Hello. I'm new here so welcome to my profile. I have a theoretical question that I hope some of you can answer.
If a passenger boarded a train at a station with no ticket purchasing facilities or permit to travel machine and they were unable to find the guard, what should they do on alighting the train if that station only has a ticket vending machine? Should they purchase a ticket from that station to the station they boarded at? Is there a way to buy a ticket from the origin station on the ticket machine to the station where the ticket machine is at (the destination station)?
I would have thought that the passenger has the obligation to pay at the first reasonable opportunity (and that would, in my judgement include making reasonable attempts to find a guard at least so far as the passenger has the mobility etc needed to find the guard). If no such reasonable opportunity is presented to the passenger then that is the ToCs loss. I would expect Revenue Protection Officers to direct their powers against those who are deliberately attempting to travel without payment. I think that you will find enough of them to be going on with when you start your job.
In practice, I think that this kind of situation often comes down to a question of who speaks first. If the RPO challenges the passenger and only hears the excuses about not having a ticket (however valid those excuses may be)
after they have been challenged then the passenger will have a very weak case that their intention was to buy a ticket at the first opportunity.
Edit note: Quote marks fixed, for clarity. CfN
