the theme park thing, as much as it sounds unbelievable, is a real thing some tourists believe. I encountered people who thought that the city of Cambridge was a theme park multiple times in my old job - usually they wanted to know where to buy tickets to enter the city
TDIL that in Cornwall they've had problems with American tourists walking into houses and having a picnic in people's back gardens because they didn't believe people actually lived there and they were at a theme park/museum π¬
@liam43102 the immediate move to 'why aren't you going after the real fare evaders' to me is a big flashing sign of someone who kicked off because they conceive of fare dodgers (and criminals) as a separate underclass and they can never be criminals regardless of if they break any laws
Hi, @WestMidRailway, I am lodging a formal complaint.
Despite holding a valid ticket, I was forcibly ejected from your train over an inadvertently expired attendant railcard. I immediately offered to buy a replacement on the spot, but your lack of onboard WiFi made it impossible.
Your staff member behaved with outrageous aggression, treated me like a criminal, and removed my bags without permission.
This is typical of modern Britain: fare dodgers roam freely while decent, paying passengers are singled out for disgraceful abuse.
You should be deeply ashamed. Your franchise deserves to be stripped at the first opportunity.
@liam43102 The point being, if you have a rule set to prevent fare evasion like this, you have to apply it equally. There is no magical distinction between this guy and any other fare dodger
@liam43102 I might suggest my experience as a gateline operator probably gives me a lot of those than you, but you seem to have made your mind up already
@uncreativetom Equally now if crossrail was extended to ebbsfleet it would take a lot of pressure of st.pancras to have at least a handful of international trains stop there
@uncreativetom For ebbfleet, sure, but Ashford made a lot of sense because it could take passengers from all over the south - especially if services along the south coast (Hastings but then onto eastbourne + Brighton) were improved (electrification) as there had been plans for in the past
@breadandposes the argument doesn't make any sense anyway because a slower railway with tighter curves = more land + more infrastructure needed which is obviously not cheaper