On the radio this morning Jim Hawkins had a call from someone who tried to pay for her fare but could not because no one bothered to collect the money,he seemed to be supprised by this,but it has happened to me several times.
Its just too easy to fare evade on todays trains,on one journey to Aberystwyth i overheard some lads saying they intended not to pay their fares,so just out of curiosity i sat not far from them,and sure enough they got away with it,i could have done the same if i had wanted to,the train companies must be losing millions nationwide.

Well there are ticket barriers now at Shrewsbury station, so that should cut down on the fare dodging..

On the odd occasion I've caught the train from Telford in an evening, I've never been charged, there's no other staff on the train apart from the driver.

I got a train from Cardiff Queen Street to Lisvane Thornhill last week and my tickets were never stamped, although I bought them in advance. Also, last October, I bought a return ticket in advance from Cardiff to Shrewsbury and never had it checked on either journey, so I paid, but I could have gotten away with it in theory if I was tight... And I've not been to Shrewsbury station recently, would be interesting to see it with ticket gates, even Cardiff Central doesn't have them...

We have ticket barriers but the're not always manned,and most other stations dont have them.

Are they (the gates) the fancy ones where you put your ticket in and it pops out of the top, opening the gate? They have those at Cardiff Queen Street Station and Newport Station.

(I did once have to get my ticket stamped walking out of Shrewsbury Station, last November, but it wasn't a fancy gate)

Hi Ching.is this an Aboriginal name or something??

I'm afraid not, it's about as random as anything can get... I made it up...

Hope you dont mind the abbreviation Ching,are you Welsh?and if so how come you found us here?its good to get 'outsiders' views,which pubs do you visit in shropshire?

Lol! "Chingwakabungya" is an old school friend of mine - he's from Staffordshire but is an honorary Salopian.

The ticket barriers now at Shrewsbury station are the fancy ones where you pop in your ticket and then it lets you through.

Yeah, most people use Ching online.

I'm a Staffordshireite as PS says, and now at Cardiff Uni, I went to school with PS. I'm generally the driver (and photographer) for our trips around Shropshire - we went to the Anchor at Anchor about a year ago as well as Clun, and we went around the Clee area at Christmas. I'm a fan of the Wharf at Goldstone, just inside the Staffordshire side of the border with Shropshire, near Cheswardine.

[Edit: Or is it just in Shropshire...?]

[It is... Oops...]

Get yourself to Bishops Castle Ching,its the centre of the universe for real ale.

Shropshire Neil, Shropshire... :rolleyes:

Shush, you ;)

Is that the Brecon Beacons Ching?

Yup - A glacial valley called Neath Valley, I made that panorama after a field trip on a snowy day a few weeks ago. I'm a Geology student, so I get out and about quite a bit, going to Pembrokeshire for 5 days next week...

*prepares to be frozen, soaked and blown away*

What do you think about these forums Ching?as i have said before,its always down to the few to get things rolling,spread the word around Ching.

The forum is good, although as I'm not in Shrewsbury much, and know little about the place, I'm afraid I often have little to contribute. I know more about the east areas of Shropshire such as Newport, where I went to school.

You ARE contributing,thats the main thing.

Next time tou come to S.bury try the central wales line ,it takes forever,but if you get a bottle of wine and plenty of food you can just sit back and enjoy.

The Welsh Marches Line is a fairly stunning one in itself, going through Church Stretton, among other places, especially in the snow, as I did once in late 2005, November I believe. It's always a pleasure to make the journey from South Wales to Shropshire by train, I rarely use the other lines though, when I'm at home in the Midlands I use my car, but I didn't bring my car to Cardiff due to parking costs and not really needing it.