The fare dodger’s dilemma: Pay for your train ticket or take a chance

Coming out of my Metro station the other night, I was confronted by a row of locked turnstiles, four or five ticket inspectors in red jackets and three or four police officers in yellow jackets. A large police van was parked on the street outside.

The transport system in this area permits travellers, if they want to take the risk, to walk on and off a train without buying a ticket. What we have instead are spot checks: Inspectors descending randomly on trains, and total station lockdowns, as described above.

I live in a student area, so there is plenty of fare-dodging by hard-up young people, especially when the local brew has supplied the necessary amount of Dutch courage.

But the neighbourhood station is dangerous territory. It can be free and unchecked on Saturday night, but Stalag 13 on Sunday.

There are those who think it is worth the gamble. For travelling without a ticket, you are charged £20 (Sh2,470) on the spot; if this remains unpaid after 21 days, £30 (Sh3,700) is added; then after 35 days, another £30. Finally there comes a court appearance, a fine and a criminal record.

One culprit said recently he had been riding free throughout his student career. So when he was finally caught and charged £20, he paid up without complaint.

An alternative, which I saw one student take, was to vaunt the turnstiles and leg it into the night while ticket checkers and police watched in frustrated admiration.

Of course, fare-dodging means ticket prizes are raised. A railways official said: “It is frustrating for the vast majority of honest passengers who pay for their tickets when fare dodgers suck millions of pounds out of the railways each year.”

DO NOT PAY

Experts believe more than 110,000 train journeys are made every day around Britain by people who don’t pay for their ticket.

And in case you are interested: Yes, I do pay my fare. As an oldie, I buy a £30 Gold Card every year and this permits me to travel system-wide after 9.30 am weekdays and at all hours on weekends.

See below for the 10 best fare-dodging excuses.

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A woman mystery gambler from the North of England seems confident that Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States.

Last week, at a William Hill betting shop in Northumberland, she wagered £170,000 (Sh20.9 million) that the Democratic candidate would defeat Donald Trump in the November 8 election. Next day, she went back and bet another £13,200 (Sh1.6 million).

The odds she was given were 1/8, meaning a win would earn her £22,716 (Sh2.8 million).

The woman was not identified, but a William Hill spokesman said she was 44 and had never placed a bet before. She told staff at the shop that she saw the wager as an investment.

The biggest bet registered for Trump to date in Britain is £20,000 (Sh2.4 million) by a punter in Suffolk.

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If you are bored by my wars with Cyberworld, please skip this item. I will quite understand.

We left things where I got a new connecting cable and my iPhone was charging again. Hooray! Next day, emails which had been sent to me failed to appear and since this is the main reason I have the phone, I was less than pleased. Back to EE, where genius Michael did something to the SIM card and the emails suddenly appeared. Wonderful!

Except next day, they vanished again.

This time genius Jake (named after American Jake LaMotta, former world middleweight boxing champion, honestly!) took things in hand.

Back came the emails. “How do I know they won’t disappear again?” I asked, anxiously. Said Jake, “I would be very surprised if that happened!” Was that a cast-iron assurance or just a vague hope?

But I shouldn’t really complain. In the course of all this, genius Michael spotted that my payments were far too high for my usage. So we agreed to lower them from £39.08 (Sh4,824) per month to £12.99 (Sh1,603).

For once I had a warm feeling about Cyberworld. But will it last?

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Ten best ticket-dodging excuses, as gathered by the Daily Mail newspaper:

1. I don’t need a ticket, I’m related to the Queen. 2. I thought the railways were free. 3. I’m in the Zimbabwean SAS, on covert ops. 4. I thought if I hid in the luggage rack you wouldn’t see me. 5. I’m a freeman of the land, the law does not apply to me. 6. I thought if the ticket man didn’t see me, then I wouldn’t need one. 7. I’ve got a child’s ticket, I thought you were a child until age 21. 8. I didn’t think you would accept my money. 9. Do you know who I am? 10.

What’s a ticket?

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