AIBU to think that the Ticket Inspector was a 'Jobsworth'?

If it weren’t for inspectors like this, all rail users would pay far more for their tickets as the rail companies would need to recoup lost revenue from the fare dodgers.

I have a lot of sympathy with people in retail, hospitality and customer services because customers are often vile to them. Ive workd in customer services so I know how to get the best out of an agent when they finally do answer the call.

I can remember when I was working on a call center back in the early 90s and it was New Years day. I was working the last few days of my notice in the job when a man was incredibly rude. He told me to "get a proper job" as I obviously wasnt very intelligent. Id just got an well paid academic job so his remarks didnt cut much ice with me.

I wished him Happy New Year.

I wont tell you what I did in revenge but never be rude to someone who has the number of your land line!

Harsh as it seems she was just doing her job. Rules are rules and she could probably lose her job if it was picked up elsewhere. If all customers are treated in the same way with rules applied it does make it a fair service. There would be chaos and an out cry if some people didn’t have rules applied and some did.

Buying tickets isn't easy so if you're buying them when you're ill, stressed etc is very difficult and very easy to make mistakes.

They need to simplify buying tickets to make it easier for customers.

The ticket inspector was doing their job, but the processes aren't right and sadly I think the inspectors may get some abuse due to customers taking stress out on them.

I have to agree with the majority of posters. The inspector was doing her job and not an easy one at that.

I had an email, saying my Disabled Persons rail card was being processed. It didn't arrive in time for my trip, therefore I paid the full price.
I wouldn't have dreamt of chancing it.

What a relief that you had good news about your son’s condition, singingnutty.

I do have to support the guard here, though. They have a hard job, and in my experience the vast majority are polite and cheerful as they deal with difficult situations. Just this week a passenger in my carriage showed a ticket that had run out two stops before. She’d “just decided” to stay on to a later stop. The inspector was generous, let her get away with buying the correct ticket instead of fining her, and far from being grateful, she was outraged at having to pay £3.50!

As for an inspector not standing up to a group of youths refusing to pay, as posted earlier, what on earth should he have done? I hope the story went on as it did in an incident I witnessed on the Carlisle to Leeds train. Four teenage boys tormenting the inspector, refusing to show their tickets, passing them between themselves just out of his reach. He walked off, leaving them laughing away.

At the next stop, two burly men in high vis got on, indicated to them to stand up, and escorted them off the train without saying a word. The blubbing and stammering of “we’re sorry”, “just having a bit of fun”, “got to get to Leeds”, was a delight. As was the sight of their faces as they were left on the platform in the middle of nowhere.

Germanshepherdsmum

She was applying the rules. She probably has no discretion in the matter. You could have been producing an email to someone else or a fake for all she knew. You can get a refund. I have seen enough fare dodgers to know that ticket inspectors have a hard and sometimes dangerous job.

I agree.
It’s annoying OP but just claim it back when you can.It obvs added to the stress of that day for you when you and your DS felt tired and low.

Maggiemaybe 😂

You have no excuse. The rules are clear. You make your situation worse by trying to gather support for calling the RPA a "jobs worth".

Funnily enough I renews my railcard this morning choosing to do so digitally - in the past I would be in a panic in case I lost the card. Now it’s on my phone, happy days!

I agree that the ticket inspector was just doing their job, and it's good that she was polite to you. I also understand your frustration at the overly complicated systems we seem to have these days. Technology was supposed to simplify and speed up our lives but that's not always the case. You did nothing wrong in wishing for a more compassionate response, having had a traumatic, tiring day, but the inspector could not have known this. However, I find it very sad that some of the replies to your query are so harsh and unfeeling- no need for it. I'm very glad indeed that one such gransnetter isn't my mum!

I can’t help feeling if you were trying to defraud the railway would you really take the trouble to fake an email saying your railcard was in the post ! I don’t think you were unreasonable and you did have a ticket. I hope you claim the refund.

I travelled to London once, a long time ago and there was nobody in the ticket office on our station. I went to the machine and it was out of action. The train arrived so I got on and I went straight to the restaurant and asked To buy a ticket and she called the train guard. He said he’d be back in a minute and we arrived in London an hour later and he still hadn’t come back. The lady went looking for him through the train and guessed he’d gone to the loo… So she told me to go and explain to the guys on the barrier and they will sell me a ticket. The guy on the barrier was so rude, he wouldn’t accept my explanation and pointed me to assign that said you must not get on the train without a ticket, he £100 and when I objected he said he would call the police and have me arrested, I was totally shocked. I just paid the hundred pounds! And he charged me an excessive amount for the actual ticket and didn’t give me a return either, so I had to buy that when I was coming back. That was definitely not a day out for me.

Germanshepherdsmum

She was applying the rules. She probably has no discretion in the matter. You could have been producing an email to someone else or a fake for all she knew. You can get a refund. I have seen enough fare dodgers to know that ticket inspectors have a hard and sometimes dangerous job.

Sorry , I think you are wrong as there is always room for discretion & in this instance, Yes card should have been in person but that person has clear evidence of it being processed.
Clearly a jobsworth .

If there weren’t so many ‘rules’ in this day and age, then honest people wouldn’t have to keep inadvertently breaking them! Dishonest people get away with it time and time again as they know all the tricks! ( Just look at shoplifting, for example!) In this case I can’t see why an understanding inspector couldn’t have taken that email as proof. The passenger could easily have been asked for proof of ID-bank card etc and email address ( on phone!). Too much trouble and an easy notch on their belt. Give them a crowd of yobs, ticketless and intent on causing trouble and they’d run a mile. As with so many things, honest citizens are easy targets as they can be cowed into submission so easily for fear of breaking ‘the rules’. Makes me so cross and I always, always challenge, politely but firmly. Call me a bolshy old bag or whatever-I was a bolshy YOUNG bag once!

There was a programme on recently about the number of people who defraud public transport. Staff who work for the train, tube and bus companies were being asked to apply the rules whenever they came across someone not paying any or only part of their fare. She was obeying orders, clearly.

My husband and I have e-cards So no issue waiting for the post.

Personally, I think that there should be a way to still be able to se the card if you’ve opted for it to be posted, after all you’ve paid for the card.

I guess he was just doing his job.

I cannot help but wonder what would happen if your electronic device such as mobile phone ran out of battery?
Yesterday dh & I travelled on National Rail using a senior rail card .
Both of us have an app which holds both tickets & cards .
It was a long day & battery power was getting lower by the hour , so yes modern technology is not as helpful or as simple as that .
What would have happened if my phone had run out ?
On both journeys we had allocated seats in different carriages. A very busy midday train outbound & DH had the pleasure of said ticket inspector , I on the other hand never saw him/her/ they appear in my carriage!

orly

You have no excuse. The rules are clear. You make your situation worse by trying to gather support for calling the RPA a "jobs worth".

Omg that is really harsh , the poor OP is obviously distressed enough without having damning reactions.

When I ordered my railcard, there was a facility to download a digital railcard. Did you not have that choice?

Regrettably the inspector was doing what she was supposed.to do, and I guess she did tell you that you could claim it back
In a similar situation, I needed to make a train journey to a funeral , I hadn't been able to commit to it in advance as was waiting for test results and a hospital admission, so the night before, I got one online and have an e card
Bit of a pain as have to make sure that the phone is charged but actually I want it charged anyway, I take a power bank with me on journeys
I'd let my card expire as wasn't planning any journeys for a bit planning to get a new one just before I planned to travel
An e card works fine

NanaTuesday

Germanshepherdsmum

She was applying the rules. She probably has no discretion in the matter. You could have been producing an email to someone else or a fake for all she knew. You can get a refund. I have seen enough fare dodgers to know that ticket inspectors have a hard and sometimes dangerous job.

Sorry , I think you are wrong as there is always room for discretion & in this instance, Yes card should have been in person but that person has clear evidence of it being processed.
Clearly a jobsworth .

I agree NanaTuesday, applying the rules with no discretion and regardless of context and circumstance, not to mention supporting evidence, is the very definition of a jobsworth.

It clearly states that you cannot use a senior rail card until you get it. I went to our local station, bought it and got it at the same time.

My 84 yr old cousin who is physically capable but has done learning difficulties and poor attention was travelling back from Devon to London two weeks ago on a ticket purchased with her senior railcard and was asked by the ticket inspector to produce thst card which she hasn’t even thought to carry with her despite several reminders. She wanted to charge her the additional £35 but my cousin argued very loudly as is her normal way of dealing with confusion and eventually the inspector left her alone so there is the authority to use discretion. I’m sorry you got an inflexible inspector.

I have a digital senior railcard, it’s on your phone within seconds . No waiting for it to arrive in the post