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Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Two in a row ...

Unbelievable. I got nobbled again by the airline pilots this morning, who were all congregating at Notting Hill Gate this morning.

I think they expect people to use the narrow subway to change from the Circle/District down to the Central line, but me being me likes to walk up the steps (to the barrier area) and then back down the stairs/escalators instead towards the central line.

So I hop off the District train, up the steps and .. BAM! The White Shirt brigade are out in force again, except this time they've got lots of British Transport Police with them - LOTS of them (about 10 beefy guys looking menancing!) just standing around.

So I get asked again this morning, and I get my Oyster card out ... which he looks at within its plastic wallet .. and does nothing with it! Huh? What's the point of that? Why has he not got some gadget or device that enables him to swipe my Oyster to check to see if it's valid or not? (More on that later)

But first, I wander over - walk about 10 metres towards the 'down' escalators, AND GET STOPPED AGAIN! For fucks sake, this is getting pathetic.

And I say "But I've just been checked over there", but still he has to look at my Oyster card (but not do anything with it), before I am 'free' to go, and miss a Central Line train by a few seconds and have to wait 6 minutes for the next one. Nice one.

Penalty fares on the London Underground have increasedAnd the irony of it all? When I got to White City, I realised that I hadn't touched in at Wimbledon when I changed from train to tube that morning, something which they would have discovered if they'd of been able to check my card.

So why 'check' tickets (like Oyster cards) if they're not going to do anything with them. Why block corridors and slow people down instead of (say) doing it by patrolling trains instead where fare-evader can't run anywhere, and a legit passenger isn't going anywhere either and isn't slowed down, because they're sitting on the train as part of their journey anyway.


; Posted by Anonymous Wednesday, June 22, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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