A good deal of RJ's knowledge is from his original training as a 'ticket inspector' (sorry, not sure of exact title), a classic example of game keeper turned poacher? One might ask if he only chose that job so he could be paid to learn how to make future savings - but I'm sure that's not true!
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Doesn't that confirm that it simply isn't cost effective to train staff in such rare ticket combinations etc? If all the hassle discourages further such use, by anyone else at least, then EMT have effectively made the problem go away, maybe they aren't so daft after all.
Before 2010, all I knew about tickets was £2 Child Travelcard, then £5.00 YP Railcard and Advance tickets. Literally nothing else. In 2010 there was a
incident at Liverpool Street whereby I was Penalty Fared. I did nothing wrong and had touched in successfully at Forest Gate 18 minutes earlier. I later got to the bottom of what the issue was, something to do with OSIs and time limits which I had little idea of at the time. I appealed to IRCAS, who rejected the appeal and National Express
took the p*ss with their response. I figured the only way for me to have the Penalty Fare cancelled was to research all the rules, regulations and laws concerning tickets from scratch, in order to give my next appeal rather more leverage. I did appeal again and IRCAS decided to uphold it. At this point I still knew next to nothing about tickets themselves.
I wouldn't attribute the knowledge I currently make use of to my former role in the ticket office although it's understandable why the connection is made. I chose that job because I wanted to work on the railways and felt a ticket office would be an interesting place to start. Funnily enough I worked in a completely different role when I started travelling on EMT and I kept hearing the line "you're railway staff, you should know better than to split at places where the train doesn't stop!"
A few days after I got that letter, I started a new job in retail/revenue protection and I did have 5 weeks of training. However, that was all learning about ticket types, railcards, ticket office procedures and the ticket issuing software. I taught myself the basics of the National Routeing Guide during quiet periods at work. By the time Penalty Fare training came, I used what I had learned from dealing with NXEA to put right a few incorrect things being taught.
When it transpired I'd have long term dual commitments in London and the East Midlands, I decided I wanted to travel as cheaply as legitimately possible. I only really knew about Condition 19c so had my Annual Zone 1-2 Travelcard and was buying Priv SORs, splitting at Boundary Zone 2, Luton Airport and Market Harborough. This was causing problems with EMT's guards who were under the misimpression that the trains had to stop at those places. Sometimes I bought a 3-in-7 Rover, with Priv SORs splitting at Luton Airport. When the Travelcard expired, I bought a Priv season from West Hampstead Thameslink to South London. Initially I continued buying the same Priv SORs, but this was causing too many problems with the on board staff so I wrote a letter to EMT asking for the TMs to be briefed, or at least a response I could carry to say that my tickets were valid. Instead, I got a letter back telling me they would be having the NRCoC changed in the near future to preclude splitting at places where the train doesn't stop. A year on and an NRCoC edition later, this still hasn't happened.
Anyway, I decided to stop using multiple Priv SORs and sought to develop my understanding of the NRG. I looked at the railway geography then formed heuristic concepts which facilitated the backwards analysis of the NRG in order to find anomalous fares. From there, I settled on using the PSS + one Priv SOR which was half the price of a through SOR and better still, cheaper than the multiple SORs. Things went quiet for a few weeks, but then I changed jobs, trading my Priv in for a TfL pass. This was when it all kicked off. The SOR I was buying didn't work quite as well as an SVR, similar cheaper SVRs were available. As soon as I started using the South London - West Hampstead Thameslink 7DS' + one YP SVR, I was getting untold hassle with UFNs being issued in the first week or two of me making the switch.
My previous experience with NXEA had taught me all about not having a bar of it from the TOCs, as the little man, where it came to staff issuing notices in error and their colleagues in the back office supporting them regardless of what is correct. The only way they will take notice of you is if you are persistent and provide an unequivocal explanation of why you're right and they're wrong and stand your ground.
As time has gone on, I have spent a few minutes a week whilst on the train looking for the best value tickets. Plenty of scope for creativity using Conditions 13, 16 and 19. Also through reading restriction codes, which are a completely unheard of myth to the greater majority of retail/RP staff I have encountered. Sometimes the fare setters miss out words that change the validity of the ticket completely, or apply the restriction to the wrong portion of the ticket. If I do identify two routing points which represent an anomalous fare, I like to play around with the clusters and substitute with obscure station names. However, I've almost had my fingers burnt doing this when running on a shortest route anomaly. Sometimes I use tickets in such a way that is not reasonable to expect the average person to envisage but is still permissible, hence this game of cat and mouse with loopholes being closed behind me.
To be honest, I don't look for any of these things. They just happen upon me
. At the moment, using YP fares, I pay less than the price of the through Priv SOR. Anyone who does want to play cat and mouse will have their work cut out, because I just move onto the next ticket once the validity is culled. In fact, I started buying a new ticket last week. Cheaper than the through Super Off Peak fare, nothing to do with Condition 19 or anything. Pleased to report that I've made a return trip and ticket has been appropriately marked without any issues!
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Maybe but it works both ways, RJ was 'keeping' passengers from paying what EMT consider to little but now he's one of those passengers.
I wonder just how many people do what I do to the extreme that I do it though? In my time, I only clocked onto one passenger who was trying to be funny with his Network Railcard and getting an excess from me (excesses are an area I've dabbled in but would rather leave alone myself) but other than that, it was pretty much all standard requests. Plenty of people out there brimming with tips on how to
dodge the fare but what I do is
100% within the law!
