Maximum Fare at Finsbury Park - Surely I'm not the first?

[Stadtbahn]

Hi all, I hope this thread is in the forum section - please let me know if not.

Last week I took a Thameslink train from London Bridge to Finsbury Park, something I do regularly. I tapped in at the National Rail barriers at London Bridge and tapped out at the on-platform barriers at Finsbury Park (Platform 7). Normally I would then take the Eastern exit of the station (main entrance/exit). However, this time I took the newer Western exit (Wells Terrace Bus Station), where I had to tap through another set of barriers (this isn't the case on the Eastern side).

I noticed today that I was charged, as normal, for the journey (£3). However, I was also charged a Maximum Fare (£8.60) for an "Unknown to Finsbury Park" journey. I assume that this is because I had to tap out twice. I have contacted TfL about this but am yet to receive a response about getting a refund for this.

Now my question is: Surely I cannot be the first person this has happened to? How can it be that passengers are charged twice when exiting through the Western entrance. Has anyone else had this problem at Finsbury Park or another station?

 

[Dave W]

You're not the first - it happened to me in the middle of October.

I'm sure I've used stations before where exiting twice in such short order is reconciled by the system (this was, indeed, what the guy on the phone from TfL said, and to give it a couple of days to sort itself out).

I wonder, perhaps, if the relative newness of the Wells Terrace gateline means such a manoeuvre - entirely proper and not at all irregular - hasn't yet been put into the system as a possible occurrence?

For your peace of mind - when the system appeared not to self-reconcile I wrote to them for a refund and was duly given it.

 

[Stadtbahn]

You're not the first - it happened to me in the middle of October.

I'm sure I've used stations before where exiting twice in such short order is reconciled by the system (this was, indeed, what the guy on the phone from TfL said, and to give it a couple of days to sort itself out).

I wonder, perhaps, if the relative newness of the Wells Terrace gateline means such a manoeuvre - entirely proper and not at all irregular - hasn't yet been put into the system as a possible occurrence?

For your peace of mind - when the system appeared not to self-reconcile I wrote to them for a refund and was duly given it.

That would make sense. I'm not too worried about being refused a refund as -as you say- there was such little time between exiting at the two gate lines. Although I would assume that this has happened to many people that haven't noticed.

 

[MikeWh]

You're definitely not the first, but you may be among the last. At some point in the next few weeks there will be gates installed in the bus station ticket hall and the platform gates will be taken out.

In the meantime, if you intend to use the Wells Terrace gateline and have to first touch on the platform gateline then you also need to touch on a validator in the subway beneath the NR platforms.