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Inaccurate advice from LUL staff at Westminster

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Bungle73

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I have a Kemsley to Putney Off Peak Day Return. As far as I'm concerned this allows me to take the Tube from Victoria, alight at Westminster and continue by foot to Waterloo. The ticket worked fine for the barriers at Victoria, but when I tried to exit at Westminster "Seek assistance" came up. I went to a member of staff and they insisted that my ticket was not valid on the Tube. They kept insisting this, and when I showed her the cross symbol and told her what it meant she wasn't interested. She told me she'd "let me through anyway", even (according to her) my ticket wasn't valid.
 
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Bletchleyite

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Such tickets are only valid at specific Tube stations, and Westminster isn't one of them: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46587.aspx#travelling_connect

You're missing (from that link, their bold):

You can ‘break your transfer journey' and leave the Underground at any intermediate station, e.g. if you are travelling between Victoria and Euston you can exit at Oxford Circus. However, if you subsequently wish to continue your journey by Underground you will have to purchase another ticket.
 

yorkie

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Such tickets are only valid at specific Tube stations, and Westminster isn't one of them: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46587.aspx#travelling_connect
It would be valid via Westminster; a passenger may finish short at Westminster. The gateline staff are not permitted to detain passengers in the system.

However poor training in respect of ticketing matters is very much the norm for LU gateline staff, so the reaction of the staff does not surprise me one bit.
 

Bungle73

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Do you think it would be worth complaining to TfL about this? I'm still angry that I got told I didn't have a valid ticket when I knew full well that I did. I also slightly miffed about the fact that she seemed to think that she was doing me some kind of favour by letting my continue on my way unimpeded.

After I'd left the station I had half a mind to go back and ask to speak to her supervisor, but in the end I decided I couldn't be arsed and just wanted to get on with my day trip. And I find confrontations very stressful. It kind of put a downer on the whole day for me.
 

AnkleBoots

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I would only complain if they had made you buy a new ticket.

At that particular station it is better to let the supervisors concentrate on managing tourist flows and security-related duties.
 

sheff1

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You could argue that accusations of being a criminal warrant a complaint, whether you are 'forced' to buy a new ticket or not. However, my experience suggests complaining* is a waste of time - the supervisor is likely to back up the false accusations of the original person and customer services will reply with a generic fob-off.

= to TOCs. I have never had cause to complain to TfL.
 

Hadders

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It must be as quick to walk from Waterloo to Westminster once you’ve factored in getting down and back up from the Jubilee Line and that’s before you factor in the time taken to have a discussion with staff about the validity of your ticket ;)
 

talldave

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You have my sympathy, I've had the patronising "just this once" several times at Warren Street. I now carry a printout of the T's & C's mentioned in posts #2 & #3, but I only make the journey occasionally and on the last couple of trips the barriers have been open to reduce crowding, so no opportunity to present it yet.

But I do think it's worth raising with TFL as it could be solved by training and it's unacceptable to have to put up with stressful but pointless arguments when you have a 100% valid ticket.
 

yorkie

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Agreed

Sheff1 - you are right complaining to TOCs can be unproductive. However TfL have an effective system in place that does get good results.

The only criticism I would have is for cultural problems, not enough is done across the relevant organisation to address the matter, hence these problems (and, over at London Overground, denial of being part of National Rail) continuing at other stations.

It is worth complaining.
 

RJ

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I would only complain if they had made you buy a new ticket.

At that particular station it is better to let the supervisors concentrate on managing tourist flows and security-related duties.

This is something that could quite easily be resolved by someone having a word with the member of staff in question, which would benefit everyone concerned so actually, speaking to the supervisor might be a good shout. Creation of unnecessary dialogue with people at gatelines disrupts the flow of movement anyway.
 

maniacmartin

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Sadly I’ve complained to TfL about a very similar issue numerous times in the past, regarding a different LU gateline. Every time the customer service agent understood and acknowledged the problem and said staff would be notified, but nothing actually changed on the ground.

I would still complain, but don’t get your hopes up that it will make a difference.
 

Bungle73

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Received yesterday:

Dear ...



Thanks for your feedback form of 3 November about your customer service experience at Westminster station.

I’m sorry you experienced such poor customer service from our staff at Westminster. The behaviour you describe falls well short of the standards we expect.

Good customer service is a priority and we invest a lot of time making sure staff are trained to the highest standards possible. It’s always disappointing when these standards aren’t met.

We take all complaints very seriously, so I have informed the Area Manager responsible for the station about your experience. As a priority, they will identify and then interview the staff member you described. They will then take appropriate action to make sure lessons are learnt and such behaviour isn’t repeated.

I hope this has been useful and I apologise again for the unpleasant behaviour.

Thanks again for contacting us. If there is anything else we can help you with, please reply to this email. Alternatively, you can call us on 0343 222 1234 and we’ll be happy to help you.
 
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bb21

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Sadly I’ve complained to TfL about a very similar issue numerous times in the past, regarding a different LU gateline. Every time the customer service agent understood and acknowledged the problem and said staff would be notified, but nothing actually changed on the ground.

I would still complain, but don’t get your hopes up that it will make a difference.

I, too, fail to see where this "effective system" is.

It is a waste of time. TfL are no better than the TOCs in that respect, arguably worse in some respects.

The only advice I can offer is "life is too short to get worked up by something like this".
 

tsr

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Interesting to see Warren Street mentioned in post #9. When I used to use that station regularly (several years ago) I had this problem quite often, and still continued to have it after giving a station supervisor a copy of the T&Cs, with the relevant bits highlighted. Nothing changes at some locations!
 
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