(Gateline staff) what’s your best and worse experience working Gateline ?

[Pompey00]

Please let me know the worse and best thing to happen during your time doing Gateline.

 

[Urban Gateline]

Please let me know the worse and best thing to happen during your time doing Gateline.

It can vary hugely based on location! Best is probably when everything runs well, you get some nice passengers that appreciate you helping them plan their journey or advise on tickets.

The worst can be anything from getting assaulted physically/verbally, threatened, people force their way through the gates right in front of you, some even dare to push the emergency plunger. In disruption you might find yourself surrounded by angry and impatient passengers, it needs a very calm and helpful person to work Gateline, but also able to convey authority when it comes to ticketless travel, your attitude and approach determines whether the "worst" scenarios happen and how badly they impact you.

 

[DNCharingX]

That. I would say most interactions are very pleasant and getting nice passengers reminds you of why you're on the gates.

Ultimately, I would say that the job is as difficult as you want it to be. I don't like fare evasion as much as the next paying customer, but I'd rather leave dealing with fare evasion to the people employed to do that, rather than risk getting assaulted or have people injure themselves. In my opinion & in an ideal world, Gateline wouldn't be challenging people, and there'd be Revenue on hand to help out.

You have to take the good with the bad, and, in the end, there is definitely more good.

 

[Pompey00]

That. I would say most interactions are very pleasant and getting nice passengers reminds you of why you're on the gates.

Ultimately, I would say that the job is as difficult as you want it to be. I don't like fare evasion as much as the next paying customer, but I'd rather leave dealing with fare evasion to the people employed to do that, rather than risk getting assaulted or have people injure themselves. In my opinion & in an ideal world, Gateline wouldn't be challenging people, and there'd be Revenue on hand to help out.

You have to take the good with the bad, and, in the end, there is definitely more good.

Yh but the. Get others who get defensive cause to lazy to get a ticket and trust me I’ve been abused and nearly attacked and my colleagues have been spat at and had things thrown at them exactly doing Gateline. And if only revenue could be around more often.

 

[GalaxyDog]

Not mine, but at my first depot, we had full barriers/gates protecting all the platforms from the main entrance. Later in my tenure there, a gate line staff got smashed in the face (blood bruises, the lot) and tae-kwondo-kicked in the ribcage hard, and ended up in hospital bigtime. He came back after three or so months, but he was never the same. I think he moved to ticket office, fair play to him. The offender I believe is still at large, as my particular excuse of a TOC weren't able to create a full prosecution.

 

[Pompey00]

Not mine, but at my first depot, we had full barriers/gates protecting all the platforms from the main entrance. Later in my tenure there, a gate line staff got smashed in the face (blood bruises, the lot) and tae-kwondo-kicked in the ribcage hard, and ended up in hospital bigtime. He came back after three or so months, but he was never the same. I think he moved to ticket office, fair play to him. The offender I believe is still at large, as my particular excuse of a TOC weren't able to create a full prosecution.

That’s what us Gateline have deal with we should have to I just had someone up in my face worst working as they tried push in stations and caused criminal damages to gates by kicking them and pulling decorations down and Atleast in ticket office there’s big window in the way.

 

[Iamanoob]

Probably not the best idea to reading this when I've got an interview for a gateline job. Any tips on what the job entails outwith what was on yhe job post.

 

[rg177]

My job used to be RPI + Gateline and I had it all up to someone graphically describing how they were going to murder me because I asked them to finish their bottle of beer before they came through. That was certainly a low point!

Thankfully I was never actually assaulted but witnessed plenty of gate jumping, smashing and generally chaotic behaviour. Lockdown 3 (Jan-Mar 2021) was also predominantly trying to stop bored kids wreaking havoc.

You just had to treat every day as a clean slate and not let it get you down. After all, most customers were fine and you'd have a good laugh with some of them. Working with the right people was a plus, too.

I can't say I'd go back in a hurry as it was just a job I did out of uni for some employment experience more than anything, but I enjoyed the ten months I did on the job and managed to keep my head down, do it professionally and keep out of bother.

 

[Pompey00]

Probably not the best idea to reading this when I've got an interview for a gateline job. Any tips on what the job entails outwith what was on yhe job post.

Sorry it’s the odd occasion it happens just part of the job .

 

[RPI]

Whilst gateline isn't my primary role, I do cover the odd gateline shift and the worst for me is weekends if I'm honest, where you get the passengers that don't travel very often, it can be trying.

Best is when we have a revenue block at gatelines.

 

[Pompey00]

Whilst gateline isn't my primary role, I do cover the odd gateline shift and the worst for me is weekends if I'm honest, where you get the passengers that don't travel very often, it can be trying.

Best is when we have a revenue block at gatelines.

Weekends can be manic and the blocks by revenue are the best .

 

[Urban Gateline]

Sorry it’s the odd occasion it happens just part of the job .

It does depend on your approach, and I found that after a while in the role I stopped caring about the Revenue protection element of the job, there's no way to sell tickets to those arriving ticketless and the company doesn't back you up when it comes to defending yourself and has strict no touch policy so the best is to distance yourself from such situations and turn a blind eye, by all means report incidents via the means your TOC gives you, but don't expect them to make any changes

 

[Jan Mayen]

I remember helping with a block at Gatwick Airport (pre Gate line, so a bit Off Topic) about 15 years ago. The TOCs were separate then, but Thameslink and Southern RPI's came to assist. (Gatwick Express didn't have any RPI's).
At one point, there were 20 people waiting to be Penalty Fared. They ran out of PF pads eventually

 

[RPI]

It does depend on your approach, and I found that after a while in the role I stopped caring about the Revenue protection element of the job, there's no way to sell tickets to those arriving ticketless and the company doesn't back you up when it comes to defending yourself and has strict no touch policy so the best is to distance yourself from such situations and turn a blind eye, by all means report incidents via the means your TOC gives you, but don't expect them to make any changes

Obviously varies by TOC, GWR gateline staff are fully ticket trained and have Ticket machines, some are PF trained too though PF training for gateline staff is now optional, but all can complete Travel Irregularity Reports and Unpaid Fare Notices. The only caveat is that some ex Wessex station gatelines can be single staffed for short periods, but during these short periods of single staffing they cannot handle cash due to cash handling rules. But as a rule all GWR gatelines have to have at least two staff.

 

[357]

In my time I found that the biggest issue with gateline was the attitude of some gateline staff. Most have never been assaulted, some in over 20 years doing the job.

Others start the job and have three assaults in the first six weeks.

I once saw one of the staff (who I was responsible for) down the road from the station entrance. Thinking that he was also on a break I said hello and it turned out he had chased someone without a ticket out the station and down the road!

I covered gatelines at some rough stations, and didn't have any problems. If someone arrived without a ticket and asked to be let out, I'd tell them that I won't let them out but I'm not going to chase them. Most understood, and would go behind someone/under/over.

 

[Urban Gateline]

Obviously varies by TOC, GWR gateline staff are fully ticket trained and have Ticket machines, some are PF trained too though PF training for gateline staff is now optional, but all can complete Travel Irregularity Reports and Unpaid Fare Notices. The only caveat is that some ex Wessex station gatelines can be single staffed for short periods, but during these short periods of single staffing they cannot handle cash due to cash handling rules. But as a rule all GWR gatelines have to have at least two staff.

That's much better really, my experience was at SWR where the Gateline Assistants don't sell any tickets, hugely pointless as Pompey00 points out, as 99% of the time no RPI will be working with you so all you can do is let the ticketless out and tell them to pay at the ticket office, which not many do of course!

It was hugely frustrating feeling powerless to do anything, we also worked alone much of the time (even at big stations like Clapham Jnc) the Brighton yard exit was single staffed at the time I worked there! It was also very poorly paid, at the time I think I was on about £18k a year (was over 10 years ago though!) and we couldn't even do RDW as agency just used to cover vacant shifts (I gather that has changed since I left thankfully!)

I covered gatelines at some rough stations, and didn't have any problems. If someone arrived without a ticket and asked to be let out, I'd tell them that I won't let them out but I'm not going to chase them. Most understood, and would go behind someone/under/over.

Those were the days when fare evaders actually made an effort, nowadays they just force through the wide aisle gate and nothing can be done about it unless you're lucky enough to have security/BTP there

 

[dk1]

Best are just about all who smile & are helpful.

Worst are the ones that tell me I’ve put yesterdays date to travel on my BR boxes & tend not to smile. Theses are very few & far between & usually at Manchester Piccadilly.

 

[Bletchleyite]

My job used to be RPI + Gateline and I had it all up to someone graphically describing how they were going to murder me because I asked them to finish their bottle of beer before they came through. That was certainly a low point!

For a dry train, presumably? Don't BTP normally do the enforcement for those?

(Though speaking to you like that is unacceptable regardless of why!)

 

[rg177]

For a dry train, presumably? Don't BTP normally do the enforcement for those?

(Though speaking to you like that is unacceptable regardless of why!)

I worked for a certain light rail operator that had a permanent dry policy..!

Turning away punters with alcohol was common but they were usually more than happy to quickly drink their open can before they came through. You'd only refuse travel if they made an absolute prat of themselves by being abusive or threatening.

It all very much depended on your attitude. You'd have the odd colleague that'd go in all guns blazing aggressively demanding they hand over any alcohol. I'd prefer to nab them before they come through the gates and discretely advise it needs to be drank and binned before getting on. As a result I don't think I ever had any other issues with passengers other than the one lager lout mentioned above who just wanted a fight.

Naturally you couldn't get every single person - but glass was my main concern. You can't do much damage lobbing a can at someone but a glass bottle is another story.

 

[387star]

As a passenger I hate queues at Gatelines. Some are remotely manned on one side of the station and it's the worst thing after a lengthy journey to be held up. I imagine Gateline staff get much abuse for this?
So many tickers aren't accepted and you suddenly get someone turning around which slows everyone down

 

[philly1001]

Gateline on carnival weekend! I was either getting threatened, ask to "hold something" or getting chatted up!

 

[Pompey00]

As a passenger I hate queues at Gatelines. Some are remotely manned on one side of the station and it's the worst thing after a lengthy journey to be held up. I imagine Gateline staff get much abuse for this?
So many tickers aren't accepted and you suddenly get someone turning around which slows everyone down

Thing is places like Portsmouth and southsea for example has 5 gates and when a busy train comes in 3 is exit and 2 entry and one of them gates it’s the wide gate which I personally normally put on first come first served meaning can come through wide gate either way. But anyway when loads people tickets stop working and there one of you then you find yourself going from one to the other and it’s very frastrauting.