I love trains, but it’s easy to see why so many have been turned off an entire form of transport due to rude and unempathetic management decisions.

Ever since moving to Greater Manchester in 2022, I have been in awe of the beauty of England’s North West.

I can’t drive, so the railway is a natural choice for quickly accessing the heart of our countryside.

Whether admiring the calm waters of Entwistle Reservoir, listening to the silent beauty of the Saddleworth Moors, or conquering the vast heights of the Peak District, the train can get anyone there no matter their ability to drive.

Earlier this week, I decided to get a Northern train with my bicycle to Littleborough, Rochdale. It was to be a quick excursion, a bike ride to Mytholmroyd to take in the views and fresh air.

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After absent-mindedly buying an e-ticket on my phone, I walked to the platform.

It was only then that I realised my mistake; in my haste to catch the last of the daylight, I had forgotten to bring my portable charger, meaning my phone might run out of charge by the time I needed to return.

Being unable to show my ticket could leave me liable to a £100 fine, plus the cost of a ticket – much more than I was prepared to bargain for on a quick excursion to our local countryside.

I showed my ticket to a member of Northern’s staff and asked if I could instead get the return portion of my ticket printed off.

Had I selected a different option in the app, I would have been able to do so for no difference in price. However, I was told this was impossible as I had gone through the barrier – even though I’d not got on any train.

It was then I took to X, formerly Twitter, to voice my frustrations about the limitations of the train company’s system. I didn’t think requesting a printed version of my ticket was too much to ask.

What I got in response was typical of the modern Britain train system, where passengers are treated with contempt.

Rather than a simple apology for the inconvenience and maybe an offer to pass my frustrations to management, a Northern customer service agent spotted their opportunity to teach me a lesson in responsibility.

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I was told: “It is your responsibility to ensure your device is charged and ready to show your ticket. We are unable to print off E-Tickets and wouldn't be able to access your account to do so anyway.”

This response has gone viral on social media, with many outraged at the tone and unhelpfulness of the company’s response, many spotting an irony in a lecture on responsibility from a company that regularly delays or cancels its services, or, indeed, has not run a service to Bolton on weekends for much of this year.

Though most have been critical of the company, some have agreed that it was my fault for forgetting my portable charger, and think I should be punished for my crimes with the cost of a new ticket.

At the time of writing, Northern’s response has 22 million views on the social media site – far outweighing the 2.5 million views of my original tweet.

The thread continued and I asked if I could refund the unused part of the e-ticket and instead buy a paper ticket at my destination – no dice, the refund is not guaranteed.

The response from Northern (which is owned by the Department for Transport) is, sadly, entirely congruent with a network that chooses to treat its passengers as potential criminals.

Signs across vast swathes of the rail network inform passengers of the different ways they could be fined, such as by forgetting their Railcard or their phone dying. ‘No excuse’, the campaigns read. Signs on mirrors in station toilets ask passengers whether they could be looking back at a  ‘fare dodger’.

The Bolton News: A now-deleted post from Chiltern RailwaysA now-deleted post from Chiltern Railways (Image: X (formerly Twitter))

Complicated restrictions understood by only the savviest and informed even mean some Railcard-discounted tickets are invalid if used at certain times, despite the ticket itself saying it can be used ‘anytime’.

Rail operators will refer those caught out to the small print. Rules are, of course, rules.

The same doesn’t appear to apply the other way, however. I have been on several Northern trains which have suffered from delays of more than 15 minutes.

At this point, Northern’s own rules, detailed in their Passengers’ Charter, would dictate that an announcement is made informing passengers they can claim compensation for their delay.

From my experience, this rule is rarely followed, to seemingly no consequence.

I have since been contacted by several people with far worse stories than mine.

One woman told me she was fined for travelling without a ticket when her bag was stolen while she was on the train.

Another had forgotten to renew his £30 Railcard one month prior and was fined £100 and retroactively charged the cost of full-price flexible tickets for each journey he had made in the past month, totalling up to more than £300 in penalties.

It appears ticket inspectors can actually find out whether you had a ticket after all – they just won’t bother unless they can extract more money from you as a result.

On Sunday, I met a man while travelling to Liverpool who had the cost of his journey doubled after getting on a train three hours before his allotted departure.

His crime? Thinking that his flexible outbound ticket also meant he had a flexible return ticket as well.

The rail companies appear only too eager to capitalise and profit from genuine human error, compounded by complicated, arbitrary, and downright nonsensical restrictions.

Is it any wonder passenger numbers across Great Britain are still below pre-pandemic highs?

In the end, my journey to and from Littleborough was mostly uneventful.

My phone didn’t die, and I didn’t need to buy a new paper ticket. It was all a load of online noise for nothing.

Two days later, I saw Dune: Part II at the Vue cinema in Manchester.

In the small print, the company says you can ask a member of staff to print the ticket for you. They did so with a smile, and their till system even wished me to ‘have a great day’.  

So much for teaching me some responsibility.

Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern in the North West, said: “As with all train operators across the UK, everyone has a duty to buy a ticket or obtain a ‘promise to pay’ voucher before they board the train and be able to present it to the conductor or revenue protection officer during a ticket inspection. The overwhelming majority of our customers – upwards of 96 per cent - do just that.

“Anyone unable to present a valid ticket for their journey may be issued with a £100 penalty fare – and there is an independent appeals process if the customer wishes to outline any mitigating circumstances.

“We welcome over one million customers on-board our trains and into our stations every week and interact with thousands more on social media and other customer service channels.

“Those exchanges strive to be polite, considerate and respectful of others whilst acknowledging the facts in play and the importance of treating all customers fairly.”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.