I would do exactly what you did in this situation - sit quietly, but firmly, where I am and wait for this person to make a fool of themselves to the guard. No need to dob anybody in for it.
If people are being aggressive and rude to other customers without checking their paperwork then I think the Conductor took the appropriate action to get the person to climb down a couple of steps by charging them.
Indeed - I think I may have seen an overbooking happen once (it was at the far end of the carriage and I didn't want to stick my nose in), and that's another good reason for not getting involved - you don't know how the wrong tickets have come to be held.
I've had someone come up to me and say they'd booked my seat. I asked to see their ticket and indeed it was for the correct day, time and train we were on. Fortunately there was an unreserved seat a couple of rows over which she was able to take but that one was odd. I asked to see the ticket because someone else had come up to me 5 minutes earlier to say the same thing, but she was in the wrong carriage (and rather insistent she wasn't).
In the specific example of the OP I would not have said or done anything.
Ah yes, the old Reception Committee. Reminds me of when a group of people who I’ll leave undescribed were brazenly smoking on a mostly full weekend 125 into Paddington, in the daytime and in the presence of young children. Pleas from staff and mothers alike to stop were derisively ignored.
To be fair, a railway prosecution advice forum is the definition of a skewed sample. It's eminently possible that the cases we see are the minority and that many more people are being treated fairly and not posting about it.
Good point. I myself have mentioned my own fair treatment (at STP), but I don't reckon there's any way of gauging the overall (ie non-selective) "leniency" ratio.
I certainly get the impression that some seeking help are only interested in reducing consequences, and the only thing they regret about their behaviour is not “cheating smarter” to avoid getting caught. It is probably all too easy to fall into the habit of doing “fiddles” whenever and wherever one can, and almost feeling entitled to do so for whatever reason(s).
I wouldn't have said anything and the TM probably wouldn't have done anything about it anyway, I did once 'snitch' on a group of chavs who got off and ran down the other end of the train to avoid a ticket, the revenue guy I told thanked me but didn't seem to be in any hurry to go after them. The only other thing I would snitch on is someone hogging the toilet to avoid a ticket check, no consideration for anyone wanting to use it for it's intended purpose.
