The Ticket Collector

Civil servent jailed for conning London Undergound

A civil servent working for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was jailed for 18 months for conning London Underground of £22,000 by claiming fare refunds.

Trushar Patel, 30, roped in his family to fill out thousands of forms which enabled customers to claim a fare refund if they were delayed.

Sentencing the family Judge Peter Fingret said the case showed “a high level of incompetence on the part of Transport for London [TfL] and London Underground [LU]”.

“I can only comment and hope that these sentences may deter other people from obtaining cash benefits out of public funds illegally,” he said.

Prosecutor Francis Sheridan said the scheme was a “positive idea” but “the administration of this scheme was a complete shambles of Monty Pythonesque proportions”.

“No checks were carried out on the services claimed for let alone checks on whether they were late or how many of the given tubes were delayed on any given day,” he added.

GNER £5 Singles! All Routes

GNER have decided to offer people a farewell by offering £5 singles on all of its network.

For example you can travel from London to Edinburgh for a fiver or from Newcastle to Peterborough for a fiver.

As per normal for these tickets you have to book in advance at GNER.co.uk/five and have to stick to the train times on the ticket.

We have found a new GNER easier to book ticket site at http://tickets.gner.co.uk/gner/en/journeyplanning/GnerWebTISHomePage

You can also only buy this ticket online. Please dont go to ticket offices asking for this fare as they will look at you as if to say “what are you on about”.

You can buy from other online ticket sellers but you must use the promotion code “MALLARD225″. The £5 fare will come up as “PROMO FARE” and will have a different coloured background. However please be aware that thetrainline.com charges £2 for credit cardbookings.

Tickets brought for travel after mid December will be vaild on the new operator National Express East Coast, even though they will say GNER on them.

Why not book for the new year?

The offer applies to Standard Advance fares, for travel from 30 October 2007 to 27 January 2008 inclusive.

This offer is bound to be devilishly popular. The sooner you book and the more flexible you can be in terms of your travel times and dates, the better your chance of bagging a £5 ticket.

If you’re cunning, you’ll also take advantage of the two frighteningly good offers on the right.

Bookings open on Monday, 29 October 2007 and close on Sunday, 4 November 2007 inclusive, subject to availability.

Please note that when the offer starts, tickets will be available for travel up to and including Friday 18 January. On 1 November, tickets for travel to Sunday 27 January will go on sale.

You can travel between Tuesday, 30 October 2007 and Sunday, 27 January 2008 inclusive.

Seats are available on off-peak services, with limited availability on Friday and Sunday afternoons. There will also be limited availability when major events are taking place.

Please note that engineering work will take place on some weekends during this promotion and may affect journey times.

You must book at gner.co.uk/five

Seats are subject to availability, so please book early to avoid disappointment. We expect the biggest demand for travel at weekends—if you can travel mid-week you will have more choice.

If you require space for a wheelchair or have access requirements during your journey, please call our dedicated Assisted Travel Team on 08457 225 225 before you book.

Major credit, debit and charge cards are accepted as payment. No booking fee with GNER.

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