GTR Gatwick Staff Problems....

So last week I was travelling on this ticket http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=WTW&dest=CRW&rte=602&tkt=SVR on the return leg from Crawley I broke my journey at Gatwick Airport and intended to resume it several days later. On arrival at Gatwick the barriers rejected the ticket so I showed it to the assistant. He took it and scribbled out the end date with a pen and wrote that current day's date. This made it look like it was now only valid that day. I complained and visited the ticket office there. They said 'He shouldn't have done that, I'll have a word with him' .

I think it is ridiculous that a gateline assistant doesn't even know the basic break of journey validity of an off peak return! It also made it really awkward having to explain to each guard/gateline assistant when I did resume the journey that my written on ticket was still valid! After reading may threads on problems like this on here over the years, its a wonder they haven't sorted this out yet.

Birdbrain said:

I think it is ridiculous that a gateline assistant doesn't even know the basic break of journey validity of an off peak return!

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I sometimes wonder if gateline staff are trained to the same level in ticketing matters than say an RPI or booking clerk would be? You would think they should be.

Mag_seven said:

I sometimes wonder if gateline staff are trained to the same level in ticketing matters than say an RPI or booking clerk would be? You would think they should be.

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in the case of northern at Manchester Victoria, I’d say almost all of the gateline staff (who wear northern branded uniform but I believe are subcontractors) know a lot less than they should. For example, every time I use an off peak return from Hebden Bridge / Todmorden, which doesn’t have an evening peak restriction on the return leg, the ticket won’t open the barrier and it’s then generally a fairly lengthy job to get them to let me through. The default position is a look at the ticket and “that ain’t valid”

Gateline staff do not appear to be well trained, based on my experiences.

Birdbrain said:

So last week I was travelling on this ticket http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=WTW&dest=CRW&rte=602&tkt=SVR on the return leg from Crawley I broke my journey at Gatwick Airport and intended to resume it several days later. On arrival at Gatwick the barriers rejected the ticket so I showed it to the assistant. He took it and scribbled out the end date with a pen and wrote that current day's date. This made it look like it was now only valid that day....

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I'd have asked if the ticket was still valid accordingly; if they said "no" then it warrants a complaint.

yorkie said:

Gateline staff do not appear to be well trained, based on my experiences.

I'd have asked if the ticket was still valid accordingly; if they said "no" then it warrants a complaint.

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Even they said "yes" it still does. Defacing a customer's ticket is not acceptable.

MPotter said:

Defacing a customer's ticket is not acceptable.

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A ticket inspector once noticed that the photocard number on my paper season ticket had completely worn away (after months of daily use, almost all printed text had worn away to nothing); without warning or explanation he took my season ticket and photocard to another part of the train. When he returned, he had scrawled on the incorrect photocard number with a blue biro pen. Throughout this interaction, not a word was spoken by him. I decided not to correct it myself as it would have looked even worse and been more embarrassing to show to staff (who rarely ask to see the photocard).