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Metrolink axes some in-app ticket purchases to crack down on fare dodgers

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 2nd June 2022

Metrolink has announced a big change to the way passengers buy tickets in a bid to crack down on fare dodgers.

Transport for Greater Manchester’s tram network has said that it wants to stamp out people riding the service without paying.

Metrolink updated people yesterday to say that they know ‘most of our customers are honest’ but that some are travelling without tickets.

Single day travelcards are being axed from the Get Me There app in an attempt to ‘protect Metrolink for the future’.

It means passengers will need to either use contactless, or buy tickets from the machines at stations before boarding.

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Metrolink trams at Manchester Victoria. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The changes will come into effect on Monday 13 June.

There are no barriers at Metrolink platforms, so at present, people can board a tram without buying a ticket – and get away with it until ticket inspections take place.

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If inspectors board and passengers are found to be travelling without a ticket, they face a fine of up to £100. But the current Get Me There app allows people to buy a one-day ticket on the spot.

Read more: Two million people estimated to be suffering from long COVID in the UK

Metrolink said: “We know that most of our customers are honest, but we also know that some passengers are travelling without a ticket and using the app to avoid a standard fare during a ticket inspection.

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“If you do need a single ticket or 1-day travelcard, the best option is to travel contactless. Just touch-in at a smart reader, with your contactless card or device before you board, and touch-out at your destination stop using the same card or device. We’ll work out the single fare, or 1-day travelcard fare, for the zones you’ve travelled through.

“If you travel on multiple days during the week (Monday to Sunday), we’ll charge for each day until the total reaches the weekly cap for the zones you’ve travelled through. The rest of your journeys in those zones will be free until the end of the week.”

Featured image: TfGM

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Tameside police officers hailed ‘absolute heroes’ after saving the life of a seven-year-old girl

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Two Tameside police officers have been hailed as “absolute heroes” after saving the life of a seven-year-old little girl.

It comes after emergency services were called to an address in the Greater Manchester borough of Tameside earlier this week (29 November), and found a young girl who was struggling to breath and coughing up blood after choking on a sweet.

Police Constables Aaron Kincaid and James Blundell, from Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) Tameside division, were first on the scene.

To the huge relief of the girl’s parents, who were said to be “understandably distressed” and concerned for her welfare, PC Kincaid jumped straight into action and was able to utilise his first aid training to full effect by going on to successfully dislodge the sweet from the youngster’s throat, and then helping to calm her down before the paramedics arrived.

Whilst PC Kincaid looked after the little girl, PC Blundell did “everything he could” to help the parents remain calm.

Paramedics then took over once they arrived, and the young girl was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Reflecting on the incident, and hailing his officers “absolute heroes”, Superintendent Mike Walsh, from GMP’s Tameside district, said: “PCs Aaron Kincaid and James Blundell acted without hesitation during the incident, and took control of the situation that they were faced with.

“They deserve every credit for staying calm under extreme pressure and for working together as a team and utilising their training to lifesaving effect, and I’m sure the girl’s parents and family will consider them to be absolute heroes.”

“We’re both glad that we were in the right place at the right time,” PC Kincaid added.

“I have a daughter the same age as the little girl who needed our help, and I cannot tell you how much of a relief it was when she started breathing normally and said she was okay after I had managed to dislodge the sweet.

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“I remember saying, ‘Thank God for that’.

“The little girl gave me a thank you hug before she went to hospital, but I couldn’t have done what I did without PC Blundell’s assistance, so it was a real team effort.”

Featured Image – GMP

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Someone has plastered posters advertising ‘authorised drug zones’ all over Manchester city centre

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson The fake posters promoting crack and heroin zones.

Posters promoting ‘authorised’ drug use and sales have appeared all over Manchester today.

The posters even include Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council logos – though, obviously, without the consent of either authority.

The fake posters have also been springing up in other cities, with locals in Leeds spotting them all over the place yesterday.

They read: “Crack and heroin zone. The sale and use of Crack and Heroin is authorised in this area.”

The fake posters have been spotted outside the Central Library and in the Northern Quarter, as well as at locations in other parts of the city.

They were quickly removed by authorities, who say they were posted illegally.

West Yorkshire Police said yesterday: “We are aware of fake posters that have been illegally posted at locations in and around Leeds city centre and are making further enquiries.”

Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council have also been approached for comment.

Manchester mayoral candidate Nick Buckey wrote on X: “The lack of action to the drug epidemic in Greater Manchester is so huge that people thought these posters were legitimate.

“When jokes seems like reality then we know we have a problem.”

It appears that the group behind the drug posters project is Pattern Up, a ‘young artist collective from Brighton making their mark on the streets with provocative and witty installations’.

Plenty of people seem to have fallen for the stunt, believing it’s real, with one person posting on Instagram: “Can’t find anything online so surely fake news unless someone has a source.”

Another wrote: “Hahaha f*ck off this can’t be legit.”

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Featured image: User submission

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