Instances of being wrongly told your valid ticket wasn't valid

[FenMan]

Clapham Junction gateline staff claiming break of journey "didn't apply" at "their" station. *sigh*

 

[4COR]

Paddington and their "off peak" restrictions - returns (not day returns), and those going to/from stations outside of the SE are common exceptions. Oxford-Cambridge Off Peak Returns are one example where there is no evening restriction at Paddington (and an issue I've had before..)

 

[87electric]

A day trip to London from Peterborough with added London Travelcard was rejected at Waterloo. Rookie gate staff said it isn’t valid as this line doesn’t go to Peterborough. That’s the dumbest one I’ve encountered.

 

[scarby]

Last year I was told at Tottenham Court Road gateline that my BritRail pass wasn't valid "for the underground". I explained that I wanted to use it for the Elizabeth Line, which is National Rail.

The person on the gateline said "No, it's a grey area", but did then let me through.

 

[rocrat]

Platform tickets. I pay 10p to get on the platform to cop some phots, sir this isn't valid after being rejected by the gate line

Is there anywhere that will issue platform tickets still? I often ask and just get waved through...

 

[OhNoAPacer]

My tale is from a fair while ago just at tge introduction of seat reservations being on the ticket and not issued separately.
I picked up my ticket, an off peak return, from the machine at Whitehaven Station, travelling to Northampton.
No problem on my outward journey.
On my return journey the guard on the what was a London Midland service from Northampton to Birmingham New Street looked at my ticket and told me that was the reservation and wanted to see my actual ticket, I could not convince him that it was my ticket, had it not been for the intervention of what I presume was a manager, there were a group of suit wearing men with London Midland lanyards sitting at a nearby table, I am not sure what would have happened.

 

[Weary Walker]

A long time ago I had an APEX ticket (that is a clue as to vintage), based on other memories this would have been in the first decade of the current century.
6 different legs listed on the printed ticket, journey number 2 was explicitly stated as depart Gatwick 10:25 arrive London Victoria 10:55
At the time Gatwick Express was loudly proclaiming they were the 30 minute connection, but I rechecked and that was the only train for London Victoria at that time from Gatwick. The onboard staff member was absolutely sure it was not valid, despite me pointing out it was only valid on the train with those timings (according to the ticket).
The gentleman only gave up when I asked what other train there was the left Gatwick at 10:25 and arrived at London Victoria 10:55 that he thought I should have used.
Even then he walked off muttering under his breath "It's not valid, it's not valid"

 

[Skymonster]

On one of the few occasions when I had the misfortune to encounter the EMR Revenue Protection militia on a Matlock-Derby service.

RP: “Ticket please.” [I show him a Matlock-Derby ticket that already had a mark on it]
RP: “This ticket’s been used.”
Me: “Its been used between Matlock and Belper. Now I’m using it between Belper and Derby.”
RP: “That’s not how it works.”
Me: “Yes it is. Its called a ’break of journey’. That’s what I’ve done.”
RP: “You need a separate ticket.”
Me: “Sorry, but you are wrong, I don’t.”
RP to his colleague: “I’ve got one here. I need to write him up.” [colleague comes over]
Me: “I’m sorry but there’s nothing for you to write up. The ticket is valid.”
RP: “I need your name and some ID.”
Me: “Get the guard please.”
RP: “The guard is busy. Name please.”
Me: “Get the guard please.” [fortuitously the guard then appeared walking down the train]
RP to Guard: “This guy is trying to re-use a ticket.”
Guard: “Can I see.” [guard looks at ticket, anytime day return Derby-Matlock]
Guard: “Did you break in Belper?”
Me: “Yep.”
Guard to RP: “It’s fine, no problem.” [RP looks surprised and starts to turn away]
Me to RP: “Excuse me. Are you going to apologise now?” [glare from RP]
Me to RP: “Obviously not. What’s your name?”
RP: “I don’t have to tell you.” [and moves away]
Me: “Well I’ll be making a complaint. I’m sure EMR will work out who you are based on the train time.”
[further glare from RP who alights at Derby when I do]

I’ve always found EMR Guards on the route very friendly and fair. EMR’s Revenue Protection however, dressed in their unnecessarily threatening pseudo-police style outfits, can be much less pleasant.

 

[al78]

The only one I can think of was the incident I posted on here last year when trains were not running from Horsham to London Bridge and I had to get to Farringdon via Victoria and the tube to Blackfriars. The woman at the barriers at Victoria said I couldn't use my ticket as it said not valid via underground, despite me pointing out the disruption and questioning if it was a valid alternative route. I ended up buying a tube ticket and after advice on here, contacted TFL explaining the situation who agreed to refund the tube fare.

 

[KT550]

I often get a Day Travelcard starting from a Surrey station outside zones 1-6.

One of the ticket options is marked "Thameslink Only"; the restriction only applies from origin to the border with zone 6.

I had two barrier staff at Waterloo telling me it wasn't valid as SWR wasn't Thameslink but after my explanation of the rules I was permitted to travel to Twickenham.

 

[ValleyLines142]

I was on an Virgin Trains service from Manchester to Birmingham (the daily one that leaves Manchester c. 0625 via New Street) a few years back, just before Avanti was born and I was travelling to Cardiff, the train manager came along and did a ticket check and loudly proceeded to tell my friend and I that our tickets weren't valid on this service because it was an off peak ticket, even though period returns from Cardiff to Manchester at the time only came as off peak and there were no peak time restrictions on the return journey. Ended up having to show him our itinerary on the app where the same ticket type and cost was displayed next to it, and the train manager without any remorse or emotion whatsoever just merely said 'oh yeah that's fine then'.

Admittedly he wasn't rude, nor was I offended or annoyed by his honest and genuine mistake, but I did say at the very least that an apology wouldn't have gone amiss because the train was rather busy and it was quite embarrassing. He did apologise for his mistake, but even so I shouldn't have had to ask him or reprimand him for his actions.

 

[dontteleport]

I had an EMR gateline worker tell me scoldingly that I'd need to buy an entirely new ticket from St Pancras to Leicester as my connecting Thameslink service was delayed, causing me to miss the train my advance specified. Apparently this was because "they are different train operating companies". I ignored this advice and we actually encountered an RPI onboard, who checked said Thameslink was 1. delayed and 2. a valid connection per minimum times, and said this was all fine. Had I taken Mr Gateline at face value, I'd be down £68.

 

[Narrowgauge725]

I was on London Underground when a train in front broke down with a stated delay of 30 min. Travelling on a London all zones to Wakefield return ticket and with a LNER train to catch. Our group decided to get off and get a taxi, the rest of the group (same ticket) got through the barrier but my ticket wouldn’t let me. The gentleman told me I couldn’t do what I was doing, so I told him I was and just pushed through.

 

[nwales58]

Gatwick and restriction codes. On the return leg of a ticket with VK or 2C restriction the times apply from Euston. At times when barriers reject the ticket, sometimes staff accept it, sometimes insist their local off-peak times apply, sometimes tell me my railcard isn’t valid. Once I pointed to nre.co.uk/2C on a paper ticket to be told ’I don’t know what that is’! Asking for the supervisor has worked so far.

 

[MrJeeves]

During strike action on GTR in the past, I've made use of ticket validity easements for later dates.

I vividly remember once making use of this during a journey through Gatwick. Ticket didn't work the barriers, of course, and I showed it to staff who proclaimed that it was "valid yesterday; not today".

When I reminded them about the easement due to the strike, they brushed it off and then proceeded to try and "catch me out" by asking for my Railcard, which I happily showed.

Ordinarily, I'd admit they're just doing their job, but I have never been asked to show my Railcard at Gatwick's many gatelines before this, and never again after this. The attitude of the staff member really did just come across as trying to find any other reason my ticket wouldn't be valid just so they'd be in the right!

Anyway, after I'd gotten my Greggs breakfast and went to re-enter the main concourse gateline, I also had to remind the staff member there too... No Railcard check!

 

[Cross City]

Just goes to show how desperately ticketing in this country needs homogenising and streamlining.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

This is from over a decade ago now... back in 2014 a fares error lead to certain fares from a few local stations in South Yorkshire, to a handful of stations in Kent, being set artificially low for a limited period. Having been made aware of this anomaly by this very site, I booked a return trip from Chapeltown to Strood for something in the vicinity of £10 (I forget the exact price after so many years).
Everything went smoothly at first, even had a conductor mention how they'd seen loads of these tickets and found it amusing that so many people from Yorkshire couldn't turn down a bargain!
That was, until it came time to return back North. At St Pancras a member of EMR (or may have still been EMT back then) staff accused me of having a fake ticket, despite presumably the glitch being something all gateline staff would be aware of at this point. I did say that if I was going to go to the trouble of making a fake ticket, why would I put an unfeasibly low fare on said fake ticket... but this fell on deaf ears. She then told me to take this ticket (which she claimed to believe was fake) to the ticket office downstairs... Which I did. The ticket office counter confirmed the ticket was genuine and valid (which I already knew, of course) so I asked them to please communicate that to the woman on the gateline who claimed it was fake. They were reluctant at first for some reason but eventually did do- I forget exactly how this was done. This delay however meant I'd miss my last onward connection at Sheffield (I was travelling through to Denby Dale with an additional ticket), which meant EMT/R having to fork out for a taxi thanks to the incredulity of one staff member... Of course I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by not using the manned gate!

 

[tram21]

Related - PlusBus gets a plethora of responses from bus drivers.

Yep, 90% of attempts getting on a bus with a plusbus gets an odd look and a 'that's a train ticket' response. I've thankfully not yet had it where they actually won't let me on.

Had an interesting one in Hull last week, where the driver had never seen one, and had absolutely no intention of not letting me on but he got out the cab and called the depot so he could learn about them for the future. He was very grateful for me teaching him something!!

 

[crablab]

There hasn't been a report for a while of a longer distance off peak ticket being refused boarding at Paddington or Marylebone during the evening rush hour. . The archives of this site will contain a number. That's where the journey out of London is the second part of a longer trip starting before any peak restrictions. The announcements saying that off peak tickets are not valid on this train are unhelpful when they don't mention exceptions.

This is a common issue, which I have also experienced. Stating on all the departure boards that "OFF PEAK IS NOT VALID" is simply misleading - it's not true.
They should be far more specific about the restriction codes (eg.O9) that are explicitly not valid on certain services. O9 specifies exceptions to the rule (ie. that the ticket is valid), not the other way around.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

One I remember on this forum from years ago as it involved one of my local stations. Someone was travelling back from somewhere north of Birmingham to High Wycombe. The ticket inspector on a Cross Country service between Birmingham and Banbury claimed the ticket not valid. It was a via London ticket from somewhere to High Wycombe. The traveller may even have been threatened with prosecution.

The forum noted several reasons why the ticket was valid. Break of journey would be permitted at High Wycombe not least on the grounds that going all the way to Marylebone and back out again was valid. Also a via London would be usually be valid via Reading.

Another one I thiink has now been understood which is that "Any Pernmitted" are valid on HS! not least because there are no "Not via HS1" tickets for many flows from outside London and Kent. That's notwithstanding no mention of HS1 on the ticket.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

...to please communicate that to the woman on the gateline who claimed it was fake.

Interesting... because there's one long serving female member of the gateline staff at St Pancras who doesn't seem to have much idea of ticket validity in general, and has on occasion refused entry to the return portion of an off peak from, say, Nottingham to destinations south across London ( when changing from EMR to Thameslink ) in the evening claiming "it's peak hours at the moment - it's not valid" when the only time restrictions are no arrival at St Pancras between certain hours in the morning*.

I wonder if you encountered the same person?

*Simple solution in these instances, rather than waste time arguing and summoning managers, is to just walk to King's Cross and get the Circle to Farringdon... quite often connecting into the same Thameslink train that you were originally aiming at...

 

[MarlowDonkey]

A couple of recent ones.

Advance ticket with Senior Railcard was not valid

SWR sale of invalid tickets

I was prompted to join this forum after a not too pleasant encounter with a SWR revenue protection officer yesterday I received a UPN while travelling on what was deemed to be an invalid ticket The irony was I had purchased the ticket from SWR website clearly indicating the specific train I...

www.railforums.co.uk

Paddington gateline (yet again), This time doubled down by Customer Services.

Advice needed

Hello everyone! I had an unfortunate incident at London Paddington where I was aggressively and erronously refused travel by a member of GWR staff. I regularly travel between Cambridge and Maidenhead on an off-peak return, which has ticket restriction code 4J. As per the National Rail website...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[steamybrian]

Is there anywhere that will issue platform tickets still? I often ask and just get waved through...

Yes they are still widely available but few people know they exist.

 

[mikeb42]

I've lost count of the number of times I've been told that a non-stop split onto a paper day travelcard at the zone 6 boundary isn't permitted, mostly on GWR. This is most often by ticket office staff, who question the combination of tickets I'm buying. To be fair, this is usually an attempt to be helpful, even if it's always when I'm in a hurry - the only reason to use the booking office in the first place. Then, inevitably there's gateline operatives... Just occasionally it's guards. 99% of these on GWR are customer friendly and pragmatic but there's always the exception who proves the rule. Most recently and memorably it was by an RPI who generously "let me off with a warning".

I've yet to be reported for prosecution or tasered and pinned to the floor as an infractor so as life is short and train journeys are long I mostly just play along sweetly and then get on with my day.

What is most notable is that verbatim quoting NRCoT 14.3 at them, including pointing at the copy I have of it on my phone, is about as effective as the fabled chocolate teapot. It's never once made the slightest difference, other than to sour the interaction, which I can't really be bothered with.

While it may be a little bit niche I'm surprised there aren't significant numbers of people doing it at least with season tickets and/or season travelcards, all of which are handled under the same clause in the NRCoT. That 99% of guards don't bat an eyelid and move on immediately with a "seen it 1001 times before" reaction suggests there are and makes it hard to understand why it's apparently so poorly understood by other staff whose job involves tickets...

 

[Craig1122]

Henley on Thames to Staines via Windsor. You have to interchange between 2 separate stations at Windsor, ticket rejected at the SWR gate line. Was told it's not valid as "you're not in Henley". Did eventually let me through.

 

[cona321]

There was major disruption on thameslink one day and they advised that the ticket can be used on the following day on any thameslink train. I arrived at Abbey Wood Station on this day and the staff who are Elizabeth Line staff told me that I can’t use the ticket. I advise them that the thameslink website says I can use it on thameslink trains and they respond with “a train company would never allow the use of a ticket on another day during disruption and that I would need to purchase a new ticket“ after some back and forth and showing them the website, they eventually let me through and told me to just show my phone to any other staff!

 

[BingMan]

Very rare for on-train staff to do it in my experience (in contrast to bus drivers who reject anything that's even vaguely out of the norm - I've even seen Stagecoach drivers at Penrith saying "that's a train ticket" in response to the new Avanti through Advances to Keswick and needing to be convinced).

I have had bus drivers refuse a Greater Manchester Wayfarer on the grounds that it is a railway ticket