Anyone who lives or works in London has got used to seeing people outside the tube stations dispensing free magazines and newspapers.
So I was quite pleased yesterday morning to discover someone offering copies of the Times outside Oxford Circus. I had a train journey later, and hadn't read the Rupert's Finest in a while. Grabbing a copy seemed a no-brainer.
Which is why I was then rather thrown by what happened next. So much so that I had to ask the woman with the papers to repeat what she was saying 3 times before I got it.
She wanted 80p.
For a 'free' paper.
I very quickly went from being someone interested in seeing what the Times was up to, to someone rather annoyed with the brand for trying to trick me.
Lesson: if you aren't free, don't dress yourselves in free's clothes and behave as if you are (a principle that could apply to any 'benefit' actually). You'll only piss people off.
