I have finally suceeded in beating London’s transport system. For those that live by the sword die by it also.
This morning, another early start so to get back and begin my day of unemployment as early as possible I was at Denmark Hill station at eight fifteen. There was a queue for tickets and the train was there.
At Blackfriars, if they catch you, they will kill you. It is the one place in London (possibly the world) that you can be shot for not having the correct ticket.
Though I believe they can be pretty nasty in Truro.
What to do, I can’t miss the train and be late for…well, I just can’t miss it, it was there.
I spied the Permit To Travel machine, this is a device placed in some stations by comrades in the rail service sympathetic in my cause to get things that cost money without paying.
They should probably get fired, but hey.
The permit to travel allows you to buy a bit of a ticket, it is for when the machines are broken and there is no little man behind glass to sell you anything. They are normally turned off in the morning. But today it was beckoning me.
I put in 20p and got on the train.
Essentially if I get stopped at Blackfriars, if I can show them the Permit To Travel before they shoot then I have beat the system.
There was no one to check it, I changed trains and went home, no ticket inspectors in Cricklewood either.
Had I beaten the system, or wasted 20p?