[hstudent]

On a train last week I had a chat with the man sitting next to me, who turned out to be a Northern Rail conductor. On the same day some non-Northern Rail staff were at Knutsford station checking people's tickets (the first time I've seen any there since Regional Railways were running the service)

He said that if someone purchased a return ticket from Knutsford to Manchester from the ticket office costing £5, then the full £5 spent at the ticket office would go to Northern Rail. However, if a £5 ticket to Manchester was purchased from the third party ticket checking staff then only £2.50 would go to Northern Rail. If the same ticket was purchased from the conductor on the train then about £4.50 would go to Northern Rail, with the conductor earning some commision. Likewise if a Manchester to Knutsford ticket was purchased from the Virgin Trains ticket office at Manchester Piccadilly then Virgin Trains would earn a similar rate of commision.