of green ink as that was what the auditors used.

Used to dread their visit as they went through the books with a fine tooth comb, green pen ready to sign them all off or not as was the case at times

 

[trentside]

I really don't understand the issue with Zero Fares. At my TOC, it's just a case of getting a copy of the receipt and entering the details of the ticket into your machines record book. It takes two seconds to do, and shouldn't cause any problems - indeed, I've never had any comeback for issuing zero fare excesses.

 

[thedbdiboy]

An auditor only ever has 1 main question on their mind "Why haven't you managed to extract more money out of people?"

The reason auditors are super sensitive about zero fare issues is because there is a heightened risk of fraud - i.e. system has not raised a debit but customer may have been charged money that is not accounted for.

 

[barrykas]

The trouble with recording zero fares is that if you have to record every single one, you'd spend more time doing that than selling tickets! Reservations, encode exchanges, duplicates, gate passes and Oyster-related sundry transaction cards, amongst other things, all get issued at zero fare...