Today, a train conductor destroyed my bank card: Rant!

[funke_munke]

Right, this is going to be a long one for me! It all begins this fine morning.


I get up, miss my train for work as usual, get the next one to Cardiff Queen Street without paying as there is no conductor and the office wasn't open at Cathays (one stop away). I get to Queen Street, change trains for Cardiff Bay and sit down. The train departs. Up comes a conductor, asked me what ticket I wanted and I tell him 'single to the bay from Cathays please'.

I hand him my bank card and he has a look at it, turns it over and tells me that half of the signiature strip has rubbed off and you can see the 'void' part underneath. He then asks me to see some ID or he can't use the card. I explain to him that I have no ID as the only form of ID I own has been sent off to be renewed (my passport) as I am going away in three weeks. I sort of get the feeling he thought the card was stolen, why, I don't know, I catch this train nearly every day and have done for the last six months and have never had any trouble from the usually very nice staff, even though my card has always been a right state. Anyway, bottom line, this guy was an a**hole from the start.

So then he tells me that the bank says that he has to snap the card there and then! I ask him if he's serious and he sneers and says yes. I ask him if I can just have it back to get money out and he says no and snaps the card infront of me and hands me the pieces. Then he proceeds to ask me if I have any other way of paying and I tell him that he just snapped my last means of getting money from my account so no.

To which he says 'then can you please leave the train at the next stop sir.'

To which I reply 'there's only one bloody stop on this train!' and put my headphones back on.


Anyway, he sounded very official about it, but surely it's a bit mad someone else can go around snapping my bank card?! Is this all kosher or has he pulled a fast one?

And even if it is the way things are done, can someone please explain why this guy hated me enough to be a classic knob? I mean I did NOTHING to incense the guy, I am quite pleasant haha! Would you have done the same had the rules been placed on you to do so? I know I wouldn't.

And now I have no ID and no bank card to withdraw funds from my bank . Boned.


Thoughts?

[matty-hodgson]

i'd have been sooooo pissed off if someone done that to me, i'd have been very tempted to hit him..

that's what you call a 'class A W****R'

how long will it be 'til you can get a new card?
do you have any money you can use up until then?

good luck with it pal..
hope they get 1 sent out ASAP.

[ajones]

12 inch black ribbed knobbler?

seriously, I get the impression that train conductors are the next anti-christ.

The missus was going to Bristol a couple of months ago (no obvious jokes please, especially you SiM). We check the timetables and fare and it comes to a reasonable 40 quid. Gets on the train (again, ticket office closed so with no ticket) and is charged an amazing 140 quid for the trip by the little t$*t conductor.

They say that railways are running at capacity... I find it hard to believe with OOT fairs like that.

So, other that clubbing him with the knobbler... I'd suggest taking plenty of lube next time so it ain't quite so painful.

P.S.
Did he actually contact the bank? The card belongs to the issuer, so if the issuer has told him to destroy it, I'm afraid you are SOL.

[SiM]

(no obvious jokes please, especially you SiM).

[Agent]

The bank actually owns the card, so if they instruct him to do that he is allowed to as I understand.
BUT, when I worked in retail, we were *not* allowed to keep the card if we thought it was stolen unless the till flagged it up to keep it (its linked to the bank, so they give us permission via it).

Its a weird one, as the bank actually owns the card and not you (as I understand it), if the bank decided to side with him should you kick up a fuss about it, it makes you look silly.

[Whiternoise]

I'd make a complaint to national rail tbh. And then go to see your bank and ask them about it.

Ask for the documentation that states that they may destroy your bank card from BOTH the rail company and your bank. I don't think they're allowed to do that, the most - in my opinion anyway - they can do is say sorry that's not valid and kick you off the train at the next stop (and/or charge you a penalty fare).

Seriously think about it, if you went into a shop and paid by card, how many times to they check the mag stripe? You keep hold of your card, put it in the chip and pin machine and you do the rest. Your pin is your ID. If for some reason a customer has an invalid card, you politely say we can't accept this, you don't rip it up and say the bank says so. I have a fairly good feeling that the bank would require the card to be sent back to them if found void or faulty.

[funke_munke]

i'd have been sooooo pissed off if someone done that to me, i'd have been very tempted to hit him..

that's what you call a 'class A W****R'

how long will it be 'til you can get a new card?
do you have any money you can use up until then?

good luck with it pal..
hope they get 1 sent out ASAP.

To be honest I haven't long finished work so I'm unsure yet :s. I hope I can get a new one soon though otherwise I'm buggered as I have no cash AT ALL (except a £2 tip from work haha). Nightmare aye!

P.S.
Did he actually contact the bank? The card belongs to the issuer, so if the issuer has told him to destroy it, I'm afraid you are SOL.

He didn't contact the bank, he just told me them's the rules! While being a right arrogant tosspot. I've tried googling this whole thing but can't find anything!

[ajones]

He didn't contact the bank, he just told me them's the rules! While being a right arrogant tosspot. I've tried googling this whole thing but can't find anything!

Hmmm... then I think he could be in a spot of trouble. Whilst he could argue that you had no method to pay for your travel (if the signature had rubbed off that much then... well it's something to think about), he has no right to destroy the card. He's not actually allowed to touch it if I recall corerctly... the issuer has only given you that right.

Not that complaining to the rail company will make a sodding bit of difference mind. The only thing you can do is complain to the issuer... but it's not like that will accomplish much either.

[Guy]

I wouldnt trust anyone else with my card, that conductor could have easily gone home, and done a bit of internet shopping with it etc etc.

If that was me, I would demand my card back, although theres a very fine line between demand and threaten, which in that case im not sure id be able to keep to, but then I imagine the git of an conductor would try and get me done for assualt!

[Whiternoise]

What bank are you with out of interest, and which train company was it (i presume Arriva Wales)?

[Agent]

I'll say one thing - your area is either 'soft' or he's very brave.
People have been hospitalised for less around here

[[GSV]Trig]

Guess someone failed the test to become a traffic warden and ended up as a train conducter there then...

[finlay666]

Considering they SHOULD take chip & pin the mag strip/signed bit shouldnt make much difference about the state of the card

And I would have kicked off there and then about it and threatened to sue for criminal damages

[tom18230]

Just to rant about trains, whenever I get a train, the ticket office is always closed and I have to buy on the train. I'm only 15, so I shouldn't have to pay full price, yet they insist on asking me for ID to prove I'm under 16 ... see the obvious flaw there? I'm not 16. The only possible ID I could have is a passport, and why would I carry that on a 25minute train journey into town? I always have to pay full price on the train. It only costs £3 extra for a return, but it's the principal of the thing.

[dave87]

I hate to do the whole party pooper thing, but whilst the Conductor may be a class a rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish, he at least seemed to have the right idea.

To give you an idea, I have worked in retail, and the number of dodgy/bogus things we have had tried on beggars belief. Now I know you were using your card, but have you thought how much card fraud can actually cost a company?

If that card had turned out stolen, or fraudulently used, not only would he have been in hot water for accepting it (with the Void part showing) but the company would be whatever the train fare was out of pocket. Also if the conductor had accepted a dodgy card, and that was the first time the people who found/stole/liberated the card had used it fraudulently, do you not think it would embolden them, and create greater losses for the parties involved - which will eventually come round and sting the rest of us in the wallet, and hard. Quite honestly I would rather 1 person be inconvenienced than my train fares increase exponentially to cover the cost of fraud.

I hate to burst the bubble - but you should have checked your cards to make sure they are still within the state which they can be accepted. Would you accept a cheque that had VOID written across the front? I very much doubt it, so why should a train operator?

As I said, sorry to be the party pooper, but hopefully now you'll understand why he did what he did.

[SiM]

If that card had turned out stolen, or fraudulently used, not only would he have been in hot water for accepting it (with the Void part showing) but the company would be whatever the train fare was out of pocket. Also if the conductor had accepted a dodgy card, and that was the first time the people who found/stole/liberated the card had used it fraudulently, do you not think it would embolden them, and create greater losses for the parties involved - which will eventually come round and sting the rest of us in the wallet, and hard. Quite honestly I would rather 1 person be inconvenienced than my train fares increase exponentially to cover the cost of fraud.

That's not true. At the end of the day funke_munke didn't have to pay anyway. So they are out of pocket for his fare.

If they accepted his card even if there was a possibility that it was fraudulent, from the train company's pov, there would still be positive expectation of revenue from this transaction... The train company was irrational to not accept payment in this situation... but its wasn't the company's choice, it was this individual employee's... thinking about it from the conductors pov his payoff are different, he was probably running under the assumption that he would lose his job if was fradulent, and no one would find out if it isn't, so it is perfectly rational for him to refuse funke_munke's card, I suppose, as accepting it would have expected negative utility.