ticket inspectors

And to wrap up the year - yet another tale of tossers who enjoy bullying... everyone:  

Yours truly ended 2008 with a blazing fight with power-crazed ticket inspector on a South London bus - a verbal brawl that was as enjoyable (I won, by miles) as it was instructive to anyone who doubts that even a little power is too much in some hands..

It went like this: a bunch of us South Londoners, strangers all, were sitting quietly on the bus, riding along, and talking, sleeping, or thinking about dopey Christmas, etc, when the doors sprang open and three ticket inspectors charged on - one at each of the bus' three doors.

You see an awful lot of these drongos on the South London buses these days - and boy, did these three fancy the job at hand. They were part of that arm of Transport for London that considers ticket inspection a martial art. They leap on the bus yelling 'tickets and passes! Tickets and passes!' and waving badges, and generally shoving themselves in your startled face. Occasionally, you get ticket inspectors with a sense of humour, or who are reasonably forgiving of old giffers who've dared to board a near-empty bus three minutes before their freedom passes become valid, etc, but not these twats. No fear.

They strode up and down the bus, demanding - rather than asking - to see people's travelcards, and ripping £20 from fare-dodgers like they were taking a Christmas commission. People weren't given the chance to explain why they hadn't swiped an Oyster, or bought a ticket, as they sometimes are - they were just told to cough up the £20.

And okay, sure - people should pay for bus rides, and those of us who do pay (my travelcard costs the best part of £100 a month) don't appreciate those who evade, but is it really necessary for ticket inspectors to act out their Wyatt Earp fantasies when they catch someone out? Do they have to loudly demand the fine then and there, insist that the transgressor shows ID, and make that person tell the whole bus where they live?