• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Forgot my change from the fare

Status
Not open for further replies.

william

Established Member
Joined
13 Jul 2007
Messages
1,439
Location
UK
I caught a bus home tonight and it cost me £3.95. I was the first passenger on at the beginning of the route. I handed over a £10 note and recieved £1.05 change. The driver then said he had no more change and asked if I could come back for my £5 change when I alighted. I said OK and sat down. The journey home on this route is 45 minutes and I was knackered after a day in town. I totally forgot about my change when I went to get off the bus and the driver didn't remind me. I am going to contact the bus company tomorrow. Does anyone have any advice on this issue?
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

455driver

Veteran Member
Joined
10 May 2010
Messages
11,332
So the bus driver didnt keep your change (as you state in the thread title), you forgot to collect it when you got off!

Why do people think that bus drivers carry hundreds of pounds in change with them?
 

noddingdonkey

Member
Joined
2 Nov 2012
Messages
772
Why do bus companies think that non-regular passengers will be able to tender the correct fare if they keep their fare tables a secret?
 

bb21

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
24,151
So the bus driver didnt keep your change (as you state in the thread title), you forgot to collect it when you got off!

Why do people think that bus drivers carry hundreds of pounds in change with them?

How does this help the OP? He is not expecting what you claimed and it is perfectly reasonable to tender a £10 note for a £3.95 fare.

He is asking for advice.

Does anyone have any advice on this issue?

Yes, get in touch with the company. The driver's total takings will not tally with the ticket machine so you should, if all's above board, be able to get your money back. No guarantee though.

I have edited the title to remove any confusion some people might have.
 

Ferret

Established Member
Joined
22 Jan 2009
Messages
4,124
I wish I shared your optimism bb21! The time has been and gone, anybody could come up with a tall tale after the event. I doubt the bus company will look upon this kindly, and if by some miracle they do, I'd be using one of those five pounds to buy a lottery ticket quite frankly!
 

455driver

Veteran Member
Joined
10 May 2010
Messages
11,332
Why do bus companies think that non-regular passengers will be able to tender the correct fare if they keep their fare tables a secret?

it isnt about having the correct change though is it, it is about at least trying to have something close to the fare, simply bunging a £10 note over doesnt help the drivers does it!

bb21, if £10 is perfectly acceptable for a £3.95 fare (and I presume any fare) how much change do you think bus drivers should carry?
 

telstarbox

Established Member
Joined
23 Jul 2010
Messages
5,928
Location
Wennington Crossovers
I'm in full agreement with bb21 on this one. Finding the price of bus single fares is like getting blood out of a stone and a local bus journey costs more than £5 in much of the country, so bus companies should either make the fares available or be prepared to accept overpayment and give change.
 

Cab2Cab

Member
Joined
12 Jan 2013
Messages
180
Hi,

This happened to me, £10 note for a £4.20 fare first bus of the day scenario, driver has no change, but my local bus company/driver gave me a credit ticket (another ticket) showing £5.80 credit on it.

I used this about a month later, (don't use buses very often, 5-7 times a year)

I would of thought this would be a common practice across the UK, obviously not.

Cheers
 

wintonian

Established Member
Joined
15 Jan 2010
Messages
4,889
Location
Hampshire
Yes, get in touch with the company. The driver's total takings will not tally with the ticket machine so you should, if all's above board, be able to get your money back. No guarantee though.

I'm not very optimistic here, at various points over the years I have been asked to write down my details and someone will contact me as the till obviously will not tally - I have yet to be contact by any of these companies.

I would of thought this would be a common practice across the UK, obviously not.

No, but it is in Dublin as Dublin Bus don't give change and you have to take your change receipt to the office on O'Connell Street.
 

455driver

Veteran Member
Joined
10 May 2010
Messages
11,332
No, but it is in Dublin as Dublin Bus don't give change and you have to take your change receipt to the office on O'Connell Street.

Bet that "focuses the mind" of the passengers when they are getting on the bus! :lol:
 

Mojo

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
7 Aug 2005
Messages
20,382
Location
0035
Bet that "focuses the mind" of the passengers when they are getting on the bus! :lol:

Although if I want to travel with the Dublin Bus Co. I can look up their fares online

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Fare-Calculator/

Which is more than can be said for most British operators who typically only publish the prices of their day tickets. There are of course a good few exceptions, such as National Express.
 

wintonian

Established Member
Joined
15 Jan 2010
Messages
4,889
Location
Hampshire
Although if I want to travel with the Dublin Bus Co. I can look up their fares online

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Fare-Calculator/

Which is more than can be said for most British operators who typically only publish the prices of their day tickets. There are of course a good few exceptions, such as National Express.

It is a gripe I have had with the bus indistry for some years, unforunatly most are yet to change their ways.

However, Wilts & Dorset have gone some way to correct this and another company I use sometimes also publishes full tables, though I can't remember which company it is.
 
Last edited:

enviro

Member
Joined
16 Feb 2012
Messages
10
Just contact customer services, Go North East.are customer friendly.

The driver could have just forgot like you did, most drivers will only start with £5 or £10 float, this is what the company issue at the beginning of employment.

When the driver logs off the last bus of his duty he is issued with a ticket that tells him what he needs to pay in at the depot, if he has forgot about your £5 it will be sitting in his bag. If he remembers it should be put through as lost property,

As for the CCTV remarks, the only way this will be checked is if you put it in as a complaint.
 

bb21

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
24,151
I wish I shared your optimism bb21! The time has been and gone, anybody could come up with a tall tale after the event. I doubt the bus company will look upon this kindly, and if by some miracle they do, I'd be using one of those five pounds to buy a lottery ticket quite frankly!

I'm not very optimistic here, at various points over the years I have been asked to write down my details and someone will contact me as the till obviously will not tally - I have yet to be contact by any of these companies.

I must say that my experiences differ from yours. Twice I happened to forget my change. Once on Arriva (back in Fox County days) where the driver chased me up and gave my my fiver after I got off completely forgetting about it. On the other occasion I got off a Kinchbus service and forgot that the driver still owed me £3. The following day I rang the company up and a cheque duly came through the letter box three days later.

Ferret, I will take your advice and buy a lottery ticket when/if it happens again. :)

bb21, if £10 is perfectly acceptable for a £3.95 fare (and I presume any fare) how much change do you think bus drivers should carry?

It doesn't matter how much he carries. He can run out of change any time of the day. The OP is not expecting the driver to carry hundreds of pounds in change. Grantedly the driver did not "keep" his change on purpose however the OP was clearly frustrated at losing £5 for no good reason and it is clear from his post what happened exactly. He was not expecting the driver to carry hundreds of pounds of change. This also explains why I changed the title.

It is a gripe I have had with the bus indistry for some years, unforunatly most are yet to change their ways.

However, Wilts & Dorset have gone some way to correct this and another company I use sometimes also publishes full tables, though I can't remember which company it is.

I have a W&D fares book from 1999, which I was sent after I complained repeatedly of being charged the wrong fare. The drivers still had to manually enter the fare in those days and all carried the book, however some were super-protective of it in times of dispute despite the book clearly saying "available for inspection by passenger at any time" or words to that effect on the cover. The look on the face of some of them was priceless whenever I produced leaves from it to correct them after being refused access to their copy.

NCT used to publish all faretables on their website (not sure if they still do now that it is flat-fare within city boundary), amongst others.
 

wintonian

Established Member
Joined
15 Jan 2010
Messages
4,889
Location
Hampshire
I have a W&D fares book from 1999, which I was sent after I complained repeatedly of being charged the wrong fare. The drivers still had to manually enter the fare in those days and all carried the book, however some were super-protective of it in times of dispute despite the book clearly saying "available for inspection by passenger at any time" or words to that effect on the cover. The look on the face of some of them was priceless whenever I produced leaves from it to correct them after being refused access to their copy.

There was a time when it was a rule in most of the companies that the fares book must be carried by all drivers on all journeys, however I don't recall ever seeing any of them look up are fare in times of dispute, just an instruction for the passenger to write in to the company.
 

Ferret

Established Member
Joined
22 Jan 2009
Messages
4,124
Haha bb21 - the trick is not to do it in the first place!;)
 

william

Established Member
Joined
13 Jul 2007
Messages
1,439
Location
UK
I tried phoning the customer service department last night at approximately 7pm. Although I got through to someone relatively quickly they were only able to deal with key card inquiries and I was advised to call back tomorrow during office hours. One thing I did find on their website was a local 0191 number. I took a note of this as I could call free using my mobile minutes allowance. I tried ringing at 9am this morning whilst I was out doing some volunteering for a local charity. I was told I was number six in the queue so decided to hang up and try later when I got home where I could wait in warm surroundings on loud speaker whilst typing up some results. I called back at 9.55am and was told I was 8th in the queue. I waited 20 minutes before I had my call answered by a customer service advisor. I informed her of my situation and she asked for some further details, namely the driver, bus and trip ID from the ticket. She then said I would have to wait up to 5-7 days whilst the drivers money was checked and for the driver to be interviewed and CCTV checked if it needed to be. She took my contact details and then I asked her for a customer reference number. She said she would call me back in ten minutes with a customer reference number as this would take a little while to generate. I thanked her for her time and hung up. It has now been 15 minutes and I'm waiting for a call back....
 

wintonian

Established Member
Joined
15 Jan 2010
Messages
4,889
Location
Hampshire
She then said I would have to wait up to 5-7 days whilst the drivers money was checked and for the driver to be interviewed and CCTV checked

Good grief, your only trying to obtain the change you forgot, it's not like your accusing the driver of theft.

Personally I would now feel awful and be wanting to to the driver profusely apologise for making accusations I haven't made. Maybe it's there way of getting you to go away? :roll:
 

william

Established Member
Joined
13 Jul 2007
Messages
1,439
Location
UK
I didn't understand that post, can you make it a little clearer? Needless to say I still haven't received a call back yet....
 

Rich McLean

Established Member
Joined
6 Feb 2012
Messages
1,684
Nxwm operate an exact fare system, but in fairness do advertse the fare prices
 

Anon Mouse

Established Member
Joined
20 Mar 2011
Messages
1,274
Just contact customer services, Go North East.are customer friendly.

You think so? I complained about an early morning bus not stopping at the correct bus stop and forcing me to use a taxi and I got two fob off letters before I got 3 days worth of travel. I complained a subsequent time about another early morning bus not turning up and causing me to be late for work and I heard nowt from them
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top