Around 6 weeks ago I wrote about child fares. On my last trip to Salisbury today a young guy boarded the buses and asked for a child return to Salisbury. He certainly looked older than 15 but before I could say anything he said “I’ve got proof of age, all the drivers want to charge me the adult fare”. He then held out his passport. I guess most drivers, myself included most of the time, would think that someone who’s gone to that trouble must be genuine and simply issue a child ticket. Today it was different, I’d picked up no passengers at all up to that point and I was in danger of running early so anything to delay things would be of help. I took the passport and opened it at the back page …….. Date of Birth – 16 September 1992. “You’re nearly 18!” I said. “Child fares are for under 18’s, aren’t they?” he said. I then told him that once you’re 16 full fare is payable, he seemed genuinely shocked and surprised. So much so that I almost felt bad charging him full fare. I honestly believe the guy was genuine in his belief but it seems that for nearly two years he’d got away with child fares by offering his passport which nobody then checked.