Going the 'wrong way'

800Travel · 1 Feb 2024

Hi,

If you have a ticket to go south and you accidentally board a train going north, what should happen please?

1. PFN/Prosecution for no valid ticket
2. Returned to origin upon payment of fare excess and production of original ticket
3. Returned to origin upon production of original ticket with no fare excess

During recent disruption, I inadvertently boarded a train going North rather than the one going south run by the same operator in close proximity on adjacent platforms. Fortunately I realised my error and disembarked before the train left, but wondering what would've/should've happened if I had only realised once we had left.

Thank you

(Edit, not requested by moderator but done in anticipation - PFN is Penalty Fare Notice).

RailUK Forums

scouseyb123 · 1 Feb 2024

In theory it should be a new ticket, but in reality its down to the guard’s discretion how they deal with the situation

jfollows · 1 Feb 2024

Of course, if you do it by accident the answer is (3), but of course how do others know whether or not it's by accident?
I have three stories, two of them concern Omar, my partner, who's from Mexico and the USA so he has an American accent which probably helps.
Omar worked in Stockport initially in the UK and we lived in Manchester.
One day he got on a train at Stockport and thought he was going to Manchester, but found it was first stop Leicester - Project Rio. He had his ticket marked and came home without paying more.
Another day he got on a train at Stockport which went to Manchester, it got to Piccadilly platform 14 so he decided to stay on the train to Oxford Road which was closer to home. It didn't stop and turned out to be next stop Crewe. He then came back from Crewe to Stockport including the replacement bus for part of the route, and started again. Also no charge.
One other time I was on the 07:00 Manchester-Euston which was very busy and someone plopped himself next to me in Coach A, we left and he asked if this was the train to Macclesfield ..... it was next stop Euston and he was on the wrong train. The conductor (Mr Ram?) blustered but didn't charge him and I advised him to go to the Virgin (then) office at Euston and explain and hopefully he'd get back.
All three involved no charge, because they were clearly all silly mistakes. What's the point? Nothing gained, and no real cost to anyone.

The exile · 1 Feb 2024

800Travel said:
Hi,

If you have a ticket to go south and you accidentally board a train going north, what should happen please?

1. PFN/Prosecution for no valid ticket
2. Returned to origin upon payment of fare excess and production of original ticket
3. Returned to origin upon production of original ticket with no fare excess

During recent disruption, I inadvertently boarded a train going North rather than the one going south run by the same operator in close proximity on adjacent platforms. Fortunately I realised my error and disembarked before the train left, but wondering what would've/should've happened if I had only realised once we had left.

Thank you

Would imagine it will depend on
-
1) how far you’ve got (beyond the first opportunity to get off?)
2) who you are / the attitude test.

Would hope it was usually option 3) above unless very blatent.
Not a wrong direction - but I do remember the reaction of a fellow passenger on departure from York to being told “but we don’t stop at Doncaster - next stop Kings Cross.”

Ian79 · 1 Feb 2024

I've done it once, when got in a train in a hurry at Bristol Temple Meads and only realised my mistake when the train I thought was heading for Bath seemed to be taking rather longer than usual and then went into the Severn Tunnel!! It was dark though.

I decided my best course of action was to go and try to find a member of staff rather than waiting for a ticket check, but there wasn't anyone in the passenger part of the train so I just got off at Newport and bought a single back to Bristol.

Not the wrong way, but I've seen someone who had a season ticket to Stevenage accidentally board one of the trains out of Kings Cross which run non-stop to York! The guard took pity on them and provided some kind of note to allow them to travel back again without buying a ticket. Taking the best part of 5 hours to do what should have been a 20 minute journey was probably penalty enough!!

800Travel · 1 Feb 2024

The exile said:
Would imagine it will depend on
-
1) how far you’ve got (beyond the first opportunity to get off?)
2) who you are / the attitude test.

Would hope it was usually option 3) above unless very blatent.
Not a wrong direction - but I do remember the reaction of a fellow passenger on departure from York to being told “but we don’t stop at Doncaster - next stop Kings Cross.”

Thanks all

Re 1) Fortunately I know which way the train is supposed to go to get to my destination, so would've been the first stop after we left. Likely I'd have also contacted the TOC on social media, and tried to find the TM/Guard. Wouldn't pull the emergency stop or speak to driver button because it would be my own stupid mistake and wouldn't warrant disruption to other passenger's journeys

First time this happened to me after commuting for a few months. Can't believe it, but so relieved I got off before we left. Was slightly panicky given the disruption, but I doubt it's a scenario I'm likely to forget so hopefully keep a more level head during disruption in the future.

Jimini · 1 Feb 2024

I've done the last minute dash to P15 at Clapham Junction more times than I can remember -- twice I've accidentally boarded a Horsham / Dorking service that was non-stop to Sutton (I wanted Balham as I lived in Tooting at the time). Fortunately Sutton is within travelcard zones so all it cost me was a few quid and a bonus half hour, but annoyed with myself nonetheless!

jfollows · 1 Feb 2024

I was annoyed, once, though, although it wasn't necessarily about charging.
Pre-Pendolino I used to try and go home from London on a service which was first stop Wilmslow, I didn't live in Wilmslow at the time but it was still a good service.
Once I worked out that some friends "saw off" a passenger on the basis that all trains stop at Watford Junction and they'd return to London from there. Unfortunately for me, but not for them, we ended up with a special stop order at Rugby to chuck them off, whence they presumably returned to London at no charge.
I was only annoyed because we were delayed by five minutes. No big deal really.

Starmill · 1 Feb 2024

If there's a member of staff onboard see if you can speak to them about the problem with your having caught the wrong train. It's always better to offer to pay. Likely most cases you wouldn't be asked to pay again if you were going to go back at the first opportunity.

Llanigraham · 1 Feb 2024

Many years ago I did it at Cardiff Central, catching a train heading to the Rhondda when I actually wanted a Caerfili train.
Guard let me off at Llandaff North and allowed to go back to Queen St to catch the right one.

And was on a Cambrian out of Shrewsbury pre-Covid when someone asked what time they would get into Hereford. Luckily he was able to swap trains at Welshpool otherwise he might have had a hours wait.

norbitonflyer · 1 Feb 2024

Accidently mistook a train at Waterloo that was first stop Walton (which was outside the validity of my Zone 6 Travlecard) for one that called at Surbiton (which isn't). Crossed over and went back without any quibble.

Sheffcaster202 · 1 Feb 2024

As train crew, I experience this a lot and the general consensus from both my colleagues and myself is to hold down the feed button on our ticket machines, jot a quick note down explaining what’s happened (in essence endorse the ticket but with e-tickets etc we just write a note)

We also usually send an email out to our conductor group informing everyone that we have left so and so at X station, they want Y but have got on wrong service, please allow travel back to let this happen.
We have revenue staff in this group too and can copy in other depots if needed and we rarely get issues from it and people aren’t charged any more

JJmoogle · 1 Feb 2024

I've done this a couple of times, only *charge* has always been some good natured humour from the guard after they see my panicked face and a little note put on the back of my ticket to explain things for going back the other way.

stuu · 1 Feb 2024

The only time I have ever done this was at Newark Penn station. Luckily the next stop was Newark Airport and not Philadelphia. Guard or whatever they are called in the US was completely unconcerned, said get off at next stop and go the other way. Being an obvious tourist presumably helped

Taunton · 1 Feb 2024

I've written before about times when the DC service from Watford Junction had trains to Liverpool Street, leaving from the opposite side of the platform to the express to Liverpool Lime Street. Exacerbated by this oddball DC train being convenient for European students heading on to Harwich and the ship to Hook of Holland etc.

The Runcorn (next stop) stationmaster presumably had a standard approach, as it apparently happened more than once ...

Another, in the days of nonstop Edinburgh-Glasgow services, passenger was travelling to Linlithgow, but at Waverley boarded on the opposite side of the island to the local waiting to follow the express. Having got up and put his coat on and stood by the door as we flashed through at 90mph, it was exacerbated when the considerate guard coming through explained that the most effective solution in those times was to stay on, return nonstop to Haymarket, flashing through Linlithgow for the second time, and start again. Must have been quite a ticket endorsement.

mikeb42 · 1 Feb 2024

Just making one or two middle distance journeys a week (mostly between Bristol and London) I've randomly overheard exchanges involving other passengers this has happened to numerous times over the years. Staff must encounter it a lot.

To be pedantic about the OP's question, most of these were overshoots or flat out wrong route rather than "South vice North", but there've been some of those too.

People hurtling through Didcot having assumed the train was stopping there seems almost common. I've seen people on services from Bristol Temple Meads to London that go via Chipping Sodbury/Sodding Chipbury expecting to get off at Bath or Chippenham. Similarly on the ill-fated Bristol superfasts expecting to get off at Swindon/Reading. In the latter case the guards always made about 17 announcements but may as well have yodeled them in Ancient Nubian for all the good it did. I've seen people going west from Reading when they thought they were going east and vice versa.

It's easily done even by a seasoned traveller. I've managed to get on both Piccadilly line and Elizabeth line trains going in the wrong direction in the last year, though the stakes are lower there and the visual symmetry of platforms combined with being in a hurry while disoriented by staircases in tunnels etc make it more likely.

Most recently someone got on a train at Manchester Piccadilly to go to Sheffield and we were between Crewe and Shrewsbury before the guard checked their ticket and pointed out that this wasn't going to go as well as they were hoping. As far as I recall the explanation there was one of those front train/rear train things at Piccadilly compounded by someone thinking a 2-car sprinter was an appropriate conveyance for a 250 mile journey.

The salient point is that in every case, the guard never did anything beyond pointing out the error (usually sympathetically) and then what they could to get the passenger back on course. This was mostly on GWR where almost all the guards are pleasant and pragmatic - so your mileage from this unscientific personal survey may vary elsewhere.

Acfb · 1 Feb 2024

I did this at Berlin Brandenburg Airport recently as I got the train the wrong way towards Potsdam as I hadn't been to Berlin before and I didn't know trains to Potsdam went in both directions. I realised very quickly but the train had just left and then it was a faff to get a bus between the two Ludwigsfelde stations to get a train back the right way all the way to Berlin Hbf. My main worry was going outside the zones but it worked out.

I think I've seen this on the Buxton line at Disley/New Mills Newtown but it was easily resolved.

In Japan if you get on a Shinkansen that's not valid with a particular rail pass they don't let you exit the ticket gates after you arrive and make you go back on the same Shinkansen and then get a commuter train, this happened to me between Kobe and Kyoto but we were given wrong advice at Nagasaki earlier. So just had to go back to Shin Osaka from Kyoto and get a commuter train back.

Peter Mugridge · 2 Feb 2024

Do not ever forget that Sir Peter Parker once boarded a non-stop to Euston from Crewe when he was aiming for Carlisle for a meeting with Cumbria County Council ( or whatever it was called in those days )...

londonbridge · 2 Feb 2024

Posted this a couple of times before, was on the way back to London from a Sunderland game, two Scottish lads in Man City colours boarded at York, turned out they were headed for Dundee…..they bailed out at Doncaster but we didn’t tell em there were no trains going further than Newcastle by that time of day.

jon81uk · 2 Feb 2024

I've accidentally boarded a train that doesn't stop at my station, once I realised it wasn't stopping I went one stop further and then crossed the footbridge, got on another train back and got off at my normal stop.

If I had seen a guard (very unlikely as they don't normally do ticket checks on rush hour commuters) I would have just been honest and I expect it would have been OK.

Skiddaw · 2 Feb 2024

A former colleague of mine had an unfortunate tendency to fall asleep (admittedly I think a beer or two probably played a part) when on his train home (Reading) in the days when he worked in London. He woke up in Cardiff on several occasions.

D1537 · 2 Feb 2024

Skiddaw said:
A former colleague of mine had an unfortunate tendency to fall asleep (admittedly I think a beer or two probably played a part) when on his train home (Reading) in the days when he worked in London. He woke up in Cardiff on several occasions.

A friend of mine who works for the railways managed this twice in one day. Went from Brum aiming for Rugby, woke up arriving at Milton Keynes. Luckily there was a train back north just coming in, well I say luckily as he fell asleep again and ended up in Crewe. Alcohol may, again, have been involved.

RailWonderer · 2 Feb 2024

I've had this twice and the guard just told me to get off at the next stop and take the train back. Anything else is a real overreaction - unless the next stop is very far away and the guard missed his breakfast that morning.

Acfb said:
In Japan if you get on a Shinkansen that's not valid with a particular rail pass they don't let you exit the ticket gates after you arrive and make you go back on the same Shinkansen and then get a commuter train, this happened to me between Kobe and Kyoto but we were given wrong advice at Nagasaki earlier. So just had to go back to Shin Osaka from Kyoto and get a commuter train back.

Did the Shinkansen guard escort you to the gate on arrival? If you flash your rail pass at the gates there they wouldn't otherwise know if you got there on a regional or on a Shinkansen.

D1537 · 2 Feb 2024

RailWonderer said:
I've had this twice and the guard just told me to get off at the next stop and take the train back. Anything else is a real overreaction - unless the next stop is very far away and the guard missed his breakfast that morning.

To be fair I once overslept from Newcastle to Edinburgh (first northbound HST of the day) and the guard was fine about it, telling me which train he was working back so I could get that one. Had a nice breakfast in Edinburgh as well.

LondonExile · 2 Feb 2024

My partner once had a ticket for Morpeth to Durham but ended up heading North by mistake with the first stop being Berwick. She did then purchase a Berwick to Durham ticket whilst waiting for a Southbound train, but perhaps that wasn't necessary. Certainly no attempt was made to either charge for a ticket or Penalty Fare onboard, nor report for prosecution.

faltskog36abba · 2 Feb 2024

This has happened to me a few times over the years-And I have never had to pay again. Late night train from Blackpool to Manchester and ended up at the airport, It was a regular thing according to the guard who said it happens every weekend. Manchester to Macclesfield - I boarded a Buxton train and was told to just head back and change. Then finally my partner was moving from Glasgow to Manchester and to change at Preston for Man Vic, He ended up in Poulton Le Fylde- The destination blind hadn't been changed.

sprunt · 2 Feb 2024

jon81uk said:
I've accidentally boarded a train that doesn't stop at my station, once I realised it wasn't stopping I went one stop further and then crossed the footbridge, got on another train back and got off at my normal stop.

My commute used to be Moorgate-Hornsey, and I once accidentally got onto a train that didn't stop at Hornsey. I can't remember where it did stop, but it must have been past Ally Pally because when I came back I hit a revenue block, and with my zonse 1-3 travelcard I had to explain to the RPI what had happened - he just let me through.

I was also once going to Norwich from Cromer, and the train was delayed so I accidentally got on the late running Sheringham service. I got off at Runton and waited for it to come back, the guard noticed and asked me what was going on ans when I told him he said I should have just stayed on the train and not bothered getting off!

Sun Chariot · 2 Feb 2024

1991-1993, I lived near Oxford and, on the local to Bicester, I would often hear confused passengers who thought it was their Cotswold Line service.

Both services departed from Oxford's bay platform and the station announcer would state the Cotswold service as the "front train at platform 3".

However... "front" isn't explicit enough as, to the unfamiliar, front train could be the one they first find in front of them as they walk along that platform - rather than the (correct) one farthest away from them, at the front of the departure-order.

embers25 · 2 Feb 2024

I had someone get on my Exeter train at Basingstoke which had a broken announcement system. The guard first came through at Yeovil and the person asked when we would get to Woking!!! They wrote a note approving return travel but sadly the train the other way had just gone so it would have been a good 4 hour plus trip instead of 20 mins.

PeterY · 2 Feb 2024

It can happen to the best of us and is easily done. I did it in Wales once, totally boarded the wrong train by mistake but luckily I had a rover ticket.

Going the 'wrong way'

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