Swiss media has widely reported the case of an 81-year-old German woman who was recently issued a fine on a Swiss train for presenting a ticket with the ‘wrong’ name on it. 

Her first name is Heidemarie, but she uses the diminutive, ‘Heidi’ in everyday life, and that was the name that appeared on the ticket she purchased online.

However, when the conductor saw that the ‘official’ name on her ID card was different from the one on the ticket, he not only gave her a 252-franc fine, but also accused her of perpetrating a fraud — even going as far as threatening to call the police.

Other passengers came to the woman’s defence and one even paid her fine, saying that the conductor’s behaviour toward the elderly passenger made him ‘embarrassed to be Swiss.’

Was the woman really at fault, even if inadvertently?

Tickets purchased through the SBB app or online always bear the passenger’s name and date of birth (which is not the case for tickets bought through a machine at train stations or at SBB counters).

A rule is that the name on the ticket should match the one on an official ID, which automatically excludes diminutives and nicknames, even as similar as ‘Heidemarie’ and ‘Heidi’.

So in this regard, the conductor was acting by the book, though accusing the passenger of intentionally committing fraud was excessive — especially since her date of birth on the ID matched the one on the ticket, and the conductor could also verify her identity by the photo.

Commenting on the incident, a spokesperson for the Swiss national railway, SBB, said that “train agents are working in an increasingly difficult environment and often have only a few seconds to judge the good faith of a customer.”

However, this does not exclude being flexible and treating each ‘offence’ on a case-by-case basis.

Nevertheless, the company issued an apology to the passenger “for the inconvenience.”

Another important ticket rule you should know about

If you are new to Switzerland, or are just a visitor passing through, you must purchase your ticket before you board your train; if you do it later, or after the train departs, you will be fined.

Anyone who does this, for whatever reason, is considered a fare dodger.

This means that if you are attempting to buy a ticket while standing on a platform before your train arrives, but your app doesn’t cooperate and you receive the confirmation of purchase a few seconds after the train’s departure, you are in trouble.  

If the controller notices the infraction, you will be slapped (though, thankfully, not literally) with a 90-franc fine which, depending on the distance you are travelling, may be much more than you actually paid for your ticket.

READ ALSO: Can you buy tickets after boarding trains in Switzerland? 

This is a ‘written’ rule, but there are a few ‘unwritten ones as well that you need to follow on Swiss trains to make sure you are on the right track.

These are the ones you should know about:

READ ALSO: The little-known Swiss train rules you need to respect