northern stopping on-train ticket purchase

[APOLLO]

If the out and back were printed on one ticket then some would use it as a season ticket instead of the return it is meant to be, that is one of the reasons why it is printed as two separate bits with the out being invalid without the return also being present.

 

That's probably why I gave the surly inspector the lot - he can sort out whats valid or not. (I've never been asked to show my return ticket when asked for tickets on any outbound journey either).

 

Coming home the inspector was very different, helping people, pleasant manner etc etc. Good uns 'n bad uns in any job I suppose. (I find 90 odd % of rail staff OK by the way)

 

Brit15

[Talltim]

I had a recent example of cash being awkward on my way home tonight. Wanted to get a bus that I know doesn’t do contactless, so had to go and get a tenner out and then buy somethIng cheap to get change.

[Mike Storey]

This is all fantastically interesting, but has little to do with Penalty Fares. It will be of no consequence in law that a supplier expects its customers to use a specific form of purchase (unless made very specifically a part of its terms and conditions) as a defence in charging said customer an additional cost. AFIK, the Railway Conditions of Carriage do not contain any such provision.

 

I think this is just a teeny, weeny, bit of a little red herring. But, do carry on.

[Zomboid]

I had to do that before they started taking contactless. On one occasion the first ATM was out of order so I ended up missing the bus. Thankfully only a half hour wait on that route though.

[woodenhead]

This is all fantastically interesting, but has little to do with Penalty Fares. It will be of no consequence in law that a supplier expects its customers to use a specific form of purchase (unless made very specifically a part of its terms and conditions) as a defence in charging said customer an additional cost. AFIK, the Railway Conditions of Carriage do not contain any such provision.

 

I think this is just a teeny, weeny, bit of a little red herring. But, do carry on.

If I recall all Northern have said is that if there are ticketing facilities on the station you have to use them before boarding the train or buy online - that has been the way of the railways since they began - it has only really ever been pay trains where boarding without a ticket has been ok.  What has happened is that with stations being manned less and less it had become normal to just board a train and pay the guard with the risk the guard would not know your station of origin and not be sure you weren't cheating the fare.  Paying a premium to buy on train is effectively what the measure they have introduced, this is to encourage people to follow the correct process which it surely will.

 

Saving money by lax ticketing procedures has cost all the railway companies money and finally they are doing something about it.

[woodenhead]

I've seen a copy of the notice on Facebook - it's not just a Northern initiative, it's also Southern, East Midlands, GWR, Thameslink, Greater Anglia, London Midland, South West Trains, South Eastern, Great Northern - so basically everyone running stopping services in England

[JDW]

Meanwhile on at least one private regional operator in Germany last time I was there, they were actively announcing (in a positive way) the facility to buy on board from the guard at the buffet counter and that anyone who had boarded without a ticket should make their way there to buy one...Not that many people do, as the norm over there is to buy from the generally reliable ticket machines on the platform

[AMJ]

Northern are planning upon getting rid of the guards and going to OMO.

 

Irish rail did that 10 or more years ago.

 

Northern guards get a certain percentage of each ticket fare as comission, can't see them wanting to loose out.

[newbryford]

Northern are planning upon getting rid of the guards and going to OMO.

 

Irish rail did that 10 or more years ago.

 

Northern guards get a certain percentage of each ticket fare as comission, can't see them wanting to loose out.

 

Unless that involves trying to get ticket money from trains to/from the larger conurbations in the later hours of Friday and Saturday...

 

It's not worth the hassle.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[AMJ]

A friend who is a guard for Northern says if they are on spare and not needed on a train will stand and sell tickets in Leeds to the passenger who has got to the city without managing to get one.

 

He mentioned how much he loses each day they are on strike.

[E3109]

Bit of a tangent but thought I'd share this.

 

A few years ago one of my guard mates at Wallgate Depot (Northern) had standing time at Preston.

 

An old dear turned up for a VT service, for whatever reason she couldn't buy a ticket at Preston booking office.

Queues I think.

 

So she did the honourable thing and approached the VT guard, and requested a ticket at normal fare.

 

The guy was clearly a drone for he laid the law down to her.

Luckily my mate witnessed it all.

 

He sold her a ticket for her journey and the VT guard went ballistic, claiming he couldn't do that and so on.

 

Er, he just did!

 

Stick that in your pipe !

 

So happy that there are people on Our Railway who still care.