‘Big white box’ scanning tickets at Harrogate this morning

[johntea]

Exiting the ticket barriers at Harrogate this morning and all the usual eTicket scanners were covered up and there was one open barrier surrounded by many staff in Northern branded clothing

It then had what I can only describe as a big white box with a scanner embedded in it checking the eTickets instead

Does anyone have any idea what that is about?

 

[gabrielhj07]

Is there a photograph of this contraption?

 

[Haywain]

Exiting the ticket barriers at Harrogate this morning and all the usual eTicket scanners were covered up and there was one open barrier surrounded by many staff in Northern branded clothing

It then had what I can only describe as a big white box with a scanner embedded in it checking the eTickets instead

Does anyone have any idea what that is about?

I believe the portable scanners allow them to check for railcards (and possibly more), which is why they might be used for a revenue block.

 

[swt_passenger]

I think it’s the subject of a previous thread, there are pictures in post #13 of that thread:

'Polygraph' kit deployed to Northern barriers to detect 'chancers'

Just seen this article across various local rag websites, I'm still not quite sure if I understand what they've actually changed though! Surely the barriers indicated a railcard or child ticket in some way previously...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

It is for providing more information to revenue staff on the validity of e-tickets. It communicates with an app on the nearby staff mobile phones and gives them further information compared to a gate scan. The box itself also makes different sounds and tones depending on what is being scanned.

It's looking for things like tickets only valid from the previous stop, tickets purchased very recently, Railcards, age restrictions, peak times etc, as well as any intelligence led checks that may have been set up in the database.

 

[johntea]

Northern have just done a ‘sting’ operation using one of these 7pm at Leeds

It seems they’ve only got one unit though!

 

[fandroid]

It was brought out at Warrington Central fairly recently, where all the wrong reasons were produced for telling a passenger that their entirely valid ticket was invalid.

TIR for using the ticket my partner purchased me!

Hello fellow travellers! I hope you can help as I'm a bit lost with this one. On the 12th of this month I had to attend an old property —one I had recently moved out of— to get newly issued bank cards (bank has yet to update my new address). I had no way of purchasing a ticket myself, as my...

www.railforums.co.uk

The thread contains a photo of said gadget in post #11

 

[Royston Vasey]

Does it have a slot for credit card sized tickets?

 

[Haywain]

Does it have a slot for credit card sized tickets?

No, because it is designed for reading eTickets.