Rail Authorities 0-1 Harry J Allstars

[Harry J Allstars]

Haha.

 

Last July I was cought on the railway for travelling without a ticket. I bought my ticket at Gravesend and I meant it to go to Chatham but for some reason it only allowed me to go to Higham. Either I said Higham or the guy heard Higham. Now on the day in question the Strood Tunnel was closed so I had to get off at Higham, take the rail replacement service to Strood get back on the train where I would conitue my journey.

 

Fisrt and foremost how did I have get through two stations without a valid ticket?

 

Another the point is sometiems I travel from Sole Street to Chatham. Sole Street isn't always very well manned so some mornings I can't buy a ticket is this not a case doing the public a disservice? It's a case of double standards, how comes some mornings its okay for me to travel without a ticket and some mornigs not?

 

And the third and final point was I had my travel paid for because I was on a youth course with the princes trust. Thats what got me off.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA Have that rail authorities, whose laughing now eh? eh? eh?

[Blinkjim]

But remember everytime you catch a train your sticking money in their pocket, they probaly win over the long term?

[Harry J Allstars]

Yeah I know fair enough, but it was a defeat for them today. They didn't go there for a day out they went there to win. Haha they remind me of Tottenham.

[Alan W (GNFC)]

No wonder my season ticket costs me so much. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

 

Whats wrong with ticket machines at Sole Street? Or, if you cant do that, and you're honest, get your ticket at the other end.

[Harry J Allstars]

I do buy my ticket at Sole Street, but not from a machine that doesn't exist. I do ALWAYS buy one when I get to the other end.

[American FLEET FAN No1]

The Rail companies deserve to be robbed........If they don't want this to happen.......Put people back into the ticket offices...It would probably cost less in the end than the lost Revenue!

For a start they could save the wages of the Little Hitlers that patrol the trains! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/police.gif" alt="" />

[Harry J Allstars]

Exactly if someone had have been at Higham to check my ticket before I got on the bus then there would have been no problem.

 

I should also point out something Alan W said. Thats right mate someone has to pay the court cost's, the train company so effectively you and me.

[Blinkjim]

you see i find that the train service is actually quite good in Gravesend, but with that considered i have never had to catch it during rush hour, where im guessing that delays are more common.

[FleetFanatic]

Yawn.

 

I'm on a week off - can we talk about something else please?

 

Harry - they'll have your name on a hitlist for the next time you do get caught. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/angel.gif" alt="" />

[FleetFanatic]

Quote:

Exactly if someone had have been at Higham to check my ticket before I got on the bus then there would have been no problem.

A non-existent argument - you purchase a ticket to travel, not to have it checked. Perhaps you should have checked for any errors before walking away from the original ticket office window? <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/sleeping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/sleeping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/sleeping.gif" alt="" />

[Harry J Allstars]

Perhaps I should FF, I didn't and I also highlighted an error or maybe a loop hole in the whole system. They certinly weren't happy that I had passed through two stations without my ticket being checked.

 

Anyway your right, I should have checked my ticket, I didn't, who won? I did. I can now tick another thing off my list of things to do before I'm thirty, appear in court and win.

[FleetFanatic]

Somebody passed through two stations without their ticket being checked?

The end of the world is nigh.....

.....it happens all the time, all over the country.

 

In your defence..... the company has been told over & over again that the problem is much larger than they realise.

[Harry J Allstars]

Exactly I know this sort of thing happens all of the time but this is a case of double standards, they couldn't be bothered to stop me at Higham and Strood but did at Chatham.

 

The fact of the matter is in thoery that I am guilty but because of the slight technicality I got off.

[Jeff]

A few years ago, I used to work in Rochester and got the train there and back for pretty much a year without anything happening. This was before barriers were brought in. Got caught twice I think but it's a small price to pay really. This was in the days of Connex though.

Anyone else who works in London noticed that the trains have been consistently late in the mornings this week following the reopening of Strood tunnel?

[FleetFanatic]

Quote:

Exactly I know this sort of thing happens all of the time but this is a case of double standards, they couldn't be bothered to stop me at Higham and Strood but did at Chatham.

Just when I defend you, you let it all down with a statement like that. There's no case of double standards. You had the incorrect ticket. You had no proof it was the ticket office staff's fault. It doesn't matter where or what other locations could have stopped you.

Transferring your idea to other areas..... would you say that somebody caught shoplifting in Tesco's could claim double standards just because somebody else got away with a nicking something from the same store a week earlier?

Ticket states permission to travel from point a to point b. Nowhere on the ticket does it say that your ticket has to be checked. Those that don't paying are stealing from the company and from every other fare-paying customer.

In an ideal world, a company wouldn't need people to check tickets because everybody would be honest - in the same way that a supermarket would not require security guards.

Just as a footnote - did you realise that in the event of a rail crash, those without tickets would not be covered? This means that if they were killed & later that death was deemed to be the fault of the rail industry, the families of the deceased would be entitled to nothing. In other words, the non-ticketholder would be summed up as a trespasser?

Sorry to go all morbid but that HAS been the case in recent years.

[FleetFanatic]

Quote:

Anyone else who works in London noticed that the trains have been consistently late in the mornings this week following the reopening of Strood tunnel?

I was told last week that initially the speed limit in the tunnel will be restricted to 50mph whilst the performance of the new lining is monitored. Unfortunately timetables for trains between Higham & Strood are still based on a 70mph limit. Those few minutes make a difference and can cause knock-on delays elsewhere. I know it sounds like yet another excuse but the rail network is a very complex issue.

[Jeff]

That makes perfect sense whlie they test the line.

It's only a couple of minutes (on the train I get) but you can hear them all moaning that it was better when the tunnel was shut - muppets!

[FleetFanatic]

They were probably people from Higham / Gravesend, used to the train leaving Higham on time.

 

Somebody asked me 'couldn't they have tested it whilst it was shut?'.

 

Yeah right.....

 

(enter long explaination on how the track and track bedding was ripped up and relayed with new drainage, etc at the same time that the tunnel was shut.....)

[Harry J Allstars]

What I did was in theory wrong, breaking the law. I was in the wrong, but in the same way as this is a very complex issue, so have the rail authorities. As the tunnel was closed at the time I had to use the rail replacement service. On the ticket I had I should not have been allowed on that service.

[Jeff]

They never check tickets on the buses are the people that run them are subcontracted and don't really care either way.