Mods Note: This thread has been split form the thread regarding the use of season tickets at http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=108204
If you could use any photocard then common sense would tell you that there's no need for a photocard at all! The fact that you have to state on the ticket a photocard ID that you're associating with the ticket makes it even clearer.
Thus I cannot see how anyone could EVER successfully argue that they weren't aware of that and it would be quite clear that, just like here, it was a deliberate act with the full knowledge that it wasn't valid - but the belief that the chances of being caught were slim. I'd say that in the few seconds of a normal on-train ticket check, there's no way any RPI is going to check the numbers on the season ticket matches that of the photocard.
Only a closer inspection would reveal this, just as a closer inspection of a Gold Card could also spot other things (like, in my case, showing a ticket at King's Cross for many years that was only from Hatfield to Oakleigh Park). Of course I had the other ticket on an Oyster, but it was just easier to wave the invalid ticket and not once was this noticed!
Edit: If anyone thinks that what I've said above could encourage more fare evasion, I'd say that there's an easy way for the industry to counter this (which I'm sure goes on a lot - especially people having tickets that don't cover an entire journey now it is so easy to combine with a Travelcard on Oyster, but potentially for less zones than required) and that's to have more thorough inspections of tickets from time to time.
If you could use any photocard then common sense would tell you that there's no need for a photocard at all! The fact that you have to state on the ticket a photocard ID that you're associating with the ticket makes it even clearer.
Thus I cannot see how anyone could EVER successfully argue that they weren't aware of that and it would be quite clear that, just like here, it was a deliberate act with the full knowledge that it wasn't valid - but the belief that the chances of being caught were slim. I'd say that in the few seconds of a normal on-train ticket check, there's no way any RPI is going to check the numbers on the season ticket matches that of the photocard.
Only a closer inspection would reveal this, just as a closer inspection of a Gold Card could also spot other things (like, in my case, showing a ticket at King's Cross for many years that was only from Hatfield to Oakleigh Park). Of course I had the other ticket on an Oyster, but it was just easier to wave the invalid ticket and not once was this noticed!
Edit: If anyone thinks that what I've said above could encourage more fare evasion, I'd say that there's an easy way for the industry to counter this (which I'm sure goes on a lot - especially people having tickets that don't cover an entire journey now it is so easy to combine with a Travelcard on Oyster, but potentially for less zones than required) and that's to have more thorough inspections of tickets from time to time.
Last edited:
