Trouble on the trains NORTHERN [...].

Trouble on the trains NORTHERN Rail is adding Huddersfield-Sheffield to its long list of penalty-fare routes.

Passengers who fail to buy a ticket before they board will be fined PS20 or double the cost of a single ticket, whichever is the greater. So, fine for the foreignowned private monopoly bosses and their bonuses, fines for the customers.

The machines are supposed to be fail-safe. In my experience, they're not. And even when they are working, it's like doing your 11-plus again to buy a ticket.

It only takes one confused old codger or a large family to mess up the whole system, and then we have to buy from an overworked guard/conductor.

And yes, that is the one that Northern Rail wants to get rid of.