"Any tickets I haven't yet checked?"

[Stigy]

Was at Portsmouth and Southsea last Tuesday and they had set the gates to reject all 16-25 railcard tickets because they were checking for railcard validity. Good on SWT I say!

Ticket Barriers are great in that you can set them up to reject pretty much whichever ticket type you want! They have their moments though, and recently at one large station they were accepting either outward or return tickets regardless of the journey being made. All well and good in an ideal world, but so many people input the wrong portion of their tickets, only realising when the barrier rejects them, and doesn't open! Imagine the confusion if the barrier does open, when said passenger wishes to go home later!

 

[graham43404]

I am always happy to have my ticket checked as many times as needed if it stops the fare dodgers.

The worst company for checking tickets seems to be Virgin, sometimes I have got on at Man Picc and got into Euston without having a single ticket check, other times I have had a ticket check at Euston and then nothing at all for the rest of the journey, even after its stops. On some trains we have travelled first class advance from Man Picc to Euston and had our tickets checked between Stockport and Stoke, but then nothing after that. Not even for people who got on at Stoke or Milton Keynes.

One thing for sure these days are nothing like it was in the 80's when sometimes your ticket had more holes in it than actual ticket left at the end of the journey

 

[175001]

We really can't win though, some punters moan getting their ticket checked, and others moan it's not checked at all.

Well said!!!!

 

[mallard]

The worst company for checking tickets seems to be Virgin

I recently did Glasgow - Birmingham on Virgin without a single ticket check (although I changed from a Euston Pendo to a Birmingham SuperVoyager at Crewe)!

London Midland don't seem to be very good at it either, at least outside of the WCML services. I've done Birmingham - Hereford without a check (terminus to terminus with ungated stations en route).

 

[WestCoast]

Ticket checks seem to be more down to individual staff though, and as the rail staff often say, there could many, many perfectly reasonable explanations why ticket checks were not performed, even on longer journeys.

I've not found Virgin particularly lax on ticket checks for the longer-distance jounryes, if they have RPIs at Euston, they may not check. Those are directly employed RPIs who check everything though (right train, railcard e.t.c). Virgin do have a problem checking on shorter segments like the Warrington - Lancaster stations or Crewe - Manchester, since the trains are large and the journey times are short.

 

[IanXC]

Regularly on Northern I'll hear the Guard giving a description of the passengers who have boarded (at the more lightly used stops) to the RPI as I pass them at the rear door of the unit. Like a well oiled machine!

 

[N Levers]

I was traveling this morning and the guard came around and I showed my ticket. No less than 10 minutes (and 1 or 2 stops) later he came around again this time asking "any unseen tickets". He stops at my table and asks to see my ticket (in a tone of voice like he hadn't done so already). He didn't do this at any other table - this was a peak SE service into London and I am in my early 20's has a rucksack and wasn't wearing smart clothes.

He did apologise once I showed him the ticket and he remembered the Priv Battle to Iver ticket.

 

[DarkestDreams]

I often have my earphones in, and very rarely have my ticket checked when travelling intercity. I think that inspectors rely on heads bobbing up when they say "Tickets from York please" etc in order to know who to check.

I do however always get checked on branch lines. TPE have a very scary inspector who insists on seeing and holding my ticket, reservation and both parts of my railcard in order to check that none of them are fake I guess. It's very annoying, but fair is fair; I hate that people don't feel like they have to pay.

 

[SS4]

Tickets from... please are the usual ones I hear when on long distance services.

I've had my ticket checked twice on one journey by Virgin a few times at Euston and then on board but I've had Advance 1st tickets so am glad they checked.
LM services to London usually change at NMP so I've had my ticket checked twice then, I think on the second time (between NMP and EUS) the guard was surprised to see a ticket from Birmingham stations!
On the XCity line they only ever check at New St although I understand they've installed barriers at BMO, BSW, UNI and FWY since I last went to them.

When I travel I put my ticket (and reservation where applicable) and railcard on the edge of the table so they can be checked with minimum fuss since having to wait is annoying for everyone concerned! (Although this thread has just reminded me to change my railcard over to next year's!)

I would be interested to know what happens when one is legitimately travelling, the first guard marks the ticket but then the passenger gets checked again, for example having to have change trains. Does the new guard know the ticket is valid?

 

[exile]

On my train home the conductor doesn't check tickets till Widnes, by which time 1/2 the passengers have got off. To be fair, the train is pretty full at the start and most people get on at Lime St - but the ticket checks there are a bit hit-and-miss anyway. It would in fact be impossible to do a complete check given the 3 minutes or so between stations and the time it takes to sell a ticket.

 

[scotsman]

I don't usually expect to have my ticket checked after around 9pm when I'm travelling to/from Fife.

So, imagine my surprise when I'm on the second last Fife train (2309) from Edinburgh and the Conductor (an ex-Driver, for whatever reason) despatches from the local, rather than the cab, then makes an announcement that he will be checking all tickets and railcards.

Not many Conductors risk that (and I don't blame them), but then again this guy looked absolutely hard as nails.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

The thing that gets me is just how long it seems some guards to actually get round to checking tickets. My morning commute into Leeds takes around an hour on a slow Northern stopper, normally formed of a 142 or 144 unit, yet sometimes it can take the guard the best part of half an hour to finally get round to checking tickets.

As I often like to have a snooze or put some relaxing music on my mp3 player, it can get pretty annoying when he eventually taps me on the shoulder, disturbing my reverie! You can't help but wonder what he's been doing in his cab all that time - having a kip himself, maybe?!!!

 

[rmt-driver]

Slightly off topic, I was with my Granny at Padd last year, we got off the Met at Paddington Suburban, and was heading for the Connect. As the ticket office is closed at that end, and she is not that good on her feet... I parked her on a bench and walked to the ticket office at the far Southern end of the station. I queued, and asked for two tickets one with YP railcard and one with SNR...

Anyway the guy in the office stated that he needs to see my Gran, complete with her railcard in order to sell a ticket. I explained we got off the H&C and she is sat because she can't walk very far quickly especially as the station was quite crowded... he insisted this was the rule and wouldn't serve me... I said anyone can walk up to the machine and buy a child or RC discounted ticket, I had already shown him my YP railcard...

I personally think he was downright exceptionally disgraceful expecting me to go and drag my 80 year old gran with a stick from the other side of the station, to go and stand in a queue, just to show him her railcard !

 

[142094]

Slightly off topic, I was with my Granny at Padd last year, we got off the Met at Paddington Suburban, and was heading for the Connect. As the ticket office is closed at that end, and she is not that good on her feet... I parked her on a bench and walked to the ticket office at the far Southern end of the station. I queued, and asked for two tickets one with YP railcard and one with SNR...

Anyway the guy in the office stated that he needs to see my Gran, complete with her railcard in order to sell a ticket. I explained we got off the H&C and she is sat because she can't walk very far quickly especially as the station was quite crowded... he insisted this was the rule and wouldn't serve me... I said anyone can walk up to the machine and buy a child or RC discounted ticket, I had already shown him my YP railcard...

I personally think he was downright exceptionally disgraceful expecting me to go and drag my 80 year old gran with a stick from the other side of the station, to go and stand in a queue, just to show him her railcard !

National Express EC also brought this rule in without much publicity. At the time I didn't use the internet booking site and would travel down to Newcastle Central to buy advance tickets. One day I drove down, paid for parking and went to buy the ticket, with a YP discount. No railcard, no ticket = driving back home to pick up railcard.

 

[317666]

Was at Portsmouth and Southsea last Tuesday and they had set the gates to reject all 16-25 railcard tickets because they were checking for railcard validity. Good on SWT I say!

One similar thing that SouthEastern do on the High Speed route is set the barriers to reject child tickets - this annoys me, because although I look 16-17 I'm actually 15, and considering that 395s have ticket checks on board anyway, it just seems pointless to me, as I was just asked by the barrier staff "Do you have ID on you?", I said "yes" and I was allowed through. :?

 

[mallard]

One similar thing that SouthEastern do on the High Speed route is set the barriers to reject child tickets - this annoys me, because although I look 16-17 I'm actually 15, and considering that 395s have ticket checks on board anyway, it just seems pointless to me, as I was just asked by the barrier staff "Do you have ID on you?", I said "yes" and I was allowed through. :?

I don't think it's just child tickets, I've yet to have any ticket of mine accepted by the SET barriers at St. Pancras!

 

[northwichcat]

Sometimes TPE do a full ticket check after a crew change, others do not. One day when I did a Doncaster-Stockport service the new conductor at Sheffield did a full ticket check and in the 6 pairs of seats around me she found one person with no ticket and another person with an invalid ticket.

There are at least a couple of Northern conductors who don't check all tickets but ask who wants to buy a ticket. I suppose in their defence they can tell RPIs that everyone on my service was given an opportunity to buy a ticket, whereas someone trying to check all tickets might not be able to say that because they weren't able to make their way through the whole train.

 

[AlterEgo]

I don't think it's just child tickets, I've yet to have any ticket of mine accepted by the SET barriers at St. Pancras!

I have used two Priv tickets and both were rejected by the SET barriers there!

 

[district]

o/t AFK have platform tickets on auto reject.

I would much rather my guard checked the train than allowed fare evaders. Infact, I wrote to SET to complain that the ticket barriers at HGS were being left plunged open for hours on end.

 

[Lampshade]

o/t AFK have platform tickets on auto reject.

Same at London Victoria. I think platform tickets were overlooked, not a case of setting barriers to reject them but not programming them to do anything at all.

 

[district]

Same at London Victoria. I think platform tickets were overlooked, not a case of setting barriers to reject them but not programming them to do anything at all.

I did ask and he said they were on reject, apparently some scoundrels would buy one and just travel with no regard for anyone else!

 

[Crossover]

That problem is not limited to Darlington though, it's quite prevalent across the Northern network, and on other TOCs. When you have unstaffed stations so close to the major terminal, the situation is made worse. Of course, there is no Permit-to-Travel at these Northern stations.

At Leeds = "single from Burley Park, please".
At Manchester Piccadilly = "single from Ashburys, please"
At Manchester Victoria = "single from Eccles/Moston, please".

I've seen this before a few years ago on a train heading from Leeds (TPE) and someone who didn't have a ticket and was after a railcard discount. Guard insisted he had boarded at Burley Park...said passenger eventually got the message...

On the XCity line they only ever check at New St although I understand they've installed barriers at BMO, BSW, UNI and FWY since I last went to them.

I think I may have had the odd check on the XCity. I can vouch that BMO and BSW have barriers anyway and have had for a good few months now

 

[bAzTNM]

Some people, whenever I'm on a train, just don't like being asked again for their ticket. Especially that guy who said to a ticket inspector "You've just checked my ticket you fat balloon"!

 

[ChrisCooper]

Expecting to see both the railcard and the person when buying tickets is a bit overkill IMHO, especially since tickets can be bought without having to show a railcard at machines, and the railcard should be checked on the train. Setting barriers to reject railcards too will just further annoy people. Rejecting 16-25 cards is a little stereotypical too. I know when I was on buses the old people were pretty bad for having out of date passes, or asking for half when they didn't have a pass (this was before free travel). Some drivers didn't ask for passes, so you often got the tuts, sighs, groans and foul looks when you did (even more so from those who would then produce an expired pass). These days it's trying to get on before the free passes are valid.

 

[WestCoast]

These days it's trying to get on before the free passes are valid.

The before 9.30 club...

 

[W-on-Sea]

I don't know why scribbling on a ticket with a pen is regarded as an acceptable way for a guard to show that they have checked a ticket nowadays. Apart from looking extremely unprofessional, it proves nothing about when or where the ticket was checked. Therefore...although a proper stamp with train ID, as one used to see more commonly, would be better, I was kind of impressed when an FGW guard last week actually wrote (or scribbled might be more accurate) the Train ID on the ticket - which I guess would have been of some use were I to break my journey afterwards.

 

[graham43404]

Some people, whenever I'm on a train, just don't like being asked again for their ticket. Especially that guy who said to a ticket inspector "You've just checked my ticket you fat balloon"!

You have to love the general public don't you. There are certain jobs that people have that the public think they can talk down to or ridicule that person for having or doing. Personally I find the sort of person who does that to be a rather odious type of person.

 

[sheff1]

The other day I was the only person to board the St Pancras - Leeds HST at Alfreton. By chance the door I boarded at was the one the conductor used to release the other doors. When I got on, there was no one else in that coach. I fully expected my ticket to be checked as soon as we were on the move ... but nothing happened.

At Chesterfield 3 or 4 people boarded and one got in the coach I was in and sat at the table behind me. As soon as the train moved, the conductor went straight up to him and asked for his ticket but, after checking it, disappeared without approaching me.

I wonder if this means I have a very honest face, or if I look like the sort of person who would attack anyone asking to see a ticket.

 

[DazDude]

One of Northern's Guards who I seemed to encounter a few times when travelling between Manchester Airport and Wilmslow would say "Any more fares required?" as he wandered up the train (rather than actually checking tickets at a time of night when people would more likely try to fare dodge...) :roll:

 

[ANorthernGuard]

One of Northern's Guards who I seemed to encounter a few times when travelling between Manchester Airport and Wilmslow would say "Any more fares required?" as he wandered up the train (rather than actually checking tickets at a time of night when people would more likely try to fare dodge...) :roll:

most guards will check tickets up until a time they no longer feel 100% safe, personally if its a case of my safety vs. fare dodgers, fare dodgers win and I will not apologise for that to anybody, what I do at the start of the journey I check all tickets, then after a few times stops I say anymore tickets and passes that I haven't seen, works for me.