Bendy Bus Revenue Protection Raid 2

Bendy Bus Revenue Protection Raid at the E&C #2

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Earlier today I was strolling past the London College of Communication (formerly London College of Printing) at the Elephant and Castle. I stopped briefly to watch a Nigerian student taking an abstract student picture of a broken window pane. Just to see what it was like, I stared intently at what he was doing and tutted at him when he looked over his shoulder; as if to say 'what are you taking a stupid picture like that for?'. People do this to me several times a day and I was curious to know what it felt like. I have to say it didn’t actually do very much for me and I won’t be doing it again; preferring instead to let people go about their business without staring at them and making noises like a twat.
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Anyway, this budding photographer really was a loser. Whilst he was focusing intently on glass shards, an altogether more interesting scene was taking place just around the corner.
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I wrote a post about violence on London public transport last week and posed the question …

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Hands up anyone who knows of any other city in the world where bus ticket inspectors operate in platoon-sized units supported by police wearing body armour?

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And today, joy of joys, I was privileged to witness a full-scale 'Revenue Protection' raid in progress. What have I done to be blessed with such good fortune? Something like seven or eight burly inspectors, with police support, were pulling people off buses confining them up in a marked-out holding area for 'enforcement'. I was particularly struck by the ethnic mix of the participants; one group of low income black people was being manhandled and fined by another group of low income black people, all under the controlling gaze of white, uniformed policemen. All that was missing was the mirror shades and pump action shotguns with a sweet, sweet action. The old ways are the best ways aren't they.
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Unfortunately, I wasn't able to line myself up for any decent photographs. The police seemed a little edgy and, surprisingly, not particularly proud of what was taking place.
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I'm not sure what was more pathetic. The sight of over dozen men chasing poxy bus fares or the fact that the fare evaders are too dumb to buy the undated tickets that you can use time and again.
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London bus tickets cost £1.
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