Season ticket marking

startingaparty · 4 Jan 2020

I have a season ticket. I boarded at Salford Crescent but my ticket didn't work the barrier so I showed it to the gentleman minding the ticket gates and he's let me tbrough but put a big scribble across my season ticket. Is that normal practice?

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Mag_seven · 4 Jan 2020

startingaparty said:
I have a season ticket. I boarded at Salford Crescent but my ticket didn't work the barrier so I showed it to the gentleman minding the ticket gates and he's let me tbrough but put a big scribble across my season ticket. Is that normal practice?

I wouldn't have thought so - I would take it along to a ticket office and get it replaced as it has now become defaced. I would also report the incident to Northern.

mmh · 4 Jan 2020

Mag_seven said:
I wouldn't have thought so - I would take it along to a ticket office and get it replaced as it has now become defaced. I would also report the incident to Northern.

Why would you report it?

gray1404 · 4 Jan 2020

Season tickets are not normally marked.

ForTheLoveOf · 4 Jan 2020

mmh said:
Why would you report it?

Perhaps because it could lead to overzealous members of staff claiming that the ticket is no longer valid as a result, with the ensuing potential problems for the passenger. A season ticket shouldn't be permanently be marked by anyone until it has expired.

mmh · 4 Jan 2020

gwrtimetable19 said:
Perhaps because it could lead to overzealous members of staff claiming that the ticket is no longer valid as a result, with the ensuing potential problems for the passenger. A season ticket shouldn't be permanently be marked by anyone until it has expired.

How could it? The staff checking its validity would be looking at the expiry date - because it's marked they may pay closer attention to it and see it's a season, which presumably all the person who marked it did is not notice, or was working on auto-pilot.

Easily done, no harm done to anyone, no need to report.

ForTheLoveOf · 4 Jan 2020

mmh said:
How could it? The staff checking its validity would be looking at the expiry date - because it's marked they may pay closer attention to it and see it's a season, which presumably all the person who marked it did is not notice, or was working on auto-pilot.

Easily done, no harm done to anyone, no need to report.

Do you really trust that the near minimum wage security staff employed by Northern to check tickets at the likes of Manchester Piccadilly (or the so-called "goon squad") wouldn't take umbrage to it?

mmh · 4 Jan 2020

gwrtimetable19 said:
Do you really trust that the near minimum wage security staff employed by Northern to check tickets at the likes of Manchester Piccadilly (or the so-called "goon squad") wouldn't take umbrage to it?

What's the worst that can happen? "This ticket's already been used", "Yes, it's a season ticket, someone scribbled on it though.", "(Looks again) Oh, alright."

If it's a concern, get a replacement. Problem solved.

I do take umbrage at calling people goons or assuming they're incompetent or wilfully awkward because of how much they earn, though. Utterly no need for that.

ForTheLoveOf · 4 Jan 2020

mmh said:
What's the worst that can happen? "This ticket's already been used", "Yes, it's a season ticket, someone scribbled on it though.", "(Looks again) Oh, alright."

If it's a concern, get a replacement. Problem solved.

I do take umbrage at calling people goons or assuming they're incompetent or wilfully awkward because of how much they earn, though. Utterly no need for that.

I've encountered some TOC-employed (i.e. non agency) gateline staff that have claimed that you must have a ticket to or from the station in question to enter or leave the station. When you are dealing with that level of ignorance, where even the concept of break of journey is foreign to them, I doubt that they will accept that a season ticket remains valid is scrawled upon.

Assuming that that situation could be dealt with (which is by no means guaranteed), what are the odds a replacement would be issued without quibble? I know from personal experience that certain ticket office staff seem to take delight in refusing reasonable requests such as this, so I very much doubt that this would be something easy to achieve.

The reference to minimum wage is not to derogate the people themselves. It is about the level of training and experience one can expect to have when you're paying your staff no more than the law says you must.

Mag_seven · 4 Jan 2020

mmh said:
Why would you report it?

You would report it because the member of staff who marked it needs educating on the fact that you do not mark season tickets.

gray1404 · 4 Jan 2020

I think there should be a National standard of marking tickets (or not). There seems to be no good practice and its anything from an old fashioned ticket clipper to a mark with a pen or a circle around a date.

trenopendo · 4 Jan 2020

mmh said:
I do take umbrage at calling people goons or assuming they're incompetent or wilfully awkward because of how much they earn, though. Utterly no need for that.

Have you ever been harassed by Northern staff? Some victims would argue they are not incompetent -- but rather malicious.

mmh · 4 Jan 2020

trenopendo said:
Have you ever been harassed by Northern staff? Some victims would argue they are not incompetent -- but rather malicious.

No I haven't, but then I always find it surprising how many people have had issues with railway staff here. I can only think of two I've encountered who made a mistake, and none have ever been rude or awkward, and certainly not malicious.

thedbdiboy · 4 Jan 2020

It shouldn't have been marked, it shouldn't affect the validity but you can exchange it if need be, ticket office staff can use the same process as an encode failure exchange.

Starmill · 4 Jan 2020

mmh said:
No I haven't, but then I always find it surprising how many people have had issues with railway staff here. I can only think of two I've encountered who made a mistake, and none have ever been rude or awkward, and certainly not malicious.

I've made this point before, but staff involved in revenue protection have no space for mistakes which penalise the customer.

If they make a mistake and resultantly charge the customer for a new ticket, or forbid them to board their intended train, they're committing a serious breach of contract. There is no space for this sort of mistake, ever. If these mistakes are happening, this is evidence of incorrect procedure or the procedure not being followed.

I myself have been involved in many such 'mistakes' over the years, some of which were resolved with a good deal more humility than others.

philthetube · 4 Jan 2020

Show me a person aged 60 who has never made a mistake at work and I will show you someone who has never worked.

How the error is dealt with, how staff act both at the time of the incident and after is what is important.

trenopendo · 4 Jan 2020

philthetube said:
Show me a person aged 60 who has never made a mistake at work and I will show you someone who has never worked.

There's a difference between making a mistake and maliciously harassing a customer...

ess · 4 Jan 2020

If a driver makes a mistake they're in for a chat with the boss. If a revenue protection staff member does the same, I'd expect the same

sheff1 · 4 Jan 2020

ess said:
If a driver makes a mistake they're in for a chat with the boss. If a revenue protection staff member does the same, I'd expect the same

Either your expectation is misplaced or these chats with the boss are not having the desired effect as certain revenue protection staff have continued to falsely accuse passengers of criminal activity even after complaints have been made.

Haywain · 5 Jan 2020

ess said:
If a driver makes a mistake they're in for a chat with the boss. If a revenue protection staff member does the same, I'd expect the same

A driver making a mistake potentially endangers the lives of hundreds of people. It’s really not the same.

Season ticket marking

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