How to Scam a Tourist

Well the ticket inspectors on the Budapest Metro seem to have perfected the art of fleecing hapless tourists out a good 25 euro.

Visitors to the city have reported how often they can't buy metro tickets at some stations, particularly on line 1 which stops at most of the city's top tourist sites. Ticket offices are often closed and when machines are available they are usually broken.

Now it seems that eagle-eyed inspectors are carrying out patrols, cannily accompanied by an interpreter so dumb-founded pleas of ignorance will not fall on deaf ears, ready to pounce on travellers who have decided to try their luck without a ticket. The inspectors have been spotted watching tourists struggling with byzantine Hungarian ticket machine technology, checked them giving up and darting onto a carriage before making their move. Once inside our sitting ducks are surrounded, marched off the train and walloped with a 6,000 ft (around 25 euro) fine.

The best way to avoid falling victim - to what surely amounts to as a scam - is to stock up on your metro tickets in advance; you can get them from kiosks. Or walk. Buda and Pest ain't big.