[Bagpipes]

Done it loads of times when I was younger, not really bothered. I didn't see any reason to pay when I knew there weren't going to be any inspectors.

[bobcar]

Originally Posted by Chasing Shadows

If a ticket inspector made himself known to me - or even made himself visible so I'd know to be able to go up to him and ask to buy a ticket off him - then I'd happily do so. I don't try to get away with not buying a ticket - it's just next-to-impossible to be able to buy a ticket, and impossibl to find anyone at either station or on the train who will actually sell you one.

To be honest as long as you're trying to pay then you can't really be criticised. I do think though that you're in the minority and most people who don't pay are trying to avoid it either actively or by not trying.

[bobcar]

Originally Posted by Bagpipes

Done it loads of times when I was younger, not really bothered. I didn't see any reason to pay when I knew there weren't going to be any inspectors.

The reason is the same as why you don't shoplift just because you think you won't be caught.

[nuttytigger]

Used to do it loads when I could, ticket office would be closed, no machine to buy tickets, so would go on train to purchase on there, no inspector would appear, no barriers etc at the destination.

Now however Glasgow is completely covered with automatic ticket gates, so I buy my ticket all the time,

[JoshWilliams08]

On the trains to Cardiff, most certainly. My local station is unmanned with no machine, if no inspector comes round then what am I supposed to do?

[Bagpipes]

Originally Posted by bobcar

The reason is the same as why you don't shoplift just because you think you won't be caught.

No, that's not the case. I was/am quite happy to pay for goods in a shop. I dont think hitching a free ride on a train is the same thing at all.

[JoLuc]

I did once bunk the train from Leeds to London.
It was 1983. I was hitch-hiking down from Bradford. It was as cold as you can possibly imagine.
I had a pocket empty of cash.
I got as far as Leeds. I had no option.
I didn't get caught. Sorry.

[stevieg_8707]

Once got a tram from Salford Quays (before the BBC got built) to Manchester Piccadilly for free, because it was a Manchester United matchday and the trams were packed and no-one was checking. And then got a train from Piccadilly to Warrington Central for free, as again it was rammed and we couldn't find anywhere at Piccadilly to buy a ticket for the train, and Warrington Central you never get checked, even though the station is manned.

Also managed to get the London Underground from Wembley to Harrow On The Hill for free aswell, simply because we should have bought return tickets, we didn't, we got one way tickets, assuming we'd have no trouble on the way back. What we did was to push the guys infront and we got through the gates no problem.


They're the only freebies I've done, but there's been a few times that I could gone from WC to MP for free, possibly Oxford Road too, but they've incresed manning there in the last few years with those London Underground style ticket gates. 1

[Terual]

I,m a Train Manager and am well aware that there are those that try, and sometimes succeed in avoiding paying the fare.
I will not go on a major rant about this, but I have to say the railway does not help. No barriers at major stations like Manchester Piccadilly and at weekends at Birmingham New Street. This encourages fraudulent travel. I wonder if at the cinema they would just say some days that there are not enough staff so we just trust that you have bought a ticket?

[Terual]

Originally Posted by Bagpipes

No, that's not the case. I was/am quite happy to pay for goods in a shop. I dont think hitching a free ride on a train is the same thing at all.

I think it is. You are buying a service. How do you think it is paid for? I say this to ticket dodgers on my trains. I say to them things like "did you get your mobile phone free?, or how about your clothes? " I say try a taxi next time, see if you get that for free.

[Pumping Iron]

Originally Posted by Terual

I think it is. You are buying a service. How do you think it is paid for? I say this to ticket dodgers on my trains. I say to them things like "did you get your mobile phone free?, or how about your clothes? " I say try a taxi next time, see if you get that for free.

I don't think its the same, the train would be going anyway with you on it or not. Hence by trying to blag a free ride, the company isn't loosing anything directly. By taking something from a shop, a direct loss is being incurred. I am not saying its right, I have always paid my way, but I don't think shoplifting and fare dodging are the same.

[liamhere]

Originally Posted by JoshWilliams08

On the trains to Cardiff, most certainly. My local station is unmanned with no machine, if no inspector comes round then what am I supposed to do?

same here...the station closes at 5pm and you can't buy a ticket .....as i never carry cash so....i was pooing myself!

[nuttytigger]

Originally Posted by Terual

I think it is. You are buying a service. How do you think it is paid for? I say this to ticket dodgers on my trains. I say to them things like "did you get your mobile phone free?, or how about your clothes? " I say try a taxi next time, see if you get that for free.

What if there is no way to buy a ticket before you board, and then no way on board the train?

And then at destination there isn't barriers/checks etc?

[Bagpipes]

Originally Posted by Pumping Iron

I don't think its the same, the train would be going anyway with you on it or not. Hence by trying to blag a free ride, the company isn't loosing anything directly. By taking something from a shop, a direct loss is being incurred. I am not saying its right, I have always paid my way, but I don't think shoplifting and fare dodging are the same.

Yes, that's how I look at it. I am not deducting anything from their money pool by sitting on a train without a ticket. When it arrives at the station their finance people are not going "WTF we have £10 less than we did half an hour ago, someone must have bunked". This is all when I was younger though, nowadays I wouldn't evade fares.

[bobcar]

Originally Posted by nuttytigger

What if there is no way to buy a ticket before you board, and then no way on board the train?

And then at destination there isn't barriers/checks etc?

If you try and buy a ticket but can't then that is clearly different to wilfully avoiding paying. Some people don't try hard enough in that they expect the guard to come around and they don't bother to find them but it appears that not all trains have guards - all the ones I've been on serving small ticketless stations have had guards but I don't pretend to have been on them all.

[nuttytigger]

Originally Posted by bobcar

If you try and buy a ticket but can't then that is clearly different to wilfully avoiding paying. Some people don't try hard enough in that they expect the guard to come around and they don't bother to find them but it appears that not all trains have guards - all the ones I've been on serving small ticketless stations have had guards but I don't pretend to have been on them all.

I used to do that, go on, get a seat and if the inspector hadn't made it to me, I wouldn't go and find him.

I always had my fare though, so I wasn't trying to bunk deliberately. However if it happened it meant I had extra cash!

[OneTreeHillFan]

No. Although I do occasionally buy a child ticket when I should get an adult one.

[Joey Boswell]

Near where I work the train station is completly unmanned, ticket desk shuts at 10am - station is a right dump as well, ticket machine is always broken.

So many people dont bother tapping their oyster cards on the machine going in and out of the station.

A few week ago I had finished work went to the station, and their were a swarm of ticket inspectors at the entrance, nearly wet myself, luckily I was a good girl I had my oyster card, a lot of people didnt though and were trying to bunk through.

Obvisouly they are clamping down at the station now, everyone knows you can go at least two stops from that station down the line as the next two stops dont have any ticket barriers - so the ticket inspectors are out in force now catching people.

[bart4858]

Originally Posted by browncube

Quite often as my local station has no ticket office or machine so cant buy a ticket,

The ticket office used to be closed at my local station early in the morning, but you were obliged to buy a permit to travel from a machine before boarding.

However, this could be for any amount, minimum 5p. So I generally chose to pay 5p! You're then supposed to buy a proper ticket from the inspector, but I quite often had a 90 minute to Gatwick for just a few pence, if the inspector didn't appear.

I think now they have barriers which makes it harder to avoid (not 'evade') buying a full ticket (and at that time in the morning you'd have to buy a single at full price).

[ShreddedParts]

Oh yes, I used to do it all the time from Euston to Birmingham or Rugby and most stations in between. I even used to sit in First Class, on the rare occassion I ever got caught I always gave my sisters details who was always baffled with her fines. Needless to say she never paid them and nothing came of them.

When I was much younger me and my cousin used to sit entire journeys from Luton to London under the seating arches as pretending you are asleep never works, someone will always laugh - learnt that the hard way when I skanked the train with friends to Peterborough and back.

I remember "flasher" cards used to work on the tube, if you had a travelcard dated from the year 2000 there was a blip on the barriers, they used to accept them, even if it was 2004! I used to raid my old shoeboxes full of keepsakes to find year 2000 travelcards and then do my best to keep them in perfect condition.

[bobcar]

Originally Posted by bart4858

I think now they have barriers which makes it harder to avoid (not 'evade') buying a full ticket (and at that time in the morning you'd have to buy a single at full price).

No "evade" is the correct term, you were deliberately trying not to pay even though you could have.

[Graathus]

I've caught a train between local stations where the was no working ticket machine and no one on board to buy a ticket from.

[bart4858]

Originally Posted by bobcar

No "evade" is the correct term, you were deliberately trying not to pay even though you could have.

I spent the whole journey anxiously awaiting the arrival of the inspector. I was quite prepared to buy a ticket if necessary. But I wasn't going to go out of my way to do so; I was in a hurry for my flight.

(And on the way back from the airport a couple of weeks later, I'd anyway have to pay full fare for a ticket. UK train fares are expensive when buying single tickets. A family of four, who live a few miles from the station and faced with the same journey at the same time, might as well take a minicab all the way to the airport and pay only slightly more than the four rail fares would amount to.)

[Justmadeit]

Originally Posted by Jillie Bean

I once got all the way from south east Wales to Manchester without paying. The train station I left from didn't have a ticket office.

I then made it from Preston back home to Wales again without paying, so got most of the journey for free. This was about fifteen years ago. I don't think I'd be tempted to try and get away with it these days.

ah the good old days eh

ive done it once on a train from bury to ramsbottom, there and back. I like the idea of seeing how far i could get on one, but i imagine ticket inspectors are everywhere. I am older enough to know better, though the adventurous side in me is attracted to it

people say its stealing, well technically yes, but if there are loads of empty seats i like to think that the train would be going anyway with all them empty seats still there

it was fun and money was tight

[jra]

Originally Posted by ShreddedParts

on the rare occassion I ever got caught I always gave my sisters details who was always baffled with her fines. Needless to say she never paid them and nothing came of them.

You sound like a great model citizen.