Leeds - shortage of people selling tickets to arriving passengers?

[Solent&Wessex]

That's exactly the situation. The terminal will try to obtain authorisation if the chip data instructs it to, if there is insufficient signal to obtain authorisation it will decline the transaction.

This is assuming that the chip and pin device is fitted with a sim card and has somewhere to connect to. Ours do not and are permanently offline.

 

[island]

When a conductor puts a card into his chip reader, is this 'online' if the machine can get a GSM (or whatever) signal but offline if he can't? Or is it always done without dialling up?

The latter.

That's exactly the situation. The terminal will try to obtain authorisation if the chip data instructs it to, if there is insufficient signal to obtain authorisation it will decline the transaction.

In fact is is exactly not the situation on most/all of National Rail. Avantix Mobile machines carried by conductors do not have any facility to authorise transactions online, as kwvr45 points out, and the chip on an "authorise all transactions" debit card will instruct the machine to decline the transaction. The guard may telephone for authorization if he has time, but this is not always an option.

 

[34D]

So are we saying that a card reported stolen could quite easily be used on a train and it would be until the end of the day (when the machine is presumably downloaded) that it would get flagged up as dodgy?

 

[tony_mac]

only if it was stolen with the PIN - there are presumably better things to do with such a stolen card than buy on-board train tickets.

 

[Deerfold]

only if it was stolen with the PIN - there are presumably better things to do with such a stolen card than buy on-board train tickets.

Actually, when my card was cloned it was mostly used to buy season tickets and mobile top-ups. I don't know if they then tried to get refunds for the season tickets or sell them on.

Unlikely things for me to buy as the area was covered by my staff travel pass and I have a contract phone.

 

[IanXC]

So are we saying that a card reported stolen could quite easily be used on a train and it would be until the end of the day (when the machine is presumably downloaded) that it would get flagged up as dodgy?

When the card handsets are returned to their base each night they will receive a list of 'hot cards' which are lost and stolen cards. That means that there is only a small window of cards which are lost and stolen which the terminal will not know about.