Commuter is wrongly stopped by cops after he used legal loophole to save £260 on Virgin train tickets

A BUSINESSMAN was wrongly detained by police on suspicion of fraud after he used a completely legal loophole in Britain's confusing fare system to get himself a cheap train ticket.

Company director Steve Morrissey, 33, would normally get the train to London from Preston - then discovered he could save more than £260 on his return journey by getting on at Lancaster, 25 miles further away.

But a Virgin Trains guard who examined his £92.20 ticket from Lancaster accused him of getting on at Preston and said he should shell out another £356 for a return from there.

The bizarre ticket prices were given even though it is 228 miles from Preston to Euston while it is 253 miles from Lancaster.

Dad-of-one Steve refused to pay up, and astonishingly police were waiting on the platform to quiz him when he arrived at Euston.

Officers grilled him for more than 30 minutes until Virgin officials agreed to check CCTV footage and he was freed without charge.

Steve, who runs a software company and lives in Blackpool, said he missed a business meeting as a result of his detention and slammed Virgin staff as "heavy handed jobsworths."

He said: "I did nothing wrong yet they were calling me a liar. They were saying I'd got on the train at Preston and not Lancaster. I've never been so embarrassed in my life."

He said the Virgin inspector had already checked his ticket TWICE after he got on at Lancaster - but later insisted he did not remember him and accused him of cheating in front of the whole carriage.

Steve gave a running commentary of his ordeal in a series of tweets which he sent to Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson.

His first tweet said: "Tickets? I show ticket. Where did you board? Lancaster. No you didn't. I didn't see you! #jobsworth."

A second said: "Update ... my choice is buy a new ticket or give my name and address for unpaid fare!!! lol I have a ticket!"

The third read: "Update ... I'm not doing either - apparently I will be met by the police! horrendous service!"

And a fourth said: "Held for over 30 minutes against my will by @VirginTrains over a complete #jobsworth! Aaaggghhhhh #missedmeeting #unhappy #nocustomerservice."

Steve - a regular business traveller between Lancashire and London - booked a last minute ticket to meet colleagues on January 31.

He said: "This particular trip was a last-minute thing and I only booked it the night before and so I looked at the prices and saw a return from Lancaster was £93, while it was £356 from Preston.

"It was a no-brainer really. Going to Lancaster is only an extra ten minutes from my house compared to Preston, so I went for that.

"When I got to the station a member of the Virgin staff checked my ticket and said it was fine. Then the same guy checked it again on the trip between Lancaster and Preston and said it was OK.

"But then the same bloke again came round a third time near Warrington and accused me of getting on at Preston.

"He said he didn't remember me from the previous two ticket inspections and said I had two choices - buy a new ticket at full price or give my name and address for them to send me a penalty notice.
"I refused to do both and so, when we got to London, the police were waiting.

"It was so embarrassing being accused in front of a crowded carriage of fraud.

"Then being questioned by police at a busy station was equally embarrassing.

"It was only when they agreed to look at the CCTV that they saw I really had got on at Lancaster. I got a verbal 'sorry' and they offered me a 50 per cent discount on my next trip - it's an appalling way to treat your customers.

"I can't believe they were so heavy-handed and refused to listen."

Last month another commuter claimed he was threatened with arrest after he got on Preston having bought a cheaper single ticket from Lancaster.

Another passenger who bought a ticket from London to Lancaster claimed he tried to get off early at Preston but was told he had to continue his journey through to Lancaster and then get a train back - otherwise he could be accused of fraud.

Local Tory MP Mark Menzies has raised the issue of confusing rail fares in Parliament.

He said: "When I first raised this ticket pricing scandal a few weeks ago, which punishes travellers using Preston station, little did I know I would be lifting the lid on what is absolutely shocking practices by Virgin.

"Based on what I am hearing from a large number of people who have contacted me, Virgin seems to have lost the plot.

"Unless Virgin can come up with a solution to this situation, I think a serious investigation is the only way forward."

A spokesman for Virgin Trains on the West Coast route said: "Virgin Trains has an excellent reputation for customer service and we want everyone to have the best experience possible.

"We're sorry to hear of Mr Morrissey's experience which falls short of the high standards we set ourselves.

"We have been in touch to offer him an apology and a goodwill gesture which he has accepted, and we will be looking into how we can learn from this incident."

Last month we revealed how greedy bosses at Great Western Railway and Abellio Greater Anglia had set secret targets for staff to dish out a minimum number of fines.

And in October a heavily pregnant mum who sat in first class on an overcrowded Great Western train said a heartless ticket inspector demanded she prove she was expecting.

Complex rail fares are set to be overhauled in a bid to stop customers being ripped off, with thousands of long-distance fares dropped so passengers are always shown the cheapest options.

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