Backlash at ‘confusing’ rules after student fined £80 for sitting in ‘wrong’ first class on busy train

29 comments

1. English rail (Thameslink) continues to take the absolute piss

2. Isn’t it normal to get fined if you sit where you’re not supposed to?

3. A local coach company picked me up just five minutes from my house last month, return to London was £31. I will never use a train again if I have to.

   I understand not everybody can do that as they need the rail for work, but if you can, boycott these bloody trains.

4. I don’t really get this story, he had a first class ticket but got fined for sitting in an area that got declassified as first class?

5. It’s worth more because some people are willing to pay it. The first class at the front usually is closer to the exit at big stations and also nearer the lounge if there is one. I can understand it being a big hit to a student so maybe there’s an argument for fines being proportional to income like speeding tickets but I don’t think it’s unclear that you can’t sit in those seats and millions of passengers seem to manage just fine every day.

6. I’ve read this story twice and I still don’t really understand what happened.

   My best interpretation: he didn’t have a first class ticket, was told that the rear first class section was declassified. However, he then sat in the front first class section and was fined for not having a first class ticket?

7. It’s frustrating as so many people dodge fares too.

   Why scum people off who have a ticket anyway and then just let the people who don’t pay off at the next station?

8. Why would anyone pay that instead of just moving into Standard?

9. One of my Indian friends has a criminal record for travelling on a route that wasn’t permitted with her ticket. Apparently the person who fined her (in 2014) said ‘Welcome to the UK. Please check the rules before you travel on a train.’ She was fined £350.

10. How can there be a whole article on this and it still be unclear what actually went on? Did he have a first class ticket or not? Were there multiple first class sections? There obviously are answers to these questions but how are they not made clear?

11. > According to the fuming traveller, Thameslink proceeded to block him on the social media platform after his story went viral, being viewed by more than 1.7 million people.

    From someone who used to work in customer service for a train operator several years ago, them blocking him after the story went viral seems very uncharacteristic and like the kind of response you’d expect your typical right-winger on X to give when they’re proven wrong. We were basically taught to escalate any query where a customer threatens to go to the press or their local MP to head office.

    If this student really wants to make Thameslink shit bricks, he should contact his local MP. That’ll make them cave.

12. I had to catched 3 trains to get somewhere 1hr 30 away, every single one was delayed. Was even announced on the platform one was late because a driver didn’t turn up for work.
    The railways system in the UK is an absolute joke. Run by absolute morons.

13. The whole “declassified First Class” thing is a bit misleading especially if it’s not explained properly (most likely to catch people out).

    Ideally most First Class offerings should be scrapped because the value offered to the consumer is practically nonexistent (Heathrow Express) but naturally the operators keep it around because there are some people that are willing to pay (or their employers are) a ridiculous premium for a seat with its own table and a slightly shorter walk to the station exit.

14. I ride these Thameslink trains every day.

    There are screens in the first class section that say whether or not you can sit there with a standard class ticket, that are CLEARLY visible. On some trains there are posters on the door. And I would have thought that, if all else failed, the “First Class” bit might give an indication that if you are unsure, don’t sit there.

    I mean, train companies are shits. But dammit, its not their fault if you are not paying attention to the clear and obvious signs.

15. What’s confusing about it? The student clearly tried his luck, and bringing up the rear ‘first class’ changes nothing.

    He bought a standard ticket but decided to sit in the 1st class seating area. Who cares the rear coach is declassified from a 1st class area. Buy a standard ticket, sit in a standard area. Simple.

16. I know it’s picky but this isn’t public transport in the traditional sense. Public transport used to be ‘publicly’ owned. Their job was to provide affordable services that allowed us all to afford travel across the country

    Private companies job is to make as much money as possible

    That’s the difference

17. I see the infuriating practice of putting a limited time ‘discount’ on the fine (or read another way: an extra punishment for trying to challenge it) is in place here too. I honestly don’t understand why this practice is even legal? 

18. Not sure if up North is different for a reason, but where i am i barely see people getting fines. Infact never seen one

    I catch alot of trains and seen people in 1st class with a standard ticket just told to move carriage. People with advanced tickets on the wrong train told to not do it again and let off. Same when someone doesnt have a ticket before travel from a manned station

19. Does the conductor not just say, move out? I travel Cornwall to London frequently and use Seatfrog for 1st class upgrades when its cheap. If there are ever people in there without a ticket, they just ask them to leave.

    Am I being naive and there are just conductors that set out to fine people?

20. I have been travelling 1st class for years on a basic ticket all they ever did was politely ask me to move to peasant class where I “belong”

21. Could they have just given a false name and address when they tried to fine him?

22. I think you should pay less for a train ticket if you’re left standing for the whole journey,

23. The problem i have is that they come down too hard on people making honest mistakes and pay for the ticket but fare dodgers who jump the gate or argue with thr staff get off the hook. it isnt fair

    What could be just a warning or something is made into something worse by overzealous inspectors.

24. “They spend more on “revenue protection” than actual revenue growth.”

    Well said.

    The relevant departments should reflect on this

25. Almost like the rotating messages on the screen saying first class ticket holders isn’t obvious enough?

26. If you don’t understand which first class is declassified and which is not, then maybe sit in the standard section? It’s not hard is it?

27. Fuck “first class”. They should make the whole train as comfortable as possible. The regular tickets are already expensive enough.

28. He either had a first class ticket or he didn’t.

    If he did this fine makes no sense. If he didn’t. Fine is appropriate.

29. This isn’t as bad as I assumed from the headline.

    I assumed they had a first class ticket but were somehow sitting in the ‘wrong first class’ section, but it seems like they had a regular ticket and sat in a first class section they thought have been declassified.

    I don’t know what the signage and information is like, but I’m not as raging as I was having only read the headline.

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