Ticket inspectors, curiously referred to as “controllers” in Hungary, are demanding self-defense weapons such as pepper spray due to the rise in atrocities comitted during their controlling, says Metro Union leader Attila Gulyas, according to Blikk.
As many as 60 attacks have occured just this year, including the one this Wednesday, when a female controller was pushed to the ground causing serious injuries. Despite this the BKK (Budapest Transport Centre) believes arming controllers would fail to solve the issue.
What both sides failed to realize however, is that it is already completely legal to carry several types of self-defense tools, even for ordinary citizens, including tear gas sprays and gas/alarm guns with a carry lincense (easily obtainable if one is law-abiding).
by Andras M. Badics
Steve Molnar
August 25, 2012 at 10:47 am
Having had a very unpleasant experience with several female controllers at Deak Ter on a Sunday afternoon having just arrived in Bp for a wedding from London, my brother and I were fined for not having clipped our tickets at the start of our metro journey. Explaining we arrived at the metro station by bus from the airport (tickets clipped) we were herded across a bridge onto the metro platform, on the way looking for the clipping machine but saw none, once on the platform the train arrived and off we went.
I can only describe the scene with the controllers as very intimidating absolutely no compromise on their behalf though we both had tickets and the clipped tickets from the bus journey. The discussion became very heated with both of us being so angry at their attitude towards us that we just threw the money at their feet and let them scrabble for it then stomped off.
This whole situation could have been avoided with a more concilliatory, flexible attitude rather than a full on confrontation adopted by the controllers. Perhaps training in this respect may reduce the incidents reported as arming them would only inflame an already volatile team which I am sure would have happened in our case.
Perhaps our mistake was to have to tried and explain to them why our tickets weren’t clipped in Hungarian…. Most countries respect the fact you make an attempt to speak the local language!
Andras M. Badics
August 26, 2012 at 1:02 pm
I’m sorry for what happened to you, but you have to realize, in the current crime-infested state of Hungary, they put up with physical violence and death threats day after day. It just gets to them and would to you and me too.
Fabio Galvis
November 13, 2012 at 5:37 pm
My experience was different: At early October I was arriving at Budapest, being my first time indeed, and I took the bus from the airport buying the ticket directly from the bus driver. Before my getting out, inspectors arrived and asked for my ticket. I showed it to them and it wasn´t clipped (I had no idea it had to be. Then, they cut off a bit of it and gave it back to me without a word or any visible discomfort. I realized, later, about my non-punished mistake and I thought that, according to my coming from the airport and my suitcases very noticeable, they guessed my condition. Or was it good luck???
Andras M. Badics
November 22, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Luck!