There is nothing new.....

A piece on the news today reminds me of something that happened to me about 20 years ago. Have a look at this; BBC News - Probe after passenger throws fare-dodger off train and the whole thing on YouTube; Scotrail Linlithgow station - Fare Dodger & the Big Man.flv - YouTube

I was coming home from Birmingham to Southampton one evening, travelling on my free “privilege pass” that I had as a member of BR staff. As I was not on duty, I was not wearing any uniform and looked like any other member of the public.

The train, a loco hauled Inter-City, left Reading and headed for Basingstoke. A TTI (Travelling Ticket Inspector) entered the open saloon I was sitting in. The familiar call of “Tickets please” was heard from the TTI at the far end of the coach. A scruffily dressed young man opposite me looked around the passengers sitting in my section of the coach. “Shh”, he said to everyone, “Keep quiet and don’t say anything”. Quite why he expected us to be a part of his scam I really do not know, but he quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. I got out my pass and my BR Identity Card, and the others got out their tickets, while the scam artist continued to pretend he was sound asleep. Our tickets were duly checked and the TTI bent down to the “sleeping man”. “Tickets please”, he repeated. No movement was forthcoming. Louder the TTI said again, “Tickets please”. There was still no response.

I quietly nudged the TTI, who by now knew I was BR staff. Silently I indicated for him to move on. The other passengers had seen my BR ID and could see what I had in mind.
The TTI moved on and our somnolent associate amazingly woke up. “Thanks everyone”, he said, “I got away with it”!
I smiled. “No you didn’t”, I said and held out my BR ID for him to see, “And you are off this train at Basingstoke”. His face was a picture.

This should have been the end of the story but it wasn’t. At Basingstoke the guard, the TTI and myself had got the fare dodger out of his seat and standing with his back to an open door to Basingstoke platform. Suddenly he decided he was not going to co-operate and refused to get off. I think he knew that we could not manhandle him off ourselves and would have to call the police. He was banking on us not wanting to delay the train while waiting for the law to arrive and we would let him stay on the train. Repeatedly telling him to get off was getting us nowhere.

A rather large passenger happened along. “What’s the problem?” he asked.
“He won’t get off”, I answered.
“Push him off!” said the big man.
“We are not allowed to do that”, I said, “It would be an assault and he is just the type to try to have us for it”.
Our large friend turned to the scam artist. “Are you gonna get off?” he asked.
“Nope!” said scammer.
BANG! The punch from the big man lifted the dodger off his feet and on to his back on the platform.
“Let’s go” said the smiling passenger, rubbing his hand.
We closed the door. The guard waved his flag out the window, the Class 47 roared and we left Basingstoke, leaving the dazed man still sitting on the platform.
“You didn’t see what I did, did you?” asked our friend.
TTI, guard and I scratched our heads. “See what?” we asked, innocently.

So you see, there is nothing new, is there?

 

If this was a Facebook message i'd be looking for the Like button about now.

 

The lad who was assaulted in the video was not a fare dodger if you look into it and the big man has been charged over his assault. The ticket issuing office screwed up and issued 2 outbound tickets rather than 1 outbound and 1 return.

 

The student has also been reported.

BBC News - Train eviction video: 'Big Man' is charged

 

But given that he claimed he was aware of this before boarding the return, it's still most definitely fare dodging...

 

In that case what a **** for not sorting it out.

 

If You or I made the same mistake, you or I would get the same treatment from the conductor, if You or i acted up, then it would be our fault.
only because there is a video of the incident are we talking about the students mistake and how innocent he is...

The idiot made a mistake, didn't correct it and tried to force the situation on everyone else... IMHO he deserves what he got.. Big man was polite, controlled and not aggressive or abusive and sought permission before acting.

If this was any other country, this wouldn't have been news worthy and the idiot would have been a lot worse off.