Great Western Coffee Shop

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c743d7vdwzyo


Fake and incorrect tickets ... reminded me of the chap on Friday afternoon who was travelling from Trowbridge to London, but was detrained at Melksham because his ticket was not valid; he had been offered at "over £100" - I believe £129.30 - if he wanted to stay on the train.

I have no idea / we must consider whether the couple travelling to India, and / or the chap travelling to London, were knowingly trying to travel without the correct tickets, or whether there was no element of trying to buck the system and they were victims of fraud, or not knowing the rules, or naiveness or stupidity. But if they - at Heathrow and at Melksham, were victims, what can and should be done by the operator when the problem is identified?   

Both stories have people, with their luggage, left high and dry with an option to pay again, at over twice what has already been paid, or be left in a state of some potential distress in a place they don't know.  And in both cases [details redcated for mine] the "cannot travel" person / people could be evaluated to be potentially vulnerable.

The Melksham chap: rather too late in the day for Melksham's one National Express service to London (an early morning departure which also serves Trowbridge, fares look to be £9.50 - £20.00).

The air travel people: I don't know. It's no good validating the ticket and booking with the airline once it's purchased, by that time the purchase price is down the drain and the crook's over the hill and far away.

Mark

Caveat Emptor or 'when it looks too good to be true it almost certainly will be' - if you are not 100% sure of who or what you are dealing with pay a visit to, or call, a reputable 'High Street' ticket retailer.

Q. .....what can and should be done by the operator when the problem is identified?
A. Provision of the required goods or service in exchange for the appropriate payment.   

I would be interested to know what the problem was with the Melksham ticket.

Was it invalid due to conditions such as time of day or route, or an advance ticket being used on the wrong train?  In this case the industry has some responsibility due to the complexity of the ticketing system.  It may be that purchasing a single to Westbury and catching a London train from there would solve the problem.

If it is a totally invalid ticket then the TOC has no responibility.

I quite intentionally failed to document the particular problem here in public - sorry.   In my view, it is very possible - as was the case of the people flying to India - that a third party was responsible for incorrect ticketing, and the person actually travelling was unaware of the problem until stopped on the train.   But not knowing the parties / situation / background to repeating issues as staff do, I am not making a definite call on who knew what.   We love Melksham, but putting a potentially vulnerable person off there rather than - say - at Chippenham where the are people around to help sort out struck me as a harsh decision.    If the person had had a good communication ability, it would not have been as bad - IMHO only.