134 -seek assistance on super offpeak return

[redmen1892]

Hi all, I'm hopeful that someone on the boards might be able to answer this query as both station staff and Chilterns managers haven't been able to so far.

I purchase a super offpeak return from sutton Coldfield to kelvedon via high wycombe, all is well on the outbound journey, however on the return leg I always gets issues at the various ticket barriers enroute. When I initially attempt to exit at LST the ticket is rejected with a 134, which I am told is ticket has already been used, on the barriers at myb it said that the ticket was out of date, the ticket is valid for 30 days and has certainly not been used as my return journey is approx. 24 hours after I set off. This has happened on every occasion that I have undertaken this journey. The only common denominators are 1) super off peak return ticket and 2) I purchase the ticket from the self service machine. When I asked the staff at LST today they thought it might be my credit cards in my wallet corrupting the ticket?, station managers at myb suggested it may be the machine.

I will be doing the same journey again in 4 weeks so this time I will purchase the ticket from the ticket office to see if .the same scenario occurs

Any englighted members shed any additional guidance on this. Many thanks

 

[CyrusWuff]

It's to do with the way Tribute (the Ticket Issuing System used by London Midland at their Ticket Offices) encodes the magnetic strip on the ticket, namely with the date and time of issue.

This is perfectly correct behaviour according to the specification for magstripe encoding, but confuses the barriers. Non-use can be verified by running the ticket through a ticket machine, which will usually show it was "last used" at the pseudo location of "Any NR Station" at the date and time it was issued.

 

[redmen1892]

Thanks for the response so its likely to happen if I purchase the ticket from the ticket office or is it just confined to tickets purchased from self service machines.

 

[dvboy]

I've has this before on through-London returns at Marylebone, where I've been told my ticket was showing it had already been used, I said only to get to here from Canterbury, so it's been through three barriers already.