A man has raised a red flag for passengers considering catching an earlier train despite their ticket restrictions.

Jack Taylor took to TikTok to express his dismay, claiming he was made to "feel like a criminal" despite holding a valid ticket. He expressed his outrage in his post by saying: "Do NOT get ANY earlier train. I HAD A TICKET. Felt like a criminal."

He dropped the bombshell in the video comments that he had paid £100 for his ticket to London. Superimposed text on his video read: "POV: Watching me get fined for getting an earlier train."

The video opens with a ticket inspector demanding what appears to be £54.50. Jack is audibly shocked, exclaiming: "Fifty pounds? " but then the inspector corrects him: "£154 sir."

As Jack disputes the hefty fine, stating "it's too much money" and protests his inability to pay such an amount, the inspector stands his ground and insists that the sum is "not negotiable". He's left with two stark options: either deboard at Darlington paying only for that part, or shell out the full £154, reports the Mirror.

Eventually, Jack relents and hands over £9.40 to travel up to Darlington. In a pointed exchange, he questions the inspector: "Do you feel mean doing this? " The inspector's response: "No sir. Everyone else on this train has paid the exact same price."

Ultimately, Jack found himself forced to "disembark the train" and wait "an hour and a half" until his proper train was due.

The situation involving the 16 year old and the hefty fine has set social media ablaze with opinions. One user commented: "Ticket inspectors were definitely the kids that reminded the teachers they'd set homework just as everyone was leaving."

Another exasperated user posted: "Ticket inspectors are the true villains they go beyond doing their jobs to just being plain mean."

Meanwhile, a third remarked: "God why do they scale SO MUCH if you get an earlier one? They're still getting the money, not like you hopped on for free."

Contrastingly, some users offered a stance in support of the train inspector, with one person adding: "I am confused. Did you get on a train for which you did not book the ticket for? Cuz if you booked a ticket for a flight, you can't expect to get on an earlier flight can you? ".