(24 Feb 2014, 9:45 pm)aureolin wrote Photos are interesting. I don't condone the last one in the slightest as it's clearly beyond reasonable force. The other two though, I can't see anything wrong with? Assume they're being pulled for not having valid tickets? I think this whole thing with "Checky Watch" has done nothing but create a witch hunt.
I can't imagine some of the shite that these folks have to put up with for doing their job. I've seen them spat at and had abuse hurled at them, and I rarely use the system! Nobody deserves to have to put up with that in their workplace.
You'd assume the person in the wheelchair would have a Gold Card? If he had lost the Gold Card coming home from a hospital appointment or something, then they're going to pounce.
As for the second one - nothing wrong with it as such, but it's the fact that the girl is just a kid... Granted if you let her off once, she'd probably do it again... I just think they take pleasure in doing it though.
Nexus has complained about "Checky Watch" in the past (see here), but nothing has been done about it. The claims from the founder of the group are quite moral, actually: "But the site’s creator, Ben Heywood Potts, 21, from Jarrow, has taken to video-sharing site YouTube to stress that the purpose of the page is to slash the price of tickets, and not to travel for free."
From that perspective, I don't disagree with the group activity. It also provides me with a few cheap laughs when they get some mug shots of the inspectors (of whom are rather familiar with the group founder and have willingly taken one or two "selfies" with him in the past). Quite often I find posts being made by the group administrators defending inspectors, rightly saying that they are 'only doing their job'.
Don't get me wrong, I agree completely that they shouldn't have to put up with the things they do get put through - but I also think it could be avoided in many cases, if their stance wasn't quite so aggressive. My friends from school don't use public transport much but they have such a bad impression of the Metro primarily because of the inspectors that they regularly see. I can see exactly where they're coming from too, and it's so rare you hear stories like this concerning bus drivers - I don't think that the inspectors you see on buses are seen as so much of a threat either.