The new ‘Zero Tolerance’ approach from Miseryrail caught me out this morning – and a few others.
I arrived at Manor Road in plenty of time (unusually for me) to be greeted by a lengthy queue at the ticket counter. A woman was doing God alone knows what, I couldn’t hear, but she was getting money returned onto her debit card, and it took AGES. By the time she finished, the 8:26 to Liverpool had arrived at the platform, and there were still several people waiting to get tickets.
One chap asked if he could buy his ticket in Liverpool, to save him being late, but was told “no”. So that was it – the train left, leaving four or five of us to buy our tickets and wait for the next train.
This is why the new regime is ridiculous. Manor Road, and presumably several other stations, doesn’t have the capacity to sell tickets quickly at peak times (it was made worse this morning, I suspect, because it was this bloke behind the counter). A friend at work tells me she has to arrive at New Brighton with about 15 minutes to spare in the morning, to be sure of getting a ticket. That, frankly, is ludicrous.
If Merseyrail want to enforce ‘Zero Tolerance’, at least put ticket machines in the stations, so we have a chance to buy a ticket in a reasonable time frame.
And who suffers most from this new system? Not those who won’t buy a ticket – they’ll just get on like they used to, and take a chance. No, it’s honest commuters that suffer.
If Merseyrail had decent guards on their trains, who could be arsed to appear from their little compartments to check tickets, there would be no need for any of this. But no. The scrotes that jump on and off without paying have always known that they could probably get away with it, esprcially if they weren’t travelling to one of the Liverpool stations, so they’ve turned it into a major problem, and now we’re all suffering.
Anyone who regularly uses the West Kirby line will know that you almost never saw a guard checking tickets between Moreton and Liverpool, travelling in either direction. They used to pop out between Meols and West Kirby, where they were less likely to get any hassle.
I was seriously tempted to board the train without a ticket, and then offer to pay the £3:65 when I got to Moorfields, but refuse to pay the £20 fine. I don’t know what would have happened, but I’d be happy to try this, and have them take me to court.
Of course, Merseyrail couldn’t really care less. Not only do all their posters tell us how brilliant they are, they have a monopoly. So we’re stuffed.
Unless a few of us do something about it …
N.B. the funny bit about this morning is that the woman that was having the problems at the head of the queue never even got onto the train … she got her money back onto her card then wandered off out of the station. How gaulling is that?
