Great Western Coffee Shop

Now, before I get started on this let me emphasize that I have *no* sympathy or patience with fare dodgers. However a few incidents I have witnessed recently make it look as if certain RPIs in the Thames valley area go out of their way to be bullying and intimidating towards passengers.

In the most recent incident a woman arrived at a gated station with no ticket, saying she could not find it but was going to look through her bag/coat etc to make sure it wasn't in there. She returned to the platform to sort through her belongings on a bench rather than blocking up the gate line and was pursued by two members of staff (one ticket examiner, one RPI) who immediately started making threats about penalty fares. When the passenger asked (quite politely) for a little more time to look for the ticket the RPI started shouting at her about how polite *he* was being and how she could not talk to *him* like that or he would prosecute her for fare evasion.

I did not see the end of this saga as I had a train to catch: my intuition is that she had genuinely purchased and lost the ticket but of course that's no excuse and it would be legitimate to issue a penalty fare under the circumstances. However three things struck me: firstly, quite frankly the RPI was a bully. I'm considerably bigger than he was and would have found his manner intimidating. Secondly, surely it is not appropriate to start issuing dire threats of court action when a passenger simply asks to be given a few minutes to search for her ticket. And thirdly, is it ever acceptable that a passenger should be so publicly embarrassed (or even humiliated) in a busy station?

I know that RPIs have a tough and sometimes unpleasant job to do and that most of them do it very politely. However there do seem to be a few out there who are, to put it politely, a bit tactless. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on this!

Of course there are two sides to every story, but as you were an unbiased observer, I don't think your story reflects well on the FGW staff concerned.

You need to have been on the International train from Brussels to Amsterdam when they do ticket ID checks, now that's scary.

The attitude wasn't needed, but following her when she walked off perhaps was, for all they know she could have been a fare dodger, intending to make an escape.

Seen a few times ways people get away from RPI's or RPO's

Some people are bullies and there are certain kinds of job that attract them -- bouncers, police, traffic wardens, customs officers, prison officers, etc. Of course most people working in these fields manage to do their jobs in a polite and reasonable way, but there are always a few bad ones and it's not easy to totally avoid employing such people.

I am sure FGW don't want their employees treating customers like this, as it will put people off travelling by train. However, this sort of behaviour will be more likely if the revenue protection officers are on commission for the excess fares they collect... does anyone know if this is the case?

Revenue Protection are not on commission.

At some stations, West Drayton springs to mind, when they have a barrier check on the island platforms, they usually put a lone member of staff on the down main platform. Not so he can check tickets as no trains are booked to call there under normal working, but as a visual deterrent to stop the little blighters legging it across the tracks to freedom!

Good.

West ATE staff, the guys who sell tickets on the train at busy times, (and who wear Revenue Protection badges), do receive commission.  However, these guys are not RP Inspectors, whom as Ollie points out, don't get commission. :-\


I take the point made above re bullies, but we in the front line tend to get bullied quite frequently by a tiny minority of the great travelling public.  Personally, I am big and ugly enough to make most wannabe scrotes think twice, but it is easy to get worn down by a constant stream of vapid excuses.  Personally, I will always cut the customer a bit of slack, should he/she approach me and deal honestly and I think that most of my West colleagues work on the same principle.