Not that I'm near the age for any free pass yet but I remember around 2002 I was in a rush to get to Esher for the racing at Sandown park. Got to Chiswick station and the train was coming, ticket office closed so I grabbed a 1-6 travel pass in time. Got to Esher and as I was walking down to cross over the course just about in time before the first race I was stopped by one of 4 ticket officers. The guy said that my travel pass was only valid up to the station before. I said il buy a return from that station and he replied NO. You need to pay a £50 on-the-spot fine, I said no and he said I will issue some paper and you have to attend court. I replied ok then, and with that, he asked for my details. He then got on his phone to do a check on my given info. He came back and said you are not registered at that address to which I replied I am. After 5 mins arguing he phoned for police assistance as I was giving false info. 40 mins it took for them to turn up only to confirm my details were correct. Not sure they were to happy either. I missed the first 3 races in total. I turned up at court where the court was in the same town as the rail company HQ but due to where i was stopped. I got about 3 min court time and was found guilty and had to pay the £50 plus £90 court fees. What a farce given I had a ticket and immediately asked for a return ticket from the prior station which I think was £3.40 if memory serves me correct. Blakey comes to mind Allways make sure your covered,you never know. Infact i think the next day Ken Livingston was in the news for not having a valid ticket strangely enough. Nothing happened
Julian Pavey ● 1480d