SE booking office staff closing up early

[RJ]

I travelled from Blackfriars to Canterbury West yesterday evening, arriving in at 19:05. The ticket office, which is supposed to be open until 19:30, was shut. I intended to purchase my ticket for travel for the following morning from there, so I asked the gateline assistants why the ticket office was shut. They covered for the clerk, telling me that he was on his break (despite his shift finishing within the hour) and that the ticket office would not be opening again. They then advised me to buy a Priv ticket for travel from the TVM the following morning if I was travelling before the ticket office was open, or to wait until the ticket office was open. Errr - I wasn't having that. Knowing my luck, I'd end up behind people wanting refunds/changeovers or asking 21 questions about their journey. I have spare time in the evening, so if I turn up well within opening hours to buy a ticket, I don't see why I should be made to wake up early to leave extra time to buy a ticket in the morning.

I was not prepared to tolerate this absolute pile of sh*t customer service, so I telephoned Customer Relations and conveyed my feelings about the ticket office being shut early in no uncertain terms. They then rang the ticket office and within a couple of minutes, the clerk emerged into the ticket hall with a face like thunder, before going back in and opening up his window. If looks could kill... It was a real pity that my cheerful demeanor upon being served was not reciprocated, but I guess service with a smile is a tall order in some quarters. Certainly not at my window .

The government pays Southeastern, using public money, to keep ticket offices open to the prescribed opening hours. Southeastern's failure to control their staff is turning this into a political matter. Given Southeastern's brutal, but harebrained approach to revenue protection, I will not stand for being inconvenienced by workshy booking office staff who want to go home early. Apparently he told the CR rep that he was performing "closing up procedures," 15 minutes before closing time. The haste with which the window was opened would suggest that his computer was still logged in, which comes as no surprise because the DfT actively enforces the opening and closing times through monitoring the computer records.

I'm fed up with the way these people carry on. I guess the moral of the story is, do not stand for being fobbed off by people who are not doing their job properly. It's up to the staff to manage their breaks and workload in such a way that will not inconvenience the customers. I've already had far too many issues at that ticket office, with staff selling me what they want instead of what I ask for and refusing to comply with the impartial retailing rules. It's also far from a one off - Canterbury West is often closed before time, hence why I didn't let it slide.

I will be travelling to Canterbury tomorrow and I don't expect to have any problems!

 

[andrewkeith5]

Complaints of this type are becoming increasingly common here, and I have to say it saddens me somewhat.

Southern seem to have developed a habit for closing their booking offices early it seems, and weekends are becoming almost a farce (a couple of weeks ago I returned to Three Bridges around 5:30pm on a Saturday to find the gatelines wide open and nobody in the booking office).

 

[island]

Kidbrooke is another one that seems to think its opening hours are aspirational.

 

[tractakid]

Good job RJ.

 

[Zoidberg]

Good job RJ.

Hear, hear.

 

[RJ]

The following day, I got to Canterbury at 19:05 and the ticket office was open. I even got service with a smile, which really does make all the difference, so I decided I wouldn't bother to lodge any official complaint.

However, things are back to normal this week. I arrived in at 19:15 on Monday and the booking office was shut, though I could see the clerk moving around in the back office. Last night (Wednesday,) I arrived in at 19:15 again. For reasons unbeknownst to me, the 18:12 down from St Pancras stopped at Wye, Chartham and Chilham - front four coaches only. The preceding stopper ran on time and the following was only running 7 late, so I don't understand why this was done. Anyway, the ticket office was shut once again. Fortunately, I bought my tickets at Blackfriars South before going into work. I like that ticket office, the clerk is always amused by the tickets I buy from him, because he's never heard of many of the places.

So this morning, I arrived at Canterbury West Station at 08:21 to catch the 08:25 service. There were around 10 people in the queue for the booking office, precisely the reason I like to buy my tickets in the evening. I put my ticket through the barrier and as soon as I walked through, I was stopped by one of the REOs who had been watching me while I was looking for my ticket. Nobody else passing through was stopped, so maybe it was just a random check. That said, it is a bit of a coincidence that he had an active involvement in the incident in April. He asked to see my ticket then took it away to confer with someone else who appeared to be equally clueless. This farce was going on for a good 3 minutes. If these ticket inspectors want to a lesson on railway geography or be trained on ticket validity, they should do it in their own time, not on mine.

I got fed up with waiting as the train had already pulled in and politely asked for my ticket back. The REO handed it back to me and said "Thank you," addressing me by my first name, albeit pronounced incorrectly. This is not information I provided him with today or otherwise. So it would seem that I can now look forward to being routinely harassed by an entirely new set of people who know next to nothing about tickets.

Or not.

 

[cjp]

The following day, I got to Canterbury at 19:05 and the ticket office was open. I even got service with a smile, which really does make all the difference, so I decided I wouldn't bother to lodge any official complaint.


I was stopped by one of the REOs who had been watching me while I was looking for my ticket. Nobody else passing through was stopped, so maybe it was just a random check. That said, it is a bit of a coincidence that he had an active involvement in the incident in April. He asked to see my ticket then took it away to confer with someone else who appeared to be equally clueless. This farce was going on for a good 3 minutes. If these ticket inspectors want to a lesson on railway geography or be trained on ticket validity, they should do it in their own time, not on mine.

I got fed up with waiting as the train had already pulled in and politely asked for my ticket back. The REO handed it back to me and said "Thank you," addressing me by my first name, albeit pronounced incorrectly. This is not information I provided him with today or otherwise. So it would seem that I can now look forward to being routinely harassed by an entirely new set of people who know next to nothing about tickets.

Or not.

I had to look up both the destination and routing point (but there again I do not check tickets)

Just out of curiosity where did you finally alight?

 

[soil]

I had to look up both the destination and routing point (but there again I do not check tickets)

Just out of curiosity where did you finally alight?

The routeing of this ticket doesn't do very much, as the via point is on a permitted route between London and the destination, and as the overall ticket is routed LONDON, you can start short, travel to London (finishing short), and everything after that is irrelevant.

 

[radamfi]

What is causing such a shortage of ticket office staff? Are Southern/Southeastern no longer required to staff them in the evening?

Unlike SWT, which has cut its opening hours over that last few years, Southern have actually increased them and have generally been staffed into the late evening until a few months ago. Nowadays, I almost expect Three Bridges to be closed at 1900 despite it supposed to be open until after 2200.

 

[Sleepy]

:roll: I get the impression some TOC are getting away lightly regarding not sticking to published opening hours for ticket offices, Would I be right in thinking most franchises figures for dft based on total hours open across all stations per period ?

 

[NathanPrior]

Eltham is another one that you'll never know it it's open or not. Wanted to buy a Weekly Zone 2-4 travelcard on Monday using some RTV's in the process, so got into the station at 18:30 only to find the ticket office shut due to "staff shortages".

Will have to try and use the RTV's this coming monday then.

 

[tony6499]

What is causing such a shortage of ticket office staff? Are Southern/Southeastern no longer required to staff them in the evening?

Unlike SWT, which has cut its opening hours over that last few years, Southern have actually increased them and have generally been staffed into the late evening until a few months ago. Nowadays, I almost expect Three Bridges to be closed at 1900 despite it supposed to be open until after 2200.

Staff shortages in most places on Southern

 

[radamfi]

Staff shortages in most places on Southern

Clearly there are shortages. But what is the cause of the shortage? Have Southern deliberately laid off staff or deliberately not bothered recruiting people who had left?

 

[tony6499]

Clearly there are shortages. But what is the cause of the shortage? Have Southern deliberately laid off staff or deliberately not bothered recruiting people who had left?

They recently reorganised the booking office staff whether that has had an affect I wouldn't know

 

[RJ]

I had to look up both the destination and routing point (but there again I do not check tickets)

Just out of curiosity where did you finally alight?

Hi,

I alighted at St Pancras International. The staff at the station didn't ask where I was going - I could have been changing at Ashford International and going along the South Coast for all they knew. Some of them are of the understanding that if a ticket is not endorsed "Plus High Speed," it is not valid on a Class 395 operated service on any part of the network. I suspect that REO is one of them and I also suspect is why the REO decided to start messing around with my ticket.

The routeing of this ticket doesn't do very much, as the via point is on a permitted route between London and the destination, and as the overall ticket is routed LONDON, you can start short, travel to London (finishing short), and everything after that is irrelevant.

It forbids travel on express services between London and Southampton

 

[Roverman]

I'm travelling to TBD tomorrow, arriving around 21:15 I will specifically look to see if the booking office is open or not!

If he is going to start using your first name, and his title is REO I think he should now be known as Speedwagon....

 

[RJ]

The situation at Canterbury West has not improved. I'm keeping a dossier of early ticket office closures and will keep sending in formal written letters of complaint until something is done about it.

Tuesday 8th October - 19:05 - ticket office shut.
Friday 11th October - 18:50 - ticket office shut.
Saturday 12th October - 18:40 - ticket office shut.
Tuesday 15th October - 19:05 - ticket office shut.
-
In the meantime, I'm heartened to report that despite not wanting to keep their window open until time, one of the ticket office staff allegedly has time to remember what ticket I've bought from him then take it upon himself to tell the OBM on his train home what ticket I purchased, which train I'm likely to travel on and how the ticket isn't valid for use on HS1.

Cue the OBM who was involved in that incident back in April having leverage to start on me again when I travelled on the 06:22 from Canterbury West to St Pancras on Saturday 5th October. He did not approve of the Priv Broadstairs to Bosham ticket I was using. After asking to see my Priv, out of nowhere he pipes up that he recalled me as the person he had to have taken off his train at Ashford International. He decided that on this occasion, he would not be delaying the train at Ashford International to have me removed. He did however delight in voluntarily telling me that he put in a report to the police stating that he didn't see his colleagues do me anything on the day in question, but told the police how aggressive and abusive I was towards him and his colleagues. When I stated that we both knew that that wasn't the case, his response was "it's all water under the bridge now." He did say he was expecting to see me on that train as the clerk at Canterbury West (who I had told I'd be travelling on that train) had forewarned him that my ticket wouldn't be valid.

His argument for persisting was that a ticket office clerk told him the ticket wasn't valid on HS1 services. I said that I am a ticket office clerk and I'm saying it is, so what's your point? Eventually he said he'd take the matter up with ATOC. I wonder if they ever get sick of my name cropping up time and time again. The other thing of note he said was that Southeastern are building a case against me. I suppose this is another case of a TOC looking to criminalise a paying customer who might actually understand a d*mned thing about the ticketing system. I will try not to lose any sleep over it. If they ever want to talk to me, they can come find me on the 07:50 up and the 18:12 down service.

I don't like spending any of my time having conversation forced upon me by people like this OBM. So in future I won't be entering into any level of conversation with such individuals. I'll spare him enough time to explain once why my ticket is valid then say nothing else. Surely not speaking is a perfect way to deal with a ticket inspector who doesn't want to listen.

 

[Altnabreac]

In all seriousness if this behaviour continues it is beginning to build up into a case of Collective Harrassment.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/stalking_and_harassment/

a course of conduct;
by which he intends to persuade any person (whether or not one of those mentioned above);
not to do something that he is entitled or required to do;

There is a defence where it can be shown that the course of conduct was:

(a) pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime;

So you would need clear instruction to the staff, ideally from BTP, that you are not committing any crime, then if they continued to pursue you it would be much clearer cut that they did not have a legitimate defence in future.

 

[tractakid]

I'm standing in Wolverhampton station. All the ticket windows are closed despite being advertised on the VT and NRE websites as 24h opening. Not sure I will be submitting a complaint but it's technically wrong. The ticket machines aren't selling me a ticket I need later today either.

 

[island]

Probably not much use putting that in a thread about Southeastern...

 

[CyrusWuff]

Schedule 17 confirms that Wolverhampton should be open 24/7 (though this is subject to staff not being sick with nobody available to cover the turn) but that reservations (and tickets requiring reservations) are only available between 0800 and 1900 Monday to Friday, 0800 and 1800 on Saturdays and 1030 and 1800 on Sundays.

 

[tractakid]

It's a thread about ticket offices being closed when they should be open. A ticket window was open in good time before the first train, and I took the opportunity to buy my ticket. I wonder how many Edinburgh to Newcraighall tickets they sell at Wolves!
I personally don't see too much point in the ticket office being open at 0330 but if it is closed, it should be listed as closed on the websites, which would probably require the requirements for ticket office opening hours to change.