Fare dodger bingo card created by Northern train operator - how many have you heard?

The train operator’s conductors and revenue protection teams interact with millions of customers every year, 95 per cent of which do the right thing and have a valid ticket for travel.

But the five per cent who attempt to travel without a ticket seemingly draw their excuses from a very small pool, including vanishing purses and wallets, mystery benefactors paying for their ticket at a later date and false claims of ticket machines not working – something which staff have been able to fact check since May 2022.

Claims of tickets being on mobile devices that have ran out of power, a topic highlighted earlier this year following Northern’s partnership with mobile phone charge provider BattPoint, is another popular excuse.

For those unable to come up with a good one liner in time, pretending to be asleep during ticket inspections is something of a last resort.

Jason Wade, head of retail operations for Northern, said: “Our colleagues have seen every tactic and heard every excuse.

“Everyone has a legal duty to buy a ticket before they board one of our trains. Why some people think they’re exempt from that rule is, quite frankly, a total mystery to me.

“There are eight excuses on the bingo card – and I know some of my colleagues wouldn’t have to wait very long to call a full house.

"There are so many ways to buy a ticket these days – there really is no excuse.”