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I wasn't born yesterday.


Back to work tomorrow and the job is regular. Passengers present their tickets, I read them, say okay and the passenger boards my coach. The tickets for the nationwide company are easy to understand and are not a challenge. What made me laugh recently was what happened at the Cardiff University stop on Sunday. 


A male passenger presents me with his mobile telephone. It displays a message but not a regular mobile phone coach ticket. The message quotes a ticket number plus the departure time of 17.35 and arrival time of 20.50 - I  look at my loading chart and that ticket number is not featured. The passenger then declares that it was bought by credit card the previous night. 


I telephone Service Support and quote the ticket number. That ticket number is on the system but was a ticket for the 18.30 from London to Cardiff on the 4th November. The passenger then claims that he must have put the wrong date on the website when he bought his ticket and can I use my discretion and let him travel.

I hand him back his telephone and tell him that you can't book a journey on the system after departure time and that I know what he has done. He then asks to buy a ticket but sadly my coach was fully booked. What a silly man he was by not reading an old ticket properly and discovering that all journeys have a unique four character code. Writing a simple message with an old ticket number but the correct departure and arrival times does not fool anyone. To claim that he had made a mistake whilst booking was wasting his time and he may have well said "Sorry mate, I was trying to steal a free ride" and ran off in embarrassment.

I was not born yesterday, I can read tickets and I know how to spot a fraudulent ticket, it is my day job remember! Of course as you stood on the platform of my coach, the other passengers understood what was going on. They learned that you were a thief and where trying to steal a free ride. These fare paying passengers would have formed an opinion of you and this may affect their judgement when they meet another black skinned young man. This incident does not affect my judgement as I simply read the ticket and do not look at the passenger's skin colour, age or gender. Fraud is a problem on the coaches and we never know how great it is but this guy was so dumb it was very easy to spot. Now the passengers who witnessed this incident will view all black skinned young men with suspicion.

Hey dude, you have not done your brothers any favours by your silly scam!