Virgin trains in arseholes none shocker

[Shaun]

https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2008/10/10/7566/arrest_threat_for_good_samaritan_comic

Unbelievable!

[Dragonfly]

WTF

[Didge]

To be fair, this was all caused by a jobsworth 'train manager', (whatever the fuck that is ), and 'Virgin’s Customer Service people at Euston were horrified at what happened.'

The manager should be sacked, or at the very least reduced in grade until he learns some 'people skills'.

[Hetzer]

Top bloke (the comic).
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Robby]

Train companies are bastards.

Something that I find slightly worrying is that they have the British transport police. This is a branch of the police force dedicated to ensuring that people behave and pay their fares on public transport.

This is all well and good from when public transport was publically owned - I have no problem with British transport police enforcing on British rail.

However, these are now privately owned companies, with very poor business models, complicated fare structures that ensure you can get ripped off unless you know exactly what your fare should cost (the number of time I've had to remind a ticket inspector/seller to include the discount from my young persons card...).

So we have a barely regulated company using their own government supplied thugs to back up their on-train bullies.

Oh and the onus is on you to buy a ticket, because they can enforce their policies more easily. You get to the station, the que for a ticket is 15 minutes long and your train leaves in 2. You could just hop on the train and buy a ticket on there, but no, that's a £20 penalty fare. For no good reason whatsoever.

Meh. Its impossible to buy a ticket at my station, the ticket inspector rarely tries to sell me one or even walks past, and there are no barriers at Waterloo East. You can guess my approach.

[Andy C]

I hate trains so much, ive had to pay a fare when a jobsworth clocked i was on one train to late on a quiet sunday afternoon. Prick...

trains are a joke now, going to sheffield next weekend and it cost my friend £35 before summer and now the 'easier to use' system is in the cheapest is £72. AND sunday takes just under 6 hours when it takes 3.5hrs to get there on the friday

Im riding instead.....
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[LeeR]

'kin ell that is truely appalling.

The local services in the south west were run by Wessex trains, before the god awful First Group took over. I used to catch the 0700 bus from my house to Gloucester station, according to the integrated timetable the bus arrived at 0715 the train to Worcester left at 0722 from platform 1, the first one you come to as you exit the ticket office. Regularly the bus was late, due in part to the amount of private vehicles clogging the roads, where is the bus lane when you need it? Anyway I'd walk in look across to the ticket office see the queue, look at the ticket machine and know it would take 3 minutes at least to produce a ticket, then hear the whistle. What are you supposed to do? I had no intention of not paying a fare but getting on without a ticket turns you into a "criminal". I love getting the lecture and then paying for a return that cost more than their stupid £20 fine because let's be honest where can you go for less than £20 on the trains these days?

Hate the TOCs, and yes I blame Thatcher...
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My claim to fame: Austin Vince nicked my pen...

[Mister James]

Looks like Virgin Trains made things good in this instance, and the BTP 'walked away' and left the Train Manager looking like a cock. Regardless of what Virgin's policies are on this sort of thing, I bet he got a right rocket for garnering them so much bad publicity by handling it in such an appalling manner.
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>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[h00dwink]

Some know here, I work for Southern Railway. Ticket barrier supervisor.
Yea some conductors/guards (train managers in Virgins case) can be "jobsworth" cocks. But most will have a degree of understanding.

Yea the onus of getting a ticket is on you before travelling. This is the sort of thing I spout off here and there, you might not like to hear it, but don't totally shoot the messenger here.

You should allow yourself enough time to get a ticket before travelling. Would you turn up at an airport less than a few minutes before departure (sans ticket) expecting to be let on the plane and get a ticket on there?
As far as getting a penalty fare on board goes- if you make some effort to find the conductor for a ticket then you wont get one. In some cases they can't get round the entire thing, on an 8 car train if you're in one end and he the other and you need a short stop ticket then what are the chances they get to you? So yea you chance it.

Guess it's just an odd way of looking at it from the outside. Hell it is from the inside. The PF scheme really just gets honest people who have made a mistake. Or people who are chancing getting caught.
Persistant offenders are generally special brew drinking junkies, they get prosecuted instead.

There's a poorly structured reply. Fuck it.
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[LeeR]

I don't disagree with anything you said there, and I appreciate that the ex-BR employees, now employed by the TOCs have probably got it worse than the commuters.

In my particular set of circumstances, I had no vehicle, the first bus of the day into the station was at 0700. So other than leaving the house at 0630 to walk or cycle the 3 miles into town, I was stuffed.

This is actually one of the reasons why I got back on to bikes, that and the fact that when First took over the Wessex routes, the first thing they did was axe all the "convenient" local commuter services.

I'm happpier on the bike
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My claim to fame: Austin Vince nicked my pen...

[The_One]

Don't care whether it's his ''Job'', that train manager was a complete, utter nob.
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Who must do the hard task? He who can.

[pa_broon74]

I agree, a nob end.

I don't disagree in principal with the idea of a 'penalty ticket.' After all, people are intrinsically lazy, if they knew they wouldn't be penalised for not getting one before boarding and that by extension the conductor could never get round everyone then they'll take advantage of that.

However, its the amount that seems unfair. The ticket in advance cost £11.50 (in this case.) The ticket on the train was £115!! Basically a fine of £103.50 and for what exactly?? I would go as far to say that its illegal to levy this, I don't think it can be called a penalty charge (the banks don't call there charges 'penalty charges', they call them admin fees.*) But they're in bother because the amounts being levied far exceed the cost of the admin exercise the charge is supposed to pay for.

Does it cost Virgin £103.50 to issue a ticket on the train? I think not.



* There is some law behind this but it escapes me for the moment.
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Didn't catch anything.

[mistergixer]

I rarely use the trains, but had to get one from Peterborough to Stevenage recently. I paid my £11 for a single and got on the first train to Stevenage. The conductor/guard told me that i was on the 'wrong' train (different company) and should really pay a higher fare (around £15 i think).
He then told me not to worry about it, but next time to make sure i checked the train company's name on the ticket before boarding.
So, they're not all bad.


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Don Eladio is dead. His capos are dead. You have no one left to fight for. Fill your pockets and leave in peace. Or fight me and die!
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[Weedy]

I got the train from King's Lynn to Ely last year, was the 07.10 train IIRC.

The ticket office wasn't open at that time of the morning and the automatic machine wasn't working so I got on the train without getting a ticket with the full intention of finding the guard and asking him for one.

I was the first passenger he came to, I started explaining what had happened and he went off on one about "Your type" taking the piss and always jumping trains!! I was stunned to say the least and it took two other passengers to explain the same thing had happened to them before he'd listen.

I tend not to get the train now unless I really have to
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