[Osem]

The Swiss have long been proud of their railways but a new, strict ticketing policy is turning the love affair sour

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21294241

The good people there tell me the formal payment for my ticket from my credit card company arrived four minutes after my train left the station. That means, they say, that I bought my ticket on the train - and that is not allowed.

Together with the letter was a fine for 190 francs (£133, $210). In vain do I protest that the policy of abolishing ticket sales on trains surely cannot be taken that far? In vain do I point to the broken ticket machine and my paid-for ticket, valid only on that day, for that journey?

And in vain are the protests of the 750 other passengers across Switzerland receiving similar fines every single day.