Observations as a conductor doing tickets..

[LowLevel]

I vary my checks all the time and sometimes when leaving the origin station dispatch from the front and work backwards, or in the middle - which thoroughly annoys the regulars going one or two stops you can't normally get to when working from the back who don't bother paying before boarding. I can't wait till penalty fares come in and they get smacked for £20 for their £2 fare having walked past a ticket office and TVMs at entrance rather than my having to just politely take their money if I manage to get to them as it is at present.

 

[thelongestroad]

I've had the occasional hard stare from conductors who announce "tickets from Y please", and expect me to magically divine that they've forgotten I got on at X earlier in the journey and would like to see my ticket from X too, please.

It's hard to remember who got on where... if we stare at you it's because we're trying to suss if we've seen your ticket or whether you've just boarded. Not everyone is as honest as the majority so sometimes you have to do that otherwise people will just sit there; and if they haven't already paid get away with it.

Then there's "but you've already seen my ticket"... and you have to respond "Unless I've had a sex change, had a boob job and aged 20 years I haven't seen your ticket... there has been a crew change!".

What about Advance tickets without the reservation also being offered? Or railcard discounted tickets with no railcard produced with it

Nevermind that. As they say, as long as it's orange....

 

[sd0733]

If I work a train and make an announcement about a full ticket check probably 85% will get them out ready, then 5 or so% were chatting/headphones/genuinely asleep and are more than happy to show them.
Of the other 10% you'll have-
Mr/mrs angry- They have bought a ticket, you should know that. It is valid and obviously we should take their word for it. Eventually they will bring it out grudgingly probably slam it on the table with a sarcastic comment and snatch it back.
The I'm better than you- when you get to these people they will loudly tut and sigh, look at you with disgust as if they've found you stuck to the bottom of their shoe. A thank you sir/madam Is ignored and either the ticket is snatched back or the hand is withdrawn completely so that the ticket can be placed on the table as god-forbid if it was passed back then all manner of diseases could be passed on from us low-life 'ticket inspectors'. Not a single word must be said to you either.
The fare dodger- They will fall into one of 3 camps- they could be a cocky so and so who is blatant and says not paying mate what are you going to do about it basically, usually travelling one stop. Then there's the ones who pretend to be asleep but blink and try not to smile even though the corners of their mouth is twitching. Then there's also the ticket dancers who check each pocket several times, pat all over themselves and then claim to have lost their almost guaranteed non-existant ticket as well as almost always their wallet, all money etc etc.

As I said the overwhelming majority of passengers are great and I've even met up with some of my regualrs out of work etc and know loads by name have a chat etc. Its a shame that a few rude/obnoxious/thieves can spoil it although you do get used to it and let it go over your head, but it is the latter few that you tend to remember. I think the same can be said the other way round to be fair and a passengers perception is skewed by the occasional 'bad-apple' member of staff and now view everybody with a bit of suspicion.

 

[Whistler40145]

I agree with Graham43404, I have no problem with being asked to show my ticket, I always purchase the correct ticket & to me it's those who are trying to avoid paying who probably try to avoid a Conductor.

On the odd occasion, especially late Saturday nights, the sight of a Conductor appearing from the rear cab of a unit to check tickets is as rare as rocking horse poo.

I just wonder how much revenue is lost or do TOCs think that it's late Saturday night and not many passengers are travelling.

 

[thealexweb]

Could it be an anger that the persistent fare dodger(s) aggressively ignore the conductor and sometimes get away with it, therefore the legitimate passenger(s) resents having to proof they are doing the right thing.

 

[Moonshot]

I agree with Graham43404, I have no problem with being asked to show my ticket, I always purchase the correct ticket & to me it's those who are trying to avoid paying who probably try to avoid a Conductor.

On the odd occasion, especially late Saturday nights, the sight of a Conductor appearing from the rear cab of a unit to check tickets is as rare as rocking horse poo.

I just wonder how much revenue is lost or do TOCs think that it's late Saturday night and not many passengers are travelling.

I actually put that theory to the test a few weeks ago working a train late Saturday night in West Yorkshire which was full of drunken rugby fans. All of them had a return portion of a ticket they had bought earlier in the day.

 

[Fincra5]

The best is commuters, who still haven't gotten used to it being checked...
"It's been checked already!"
'Not by me it hasn't'
"It was checked by the barriers..."
*sigh*

I do enjoy their amateur dramatics when they've left their ticket in their coat in the overhead racks. They sighs, the rolling of the eyes, whilst I stand there and smile.

 

[muz379]

I dont wait around long for people to get tickets out , if they are taking their time I just tell them " I will be back in a minute" carry on checking the train and get them on the way back through .

I just wonder how much revenue is lost or do TOCs think that it's late Saturday night and not many passengers are travelling.

In greater Manchester at least most of them will have the return portion of a cheap evening return they bought earlier that evening seeing as after 18:30 that is the cheapest ticket they can be sold anyway .

Further afield than that I dont know .

Even if Guards did do a ticket check which some will , what is that guard to do when they come across someone who has not got a ticket is so intoxicated they think it is necessary to verbally abuse , spit at or otherwise assault said guard .

Is the cost to the TOC in dealing with that incident - Possible cancellation , alternative transport , guard non productive whilst chain of care is completed . Going to actually be more than the cost of lost revenue ?

You need to be an expert to understand passenger behaviour.

My take on the 'what comes after' your "morning folks, tickets please".

93% are usually pretty decent folk, who appreciate the check as it catches the garbage that don't, and won't pay, putting everyone else's price up.
3% are less than decent and slam the ticket up at you with a condescending look. He's already been checked. (last Thursday).
2% complain about having their ticket checked being a breach of the international human rights convention. Facist!
1% go as far as sitting there pretending to ignore you, to desperately get you to become angry, in order to desperately make a complaint about something. Anything.
0.5% are even ruder by way of the amount of drink they have had. Usually require rolling out the door mid journey.
0.5% are the rudest and most belligerent of all. These often hold 'management' or 'status' passes. Require swift execution.

This is pretty much true . I have actually had a Member of management from my TOC traveling on my train. They told me they where Management but I did not know them at all and so obviously asked to see a pass as to me they where just any other passenger in a suit on a train . They rolled their eyes give me that look and produced a company pass . As far as I am concerned they should be glad I am actually doing my Job properly .

 

[HH]

I do recall a classic example, which was widely reported about a Director some years ago; when asked for his ticket he uttered the immortal words, "Don't you know who I am?".

Still, I know lots of people with passes, and they are only too happy to show them.

 

[170401]

1) Because it was already scanned at the station
2) Because someone else has already checked it
3) If I'm working 12+ hour days and the train has only added to that by literally not having been on time all week, the journey is an opportunity to grab a tiny little extra bit of much needed sleep
4) My ticket gets tucked into pass so it doesn't get lost! Each time it's taken out increases wear/tear, chance of it getting lost, chance of it not working in the machines
5) Said ticket checkers are *never* around on the late trains to deal with the usual drunks etc.

1) Most gatelined stations are large termini (and vice versa). Whilst you may be ok many irregular travellers get confused and can end up on the wrong train easily, part of the reason we do a ticket check departing a gated station is to ensure these passengers are on the correct train and to ensure best action can be taken if they are not. Also whilst I acknowledge the vast majority will purchase the correct ticket for their journey, you'd be gobsmacked at some of the attempts we come across in trying to circumvent automatic gatelines. Some will purchase the cheapest possible tickets to pass a gateline such as child or railcard discounted tickets. You also have tailgating and in many large stations not all parts will be gated (Wheelchair/elevator access form other parts of the station for example)

2) That may be so but in the case of a crew change or passing through a large station where many people board/alight we are instructed to carry out a full ticket check.

3) Your working hours and your requirement for sleep is your responsibility and not the TOC's. Therefore this doesn't excuse you from the NRCoC or RoRa.

4) Again, your responsibility.

5) We are not policemen.

Contrary to the belief of many, we don't just make up the job as we go along to deliberately annoy you. We are carrying out our duties in accordance with the terms and conditions of our employment. If we want to remain in said employment then we have to carry out those duties as our employers require them, not to suit the whims of a few passengers who think ticket checks are beneath them.

 

[BurtonM]

As someone who lives in Manchester, ticket checks come as little surprise to me and I'm always happy to show mine to the guard.
I was rather surprised once when a guard started checking tickets on the Stalybridge/Man Vic shuttle before it had even left Stalybridge. I can understand why if they're keen on getting all possible revenue - generally, guards don't bother and just do an 'all tickets' after Ashton: even with not many people on the train, the guard is hard pressed to get through one carriage of the train.

 

[LateThanNever]

I do recall a classic example, which was widely reported about a Director some years ago; when asked for his ticket he uttered the immortal words, "Don't you know who I am?".

Still, I know lots of people with passes, and they are only too happy to show them.

To which the put down response is surely "Don't you know who I am?" !

 

[ATW Alex 101]

As a passenger, I have no problem with showing my ticket, even 3/4/5 times if I ever have to. That's what I have in mind when I get on the train, the ticket being checked for revenue duties and make sure nobody is travelling when they shouldn't be.

What annoys me is when guards just simply walk up and hold a hand out, grab the ticket, stare at it and give it back before walking off, not muttering a single word at all.

 

[6Gman]

I'm always polite when I show my ticket, but I've come to slightly begrudge the fact that ticket checks generally occur at places and times when almost everyone has the right document anyway.

QUOTE]

On the Crewe - Chester local the Guard usually arrives just as I want to see what's on the EWS depot!

 

[sarahj]

The best is commuters, who still haven't gotten used to it being checked...
"It's been checked already!"
'Not by me it hasn't'
"It was checked by the barriers..."
*sigh*

I do enjoy their amateur dramatics when they've left their ticket in their coat in the overhead racks. They sighs, the rolling of the eyes, whilst I stand there and smile.

Finn, there is one guy in first on a gatex that always has his ticket in his coat on the rack. All the others normaly have theirs ready and waiting.

SJ

 

[fowler9]

A question... why do people begrudge showing their ticket? I can walk through the train politely asking for all tickets to be ready for inspection.. half the time you're plainly ignored until you ask again or you get the biggest death look ever and have it snatched back after you've stamped it. God forbid you ask to see a ticket which one of my colleagues has already seen before I boarded.

So what's the issue?

No one likes being accused of breaking the law. I once had a conductor hammering on the toilet door because I had walked straight to the toilet upon boarding. South Parkway had no free toilets for the previous 30 minutes because they only have three. I had a **** and then escaped the disgusting toilet and showed my ticket which was valid for the next month.

 

[Bishopstone]

Often between Newhaven and Seaford there is just not the time to do tickets, and be ready to dispatch from Bishopstone.
Some of us try to do first class in Gatex. But since we are only on from Gatwick to Brighton, with dispatch and only a few places to dispatch on a 442, again timing is all important, or could be the fact that you see the same faces in first on some trains.
Late at night is a different thing. Going through some trains after a certain time its risky. After throwing 3 guys off at haywards heath on friday I found hiding in the toilets,(not fun, I might add) i then did an even later train from Eastbourne to Brighton and had to arrange for another passenger to be met at Brighton to be MG11'd. Away from Brighton, late at night, there is no help, no back up and trains full of passengers who get miffed when your 30 secs late.
But as i said, for the short hops, its time between stations where you have to time it, so your not delaying the train to take a 2.60 fare with a declined debit card.
and all it takes is a iffy card, a iffy passenger, or an iffy advantix and all plans of a decent ticket check go out the window.
And while it may look like the same times, on friday pm, going through the usual commuter trains/late nighters etc I sold over 30 tickets with a total value of over £250.

Have i checked your ticket, I wonder?. A few that get off at bishopstone, do say hello and thanks.

Yes, I sympathise with the issues you've raised, and I think the RPI teams also need to appear more often at unusual places, at unusual times, to deal with revenue separate from any train-running responsibilities.

I'm sure you've checked my ticket on occasion. Some of the guards kind of know me by sight, now. More importantly, so do the smaller team of catering hosts, who are starting to remember my coffee order.

 

[talldave]

I find ticket checks a rare chance to interact with a human being in an otherwise mundane day of sticking tickets through barriers.

Most worrying check was presenting an http 404 error instead of a Gatwick express ticket (their dead server). Most surreal check was by emergency lighting on a broken down 442 s***heap in a tunnel! !

 

[Iskra]

I'm always happy to present my ticket and usually try to keep an eye out for the guard as I have my headphone's in unless I'm in 1st class. Incidentally, my headphone's are there to drown out the sound of the rest of the carriage, so maybe if there were more quiet carriages, less people would annoy conductors by using headphone's?

I did have a bizarre occurrence of once presenting my ticket, to find the guard didn't believe I was actually going to the station on the ticket. I then saw him watching me get off at said station from the other end of the carriage. I could understand this in an urban setting, where people are probably more likely to dodge fares, but this was to Garsdale on the Settle & Carlisle line, I think he'd just stereotyped me as some young, city-dwelling criminal.

 

[GatwickDepress]

I'm always polite when I show my ticket, but I've come to slightly begrudge the fact that ticket checks generally occur at places and times when almost everyone has the right document anyway.

Yet late at night, or on the hop between Newhaven and Seaford, or in First Class on GatEx, checks are almost non-existent. On my patch, at least, I think there needs to be more unpredictability in the pattern of ticket checking.

Your username reminds me: a few weeks ago I was doing a Southern DaySaver and headed down the Seaford branch to get some snaps of Bishopstone station.

Conductor came round, asked for my ticket, we had a little natter about the branch, and I alighted at Bishopstone. Boarded the same train with the same conductor less than 20 minutes later, and he didn't recognise me or the ticket! I said hello and everything, it was rather awkward!

 

[sarahj]

Your username reminds me: a few weeks ago I was doing a Southern DaySaver and headed down the Seaford branch to get some snaps of Bishopstone station.

Conductor came round, asked for my ticket, we had a little natter about the branch, and I alighted at Bishopstone. Boarded the same train with the same conductor less than 20 minutes later, and he didn't recognise me or the ticket! I said hello and everything, it was rather awkward!

While I normaly recognise those that speak to me, sometimes. When checking tickets TBH, its not the face I'm looking at, many passengers do blend into one and unless you look unique, well. By the time you have been to Seaford, had a quick fag, chat to Jenny, talked to some passengers, by the time you get back to Bishopstone, you could just be another passengers boarding.
I've sometimes had passengers board and go, hello again. Hows things. and I'm thinking, who, what, where?. Its nothing personal, but between my last sighting of them, I've seen and interacted with 1,000's of passengers, and unless you have green hair....

 

[Abpj17]

1) That doesn't help me - I've request stops on all my routes and need to know where you're going.
2) Same as above.
3) I understand, I work long shifts myself but unfortunately if you're asleep I might tell my driver to carry on through a request stop you wanted to get off at.
4) Can't help that, sorry. NRCoC - much as they tend to get ignored these days you agree to them each time you purchase your ticket.
5) That's a big argument which could open so many doors. I'm not even going to start.

The service I use doesn't have request stops

 

[trainophile]

While I normaly recognise those that speak to me, sometimes. When checking tickets TBH, its not the face I'm looking at, many passengers do blend into one and unless you look unique, well. By the time you have been to Seaford, had a quick fag, chat to Jenny, talked to some passengers, by the time you get back to Bishopstone, you could just be another passengers boarding.
I've sometimes had passengers board and go, hello again. Hows things. and I'm thinking, who, what, where?. Its nothing personal, but between my last sighting of them, I've seen and interacted with 1,000's of passengers, and unless you have green hair....

Reminds me of a day trip to Oxford I had with OH on FGW, in First Class as it was my birthday treat. Tickets checked on outward journey, but on return it was the same guard as before, and he checked others in the carriage but took one glance at us and walked on by!

Probably because we weren't exactly dressed like the typical First Class passengers on that route, and had backpacks not briefcases, so he remembered us .

 

[Tracky]

My company issued an instruction stating guards should complete a full ticket check on every crew change. That means on a number of direct services 4 checks in 5 hours with a gateline at the end.

At the other extreme, on the route there are two very small gated stations 10 mins apart. During the day time, many travellers between those two will show their tickets a third time on the train...

 

[Welshman]

While I normaly recognise those that speak to me, sometimes. When checking tickets TBH, its not the face I'm looking at, many passengers do blend into one and unless you look unique, well. By the time you have been to Seaford, had a quick fag, chat to Jenny, talked to some passengers, by the time you get back to Bishopstone, you could just be another passengers boarding.
I've sometimes had passengers board and go, hello again. Hows things. and I'm thinking, who, what, where?. Its nothing personal, but between my last sighting of them, I've seen and interacted with 1,000's of passengers, and unless you have green hair....

Recognising people who have met you briefly and remember you, while you have no idea who they are, is a big problem I used to have in my career before retiring recently.

I found a steady look into the eyes, and a sympathetic "and how's the old trouble, then?" did the trick.

I realise you cannot employ such tactics.

 

[Tracky]

When I worked on a ticket barrier I had a guy ask me to come to one side. I asked what was wrong and he said "I want you to remember me so I don't have to show my pass when I come through" pulling out a silver status pass.

 

[thelongestroad]

When I worked on a ticket barrier I had a guy ask me to come to one side. I asked what was wrong and he said "I want you to remember me so I don't have to show my pass when I come through" pulling out a silver status pass.

I hope you told him to....

 

[fowler9]

When I worked on a ticket barrier I had a guy ask me to come to one side. I asked what was wrong and he said "I want you to remember me so I don't have to show my pass when I come through" pulling out a silver status pass.

Ha ha ha. I hope you had him arrested and tested for drugs. Ha ha,

 

[Moonshot]

I did hear of a guard who once announced over the PA whilst sat at a major station.........

" Would the passenger who has lost a small dog, please note it has now been found on platforms 4, 5, and 6!!"

 

[fowler9]

I did hear of a guard who once announced over the PA whilst sat at a major station.........

" Would the passenger who has lost a small dog, please note it has now been found on platforms 4, 5, and 6!!"

Ha ha ha. I hope the dog and dog owner were re united. It is always nice to hear the staff doing their job and having a laugh at the same time.