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…)

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..

abergavenny hasn’t got barriers at all