YEP Letters: April 7

Tribute to darts champ Eric Bristow

John Appleyard, Liversedge

I’m sad to hear of the death of former world champion darts player Eric Bristow who died after a heart attack in Liverpool at the age of 60.

Eric did much to make popular this working class sport by bringing it to our TV screens during the 1980s.

I’ve seen him a number of times over the years doing exhibitions in our area and he always seemed a gentleman. His protege of course was Phil Taylor, the greatest of them all.

Rail ‘penalty fares’ proposal: your views

Yorkshire rail users could face a “penalty fare” of £20 if found travelling without a ticket from the end of May Northern has announced. The train operator is getting ready to launch the latest phase of its campaign to “encourage all customers to buy their travel before they board”. 
By the end of May customers travelling without a ticket on a Northern train on a number of select routes - including those in Leeds Harrogate and Sheffield - could face the £20 “fine”. We asked YEP readers for their views and here’s what some of them said on social media.

Pete Mitchell

So you’re fining people because staff simply cannot be bothered to travel from one end of the train to the other collecting fares? Haha good luck with that.

Also if you put ticket machines on both platforms instead of one and that accepts cash instead of card as not many people trust card machines as they can be tampered with.

And the elderly don’t have smart phones to purchase tickets from. So why should we be issued fines when a company can not be bothered to cater for all its customers.

Sam Walker

Guards rarely check peak time tickets anyway or do anything about overcrowding by the doors.

Aaron Havron

Northern Rail is a complete joke they have the cheek to have these penalty fines but yet they’re having a strike at least twice a month.

Clifford Stead

So passengers travelling from Headingley to Harrogate will have to go buy a ticket from the sole machine on the Leeds platform, which is often broken and then climb/descend all the steps back to the Harrogate platform!

Richard Lodge

Why aren’t Northern Arriva being fined for all their rubbish services? (And don’t mention the longest running industrial dispute in this country on the past Northern Arriva franchise)

Will they make sure there are enough working ticket machines or attendants at stations to sell tickets?

Will you also get a rebate against the public subsidy Northern take, if you get caught without a ticket?

Aiden Fryer

I once got on at Bramley station on a bank holiday, no person came to take my money, Bramley doesn’t have a ticket machine. I had to get to Morley so got off at Leeds to change, the trains were every hour and I had five minutes to get the train. If I had gone to the ticket office, paid my fare and then to Morley I would have 55 minutes to wait. I thought train journeys were all about speed and ease.

Would I now be fined if there is no staff taking cash to save myself time. Come on Northern sort it out. Plus I don’t use e tickets if I have no battery I get stuck.

Lindsey Bell

There should be no excuse for not having a ticket. You can get an M-card from Metro and just top it up or even buy an e-ticket from trainline.com which shows on your phone.

Four out of every five adults in the UK has a smart phone. Paying in advance means reducing the fare dodgers who think it’s ok to not pay for part of their journey.

How many people travelling to Leeds on the Harrogate line would suddenly have ‘got on’ one stop from their destination if they thought that no one would check. I bet the train companies see it loads.

Debi Nicholson

You are not obligated to have a mobile phone or pay by card in order to travel. If you have the ability to pay at your destination then why is that not acceptable?

Although I buy a weekly pass I do object to being forced to pay in advance when the train operator won’t guarantee that a) the train will arrive, or b) that you can actually get on it if it does turn up.

Kieron O’hara

They are fining people because they are planning on getting rid of conductors, therefore there will be no one to buy tickets from eventually so they are trying to get people in to the habit of ensuring they have a ticket before getting on board.

Lorraine Whitley

I think I will fine them. I bought a ticket, they cancelled train I ended up in a taxi and no refund on ticket.

Chris Williamson

Will this help keep the trains on time? Or introduce more carriages for peak times?

Tony Caspell

As long as each station has these promise to pay tickets, then no one has any excuse.

Mick Bentley

Not all better priced fares are avaliable at the ticket machine either.

Time for Hunt to stand down

Dorothy Cawood, Leeds 25

HOW I fully agree with Dawn Fuller’s letter (YEP March 21) regarding Jeremy Hunt. He needs to stand down, he hasn’t a clue. He would be in his glory to let the NHS be privatised, we will all need to get together and stop him in his tracks. All those poor nurses, doctors and plenty more went to London on a march and where was Jeremy Hunt? He was sat in a spa. He needs to go. Leave the great doctors and nurses to do the job they have trained for.

Get in touch

The Yorkshire Evening Post wants to hear your views.

Send your letters by email to [email protected] Please keep letters under 300 words.