I am just wondering what the ticke guys can do when you travel without a valid ticket.
This has happened to me, I have a PAYG on my Oyster with about £20 weekly which I pay as I have no intention in robbing the TFL… I wish I did but I like to pay for what I use. So I was in a rush and didn’t see the gate I touched was broken, had the X on it and gate open… so I realised as I didn’t hear the beep but as I had people behind pushing me forward I didn’t go back looking to validate.
I get at Stratford and looking for one of them validators which I see, as soon as I touch it I get asked to show them my card… hell I didn’t even see them, if I did I would have looked for another one, the again I had no inetion on doing any porkies so I ask them why, I am told to see if I have the right to travel which I didn’t so it seems. I tell them what happened but obviously they don’t believe me and they get quite shitty about it, so I tell them where I got on and where I was going, I have already validate my journey before they asked me about it.
Now I obviously had the cash and I had no intention in using the transport without paying and after validating the journey cost me the same £2.70… so not sure what they were on about, unless I got on in zone 6 or something like that. I gave up trying to reason and just kept saying yes, gave them an address and a name… both valid just not my own, which I have no idea how can they validate since people that rent and live in sudios single rooms or flat share don’t really vote so no voting record.
I know I was pratially wrong but at the same time right since I did pay for my journey, otherwise how could I avoid the mega charge for not validating and how could I exit in zone 1? If you are unable to validate isn’t it your duty to do so at the next available spot? Which I did.
THIS IS FOR ANYONE NOT WANTING TO READ EVERYTHING BUT STILL ANSWER THE QUESTION: Now my question is this… since they had no police officers with them… could I just simply walk away without giving them any information? What powers do they have? Can they stop me and phisically touch me or search me? Do I have to give them any details? Could I simply speak a different language and say no English?
Can I just take the **** next time they ask me to show them my card? Yeah I am annoyed and even if I have a valid card can I just not show it to them?
Sorry if any of you work for them… and yeah at the end of the day they had no proof where I started my journey and nor did I, but at the same time I do the same journey day after day after day which they could have checked, I had more than enough money on my card… I only got PAYG because I had a few days off and didn’t see the point in paying the weekly charge. instead of actually catching fare dodgers they wasted about 20 minutes questioning me… and causing me to be late at work. Whilst busy asking me questions probably 100 fare dodgers went by:)
they cant stop you no. only the police can. just push past em and tell where to get off. they tried somthing like that with me when i was working on the embankment…tell em to F’off.
It is good to know that when they do try and mess about.
To be honest this is probably crap since they are wasting so much time and resources instead of having working gates at every possible station. Unless people jump over or go straight through… which if they do why would they stop in the first place? They could actually use the police officers to catch bike thieves and stop criminals.
If they do catch they catch the ones that don’t know about how PAYG work, after all if you buy it no one gives you a step by step info, specially if you are new to UK. You simply use it, you don’t see where to touch it you won’t go looking for a pad or go back outside.
For me it would have been more of a headache trying to get out after going in without validating than looking for a valid touchy pad, can you imagine having to explain why am I trying to get out without touching so I can get back in?. By doing something right I got the end of the stick.
I have seen plenty of people that simply touch faulty gates and just go through without validating, or when they touch the oyster during rush hour and they pass through with the other guy…
On another note what can the BTP do? So they can stop you physically? For doing what? Do you need to give them your details? What for you did not commit a crime and they have to prove you did don’t they?
At the end of the day you have to prove that it was in error and the machine didn’t work, but don’t they have to catch you actually travelling an using the service?
Does it say anywhere that to get inside a Station you have to have a valid ticket? I though it was only to have a valid ticket for your journey… so shouldn’t they prove that indeed I was on that specific train at that specific time? What if I just wanted to go and check the timetable, or if I wanted to drop someone off or simply use the toilette? I though I was paying for using the transport as in physically step onto the said train and get cough doing that… after all I can still go inside an airport use the toilette look at timetables and so forth without buying a ticket… same goes for going inside a supermarket… I can look around but I cannot take stuff and get out. See my point…
The reason I am saying this is because I was in a car when it got hit, the accident was taken to court and I was questioned how can I see the accident if I was inside… which meant that the hit and noise didn’t matter, they asked me if I saw the accident which obviously I couldn’t say yeah, as I didn’t see the contact… oh and based on that the other party got let off. The driver was standing outside on the other side of the car and she didn’t see the contact but heard the noise and then she went over and looked at the damage. So none of us actually saw the accident according to the judge.
First of all, BTP are police officers and can arrest people if necessary. They are often more equipped than Home Office forces and receive the same training as police officers all over the country. Its like saying Essex police can’t do anything. Its another force, doing the same job for the same money.
Second, You need to be more specific… Did they issue you a fine? Did they say you were going to be ‘reported’ and may be ‘prosecuted’?
If the answer to to both is ‘no’ then they have just collected your information, in order to check if you do this regularly. If you do, they will take action next time you make a mistake.
If you had no intention of avoiding the fare, they have bye-law offences of being in a ticket only area and mis-use of barrier. They are small offences, but if you don’t give your details police can be called. If you still fail to give details, you can be arrested.
TFL staff are authorised to report people for bye-laws and issue fines. Showing them your ticket is a condition of travel. Swearing at staff or pushing them out the way carries offences. Saying you speak no English, gets the police involved.
If a mistake has been made, TFL can check your oyster and if you are a regular traveller will see you always pay your fares. This should back up your case for a mistake.
London Underground is a minefield of bye-laws and offences. TFL staff deal with the minor stuff, BTP deal with everything else.
