The disgusting way rail staff treat passengers

[Nick279]

Quite so.

However, to travel with a copy of the Conditions of Carriage about one's person and knowing one's rights and responsibilities under the terms of the contract is to be tooled up to repell the worst excesses of the overly officious railway representative.

The sale of a ticket irrespective of available space is fair, as that journey could be taken at any time during the ticket's period of validity. The chances of not being able to complete the journey at all within that timescale due to there being absolutely no room whatsoever is vanishingly small. The punter may not consider it fair if they have been unable to complete their journey within what they consider to be a reasonable timescale due to overcrowding, but that doesn't enter into it. Their ticket is still "good" and the contract into which they have entered only stipulates that the railway will get you there without saying when or how.

O L Leigh

I think maybe IF should be added onto that too, the section on reasonable, "what who considers to be reasonable"? my boss considers it reasdonable for me to get into the office at 9.00am, Metrolink appear to have a different view though, since they let me down I now drive in, no choice unfortunately. I think we all understand the term reasonable though but it would appear others interpret if in different ways, but its the customer who has the choice, if the railways view of reasonable differs significantly from the fare paying public, they will simply choose an alternative way to travel, thats the problem with viewing everything in black and white of course.

 

[Metroland]

A rail passenger has lost her appeal against a fine issued because she was standing in a first-class carriage.

Nichola Myhill, of Fingringhoe, Essex, had claimed there was no standing room in standard class on the London to Colchester train on 10 April.

She appealed against the £69 fine from National Express East Anglia but an independent appeal upheld the fine.

The firm said seats and standing room were available in standard class but that Ms Myhill had refused to move.

Ms Myhill pays £4,000 a year for a ticket which allows her to use standard class carriages.

'Appeals process'

She said: "If they provide us with adequate seating or room to stand I wouldn't have been there in the first place."

In a statement, National Express East Anglia said: "Customers travelling without the correct ticket run the risk of receiving a fine.

"Our staff will always try and resolve a situation and there is an independent appeals process if people think a fine they have received is unfair.

"In this case, the customer was asked to move out of first class and there were in fact seats and standing room available in standard class.

"We recognise that overcrowding on some trains is an issue and, where practical, we adjust our schedules accordingly."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/7404970.stm

 

[Kneedown]

That's outrageous. :roll: If I was going to be arrested I'd've made it worth their while and lamped them one!

And when passengers have an approach like that is it any wonder that Railstaff, and others sometimes have an attitude!

Nuff said really. :roll:

 

[The 158 Man]

Ever heard of sarcasm? :roll:

 

[gingerheid]

Are RPIs on commission and / or targets these days?

On three occassions on the last 18 months I've tried to have them extort money out me where there was absolutely no reason, all of them aggressively and all of them threatening the police and arrest.

The first time was an SWT RPI trying to tell me I couldn't break the return leg of a journey. I refused to believe that anyone could be that stupid (and still do), and like the two that followed he swiftly disappeared when called a number of things involving the word thief. Another was someone trying to argue what an advance purchase booked train only ticket wasn't valid as it was a peak train, and the third was trying to refuse an advance purchase ticket on the train after one that was cancelled. ( I should have bought a new ticket and then sent the AP one in for a refund... yeah... right)

I remain convinced that all were chancing it to see if they could try and get some money off someone that didn't know the score. Rather than unfortunate one offs they all felt like exactly the same incident. All used a similar script, the same aggressive body language, the same threat to call the police at the same time, and addressed the conversation loudly to the carriage rather than to me.

All also seemed to know they were lying, as they all shuffled off very quickly (and entirely without apology) when I made it obvious I knew the score.

And for the benefit of anyone coming across this; the first time I was entirely polite for about 20 mins, and I was harassed for about 20 mins. The other times my fuse blew much quicker, and I was harassed for much shorter lengths of time.

I'm afraid there's just a lesson in how to deal with these incidents in that; which is that you should turn the anger on very loud and turn it on very fast. That's just unfortunate for any future member of rail staff in the process of making a genuine mistake; but what goes around comes around, and if the rail industry wants to treat passengers like ****, ...

 

[Tom C]

Are RPIs on commission and / or targets these days?

I can't speak for other TOC's but revenue staff on FCC are not on commission and the unions have made it very clear that its the way it should stay.

As for targets well according to the DfT's rules it states that operators can have their licence to issue Penalty Fares revoked if they put undue pressure on authorised collectors by implementing financial targets which did happen to South Central when they were reported and were unable to enforce penalty fares between Purley and Brighton however that has since been withdrawn.

The problem comes with overzealous management who try to put pressure on revenue staff when they are not bringing home loads of penalty fares and are selling loads of tickets.

As a former RPI I am of the belief that decisions made by RPI's should be their own as far as management go but obviously dubious decisions need to be scrutanised by IPFAS and dealt with accordingly by the company.

As for the situation, well as we don't know the full scenario I don't see how people can pontificate. If the train was full and standing then generally speaking I don't see why an RPI would be checking the train in the first place simply because they can't walk through. What I used to do (bearing in mind that 1st class was only on a few services on my patch) was check the train when it quietned down and if I found anyone with a STD ticket I would ask them to move back into STD but if they refused this perfectly reasonable request then it would leave me no option but to deal with it under the Penalty Fare rules and from what limited information we have thats exactly what the RPI on Great Eastern did.

 

[yorkie]

Are RPIs on commission and / or targets these days?

On three occassions on the last 18 months I've tried to have them extort money out me where there was absolutely no reason, all of them aggressively and all of them threatening the police and arrest.

The first time was an SWT RPI trying to tell me I couldn't break the return leg of a journey. I refused to believe that anyone could be that stupid (and still do), and like the two that followed he swiftly disappeared when called a number of things involving the word thief. Another was someone trying to argue what an advance purchase booked train only ticket wasn't valid as it was a peak train, and the third was trying to refuse an advance purchase ticket on the train after one that was cancelled. ( I should have bought a new ticket and then sent the AP one in for a refund... yeah... right)

I remain convinced that all were chancing it to see if they could try and get some money off someone that didn't know the score. Rather than unfortunate one offs they all felt like exactly the same incident. All used a similar script, the same aggressive body language, the same threat to call the police at the same time, and addressed the conversation loudly to the carriage rather than to me.

All also seemed to know they were lying, as they all shuffled off very quickly (and entirely without apology) when I made it obvious I knew the score.

And for the benefit of anyone coming across this; the first time I was entirely polite for about 20 mins, and I was harassed for about 20 mins. The other times my fuse blew much quicker, and I was harassed for much shorter lengths of time.

I'm afraid there's just a lesson in how to deal with these incidents in that; which is that you should turn the anger on very loud and turn it on very fast. That's just unfortunate for any future member of rail staff in the process of making a genuine mistake; but what goes around comes around, and if the rail industry wants to treat passengers like ****, ...

Get their name.

Take their photo.

Write to the TOC.

If no joy, publish the details here.

Get them named and shamed!!!

Do these individuals go on certain routes at certain times? I'd like to come accross one of them one day to ensure their harrasment of passengers stops. I know many passengers are unsure of their rights and will allow themselves to be bullied. They need someone to object to them to make them stop.