Forums The Vibe Chat Does anyone know…

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  • #1051653
    Moonie
    Participant

      If Swansea or Abergavenny train stations have barriers? And if so how likely they are to be in use? Cheers 🙂

      #1245543
      DaftFader
      Participant

        Right my boys’ll be waiting outside for you blood fair doger … NNEEENAAWWNEEENAWWWWWW

        #1245545
        Moonie
        Participant

          ???? hhaa

          #1245539
          General Lighting
          Moderator

            Swansea’s barriers are only used when the train station is staffed – for health and safety reasons and the barriers not always working with some tickets. I do not know what the staffing hours are though.

            It has been 5 years since I lived in Reading and had any reason to travel in that area, and by the time I left i had a professional job and was at an age where it made more sense to pay the train fare than add a criminal record for dishonesty/theft onto my existing one for drugs (it would be viewed as morally worse especially for a man in his 30s compared to a younger chap in his 20s, who is allowed a few more “mistakes”).

            Also as amusing as daftfaders reply is – you don’t know if the cops or anyone else monitoring this forum for raves might actually pass on info to BTP that folk are trying to bunk the train in this area.

            That said, people from your area and my former town often unintentionally board a train from Paddington and end up falling asleep on it and end up in Bristol, Swindon or Wales having fallen asleep or being otherwise altered in conciousness and missed the stop at Reading.

            I am not sure if its easy (or adviseable) to do this “on purpose” with a valid Reading ticket, and what Great Western do, whether they let you off, make you pay the extra or have you arrested by BTP there and then – even in ’05 (last year you could listen to the cops on radio scanner)

            I remember them being quite harsh on young folk they found trying to blag the fares including friends of mine. If they said they were “poor/homeless” and their addresses didn’t match up they got a bed for the weekend – in the cells! (if they gave a valid address they got a civil debt lodged against them for a much higher fare than the legal one).

            Even if the proof of fare dodging wasn’t 100% it was viewed enough to arrest on suspicion,and they were cautioned and/or released without charge on monday morning the feds would keep them in the whole weekend, the idea being that the real punishment was losing the weekend – and not being able to use the free journey to meet their friends. Also the view was that if they were in work they wouldn’t risk their job and if they did it was their fault if they lost it because of their crime.

            ironically a Suffolk copper recently told me that he viewed it as incorrect procedure to use arrest in this manner as a punishment as the person arrested is innocent until proven guilty, but railway staff, BTP and local cops in some areas do or did this all the time…..bear in mind also that a generation before you has tried all these tricks and the same folk are working on the railways as when I was in my 20s….

            #1245546
            Moonie
            Participant

              Skipping the train in general is something I do on a fairly regular, basis, I’m not going to give away my big secrets on here, some of which you probably know, but I manage to get from here to various northern cities, with barriers, without incident pretty often. The question was more to see what I need to set myself up for.

              As for criminal records, whilst in general I totally agree with what you say, I’ve kind of used up my mistakes and definitely have more “morally wrong” things on there than theft. Not something I’m proud of at all btw.

              #1245549
              manaman
              Participant

                be polite, their mostly sound, if they want to be tyrant, so what, its the rules of engagement.
                Got put off a train in chester, coming back from ireland in 98, went to a pub and watched england beat columbia 3-1,
                only had the price of half a lager, a spanish girl and her landlady sat beside me, we talked, and after awhile i heard the landlady say ‘i could do with a ride’, ‘me to’ said the spainish girl. Result, jumped a 125 from crewe to london the following morning, nothing said. Life’s mostly good take a chance

                #1245540
                General Lighting
                Moderator

                  TBH I haven’t reguilarly used the trains since moving away from London/SE England, and before privatisation at least travelling to and from London from Reading and to places like Oxford was affordable even for a teenage lad and this is in my early/mid teens as well before I had a job.

                  I think since privatisation there is a certain amount of leeway given at least by older rail workers (i.e the ones what started when it was British Rail) to those who genuinely cannot afford the cost of travel, are and are small number in out of the way areas, at off peak times and don’t attention to themselves.

                  After all the frontline workers what do the heavy, dirty dangerous stuff and put up with not even being able to have a beer when they want to let alone drugs don’t see that much of the fares especially outside London – at the moment the money goes to the bosses and investment companies.

                  however in my current area not only are fares expensive, there are a lot of otherwise middle class youths (many even can afford cars or had them but lost their licenses for driving like muppets) what go around treating bunking the train as a game and enjoy baiting up and abusing the NXEA staff, and then wonder why they end up getting themselves nicked. Worse. they do this after legal raves in known local venues, and also are surprised to find out the Norfolk cops and BTP talk to each other and that the railway incidents get linked with the licensing costs and policing of the events.. One of the young chaps on here was berating people he knew for doing this and he was 18 at the time but smart enough to realise how foolish everyone was being..

                  And some older people do this too, one of which turned out to be a hard right winger actually carrying bombs. Not as dangerous as the bombs of the norway terrorist, but bombs nevertheless and in a town where many of my friends live (ironically this piece of scum was from Reading and had been trying to stalk the ethnic peopele in a squat my mates had when I lived there). in that case I’m wholly glad he got turned over – people were saved from being hurt.

                  That said I think I may have evaded a fare from Diss to Ipswich at least once, not even intentionally but simply because the ticket machine was fucked and there wasn’t even anyone checking on the train and the barriers at Ipswich were locked open so clearly the train companies can afford not to collect the money all the time.

                  I bet people from other European countries are reading this and laughing hard at us English, when its not rocket science to have affordable reliable train services where no one really bothers to evade fares as its a few euros.

                  For instance €50 would take me and a bicycle from the Hook of Holland to Groningen (near the German border) whereas it would not be enough for peak time travel to London or Reading from Ipswich… elsewhere in NL or DE trains, buses etc run at all hours at fair prices (and their railways are privatised as well because of EU rules, its just their socieites are better at working together…)

                  #1245547
                  Moonie
                  Participant

                    Ticket for a family of four from Budapest to Gyor (about 1/6 of the width of the country): £8

                    Ticket for one person to get to the edge of London from the centre: £22

                    #1245541
                    General Lighting
                    Moderator

                      apparently even Scotland is better as some old boy (a Scotsman) on another forum said he got a £15 ticket what would take him from Glasgow to up way beyond where Raj lives and he could use the trains as much as he wanted, and he was really glad for it as he could get out of the city and look at the nature/wildlife. Apparently its cheap because their countrys devolved government subsidise the fares. he wasn’t that old either, only in his late 50s so it wasn’t a pensioners rail card. Maybe it was off peak trains only but its more than us English get..

                      #1245544
                      Fizzbombheid
                      Participant

                        ride the train
                        Guatemala stylee!!

                        aye awright! i seen a film :crazy_dru

                        looked good though……….. but me reckons it’be bit chilly in Blighty right enuff

                        raaa

                        #1245542
                        josh07
                        Participant

                          abergavenny hasn’t got barriers at all

                          #1245548
                          Moonie
                          Participant

                            Cheers mate

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