More nonsense from the incompetent GTR "Gatwick Express" staff.

[swt class 450]

So i had some more bad experiences with the incompetent Gatwick Express staff at London Victoria yesterday. For some reason when I alighted from my train all of the barriers (the P13 and P14 ones) were ridiculously set to the entry position (causing lots of overcrowding) except for one exit barrier where a member of staff was checking tickets by hand.

I had an any permitted day return ticket to London Terminals with Zones 1 to 6 Travelcard (a perfectly valid ticket which i often use on the Gatwick Express branded trains).

When i showed my ticket to the man he took my ticket. I then said that i needed to keep my ticket to use on other services in London and for my return journey. I assume he wasn't really listening to what i was saying properly as he then completely ripped my ticket in to two pieces along the magnetic strip and gave it back to me.

I told him that i couldn't use it now that he ripped it in half and explained that I had needed to use it on London Underground and other National Rail services within Greater London and I needed to use it for my return journey later on in the evening. He really didn't seem to care what i was saying and refused to do anything.

After explaining again and again he pointed me to the TVM to buy a new ticket! He then eventually admitted that the ticket shouldn't have been ripped but said that it was my responsibility as i should have told him not to rip that ticket!

He completely refused to issue me with a new ticket. So i had to go all around the station speaking to various staff and after one hour and fifteen minutes (after alighting from my train) of arguing and speaking to various different people i finally got them to issue me a new ticket.

This staff member is completely incompetent. From my experience and from hearing from others it seems like the staff at P13 and P14 make lots of mistakes and give lots of nonsense information.

 

[talldave]

Not helped by the fact that they really don't give a toss either. They're happy to spout all sorts of crap they've made up themselves and really don't care how inconvenienced the passenger is.

I'm normally the most passive person around, but if one of the red-coated gestapo had ripped my ticket up I think I would have totally lost it with them.

It would be worth claiming for inconvenience and lost time from GTE - however, that'll mean dealing with their customer services staff, who always give the impression of knowing nothing about trains or tickets, so they're a total waste of time. Aggressive tweeting might be your best approach, as at least one of GTR's twitterers has an IQ greater than zero and knows what a ticket is.

 

[gordonthemoron]

can you not claim under delay/repay?

 

[Flying Snail]

So i had some more bad experiences with the incompetent Gatwick Express staff at London Victoria yesterday. For some reason when i alighted from my train all of the barriers (the P13 and P14 ones) were ridiculously set to the entry position (causing lots of overcrowding) except for one exit barrier where a member of staff was checking tickets by hand. I had an any permitted day return ticket to London Terminals with Zones 1 to 6 Travelcard (a perfectly valid ticket which i often use on the Gatwick Express branded trains). When i showed my ticket to the man he took my ticket. I then said that i needed to keep my ticket to use on other services in London and for my return journey. I assume he wasn't really listening to what i was saying properly as he then completely ripped my ticket in to two pieces along the magnetic strip and gave it back to me. I told him that i couldnt use it now that he ripped it in half and explained that i had needed to use it on London Underground and other National Rail services within Greater London and i needed to use it for my return journey later on in the evening. He really didn't seem to care what i was saying and refused to do anything. After explaining again and again he pointed me to the TVM to buy a new ticket! He then eventually admitted that the ticket shouldn't have been ripped but said that it was my responsibility as i should have told him not to rip that ticket! He completely refused to issue me with a new ticket. So i had to go all around the station speaking to various staff and after one hour and fifteen minutes (after alighting from my train) of arguing and speaking to various different people i finally got them to issue me a new ticket. This staff member is completely incompetent. From my experience and from hearing from others it seems like the staff at P13 and P14 make lots of mistakes and give lots of nonsense information.

There is no excuse for that level of ignorance from a ticket checker, a staff member in Central London not knowing what an outboundary travelcard is? Just ridiculous.

Besides the response to any issue over a ticket is not to rip it and hand it back to the passenger.

 

[AlterEgo]

can you not claim under delay/repay?

No.

This is a matter for customer relations.

Time and time again I am astounded by how downright daft some staff are. As Flying Snail says, the response to a ticket dispute isn't to rip up the ticket. The mind boggles!

 

[Greenback]

This is a terrible incident that really sums everything bad about UK railways.

 

[bb21]

That has to be one of the worst examples of customer service by front line staff I have ever heard, that is, without the additional crap on top of ripping up a customer's Travelcard.

This needs a very strongly worded letter to Customer Services, who, no matter how bad, needs to be your first port of call.

 

[Greenback]

It's not very often that I call for someone to be dismissed, but in this case I shall make an exception!

 

[GatwickDepress]

I've never worked on the railway, but from speaking to revenue protection and gateline staff over the years, I'm led to believe you never ever rip up a ticket. Even if he assumed the ticket was expired following your journey, I believe the "done" thing is either recording the outbound journey on pen or ripping it gently along the mag strip. Obviously as you had a Travelcard none of those should have been done.

I would have escalated that to the gateline assistant's manager immediately because it shows a blatant disregard for the customer and due procedure. Report this to GTR immediately. Don't let them brush this under the carpet - its when bad habits are tolerated that they begin to stick.

For all the excellent staff working under GTR, there aren't half a bunch of cowboys either; Gatwick Airport and Victoria are lucky enough to bear the brunt.

 

[Kite159]

That has to be one of the worst examples of customer service by front line staff I have ever heard, that is, without the additional crap on top of ripping up a customer's Travelcard.

This needs a very strongly worded letter to Customer Services, who, no matter how bad, needs to be your first port of call.

Which knowing how useless the GTR customer services are, you will probably be going to London Travelwatch.

They will probably come up"the gateline assistant was correct in ripping your ticket up as it isn't valid on Gatwick Express" or completely miss the points raised

 

[319321]

I've never worked on the railway, but from speaking to revenue protection and gateline staff over the years, I'm led to believe you never ever rip up a ticket. Even if he assumed the ticket was expired following your journey, I believe the "done" thing is either recording the outbound journey on pen or ripping it gently along the mag strip. Obviously as you had a Travelcard none of those should have been done.

I would have escalated that to the gateline assistant's manager immediately because it shows a blatant disregard for the customer and due procedure. Report this to GTR immediately. Don't let them brush this under the carpet - its when bad habits are tolerated that they begin to stick.

For all the excellent staff working under GTR, there aren't half a bunch of cowboys either; Gatwick Airport and Victoria are lucky enough to bear the brunt.

There is a guy at Southend Victoria who rips tickets for passengers who want to keep them passing through the barriers (it's happened to me three times).

 

[swt class 450]

Thank you for all your replies. I am definitely sending customer services an email today. Unfortunately from my experience customer services always take ages to reply and then give some copy and paste rubbish response. Hopefully this man will get some better customer service and ticket training. It would be nice if i got some sort of compensation or rail vouchers for all of this wasted time at London Victoria but it is probably unlikely.

 

[yorkie]

From my experience and from hearing from others it seems like the staff at P13 and P14 make lots of mistakes and give lots of nonsense information.

I think it's quite a deliberate act by some of them. It's not just a matter of making mistakes.

I'm normally the most passive person around, but if one of the red-coated gestapo had ripped my ticket up I think I would have totally lost it with them.

I believe some people deliberately act in a way that winds people up, in an attempt to get the other person to lose it and get themselves into trouble. They then deny having done anything to wind the other person up and try to get that person done for their reaction. I see this sort of behaviour rather too often. And yes, I think some of the staff at Victoria Platforms 13/14 do act that way and some of them want confrontation.

The number of complaints made against them must be staggering. Only a small proportion of incidents involving those staff acting inappropriately are reported here, and yet we have had numerous reports. I've also witnessed appalling behaviour with my own eyes.

I will always stand up for people being bullied by them. They also lie, which can be dangerous as if the police were called I suspect they'd believe the staff over a passenger.

They'll never change; I think some people in upper management quite like it as it must rake in loads of money for the company, as people are often made to pay more money than necessary and most people either don't know their rights or are not able to (or have time to) assert their rights.

 

[Merseysider]

Such incompetent staff members are definitely in the minority at GatEx, and it's absolutely nothing to do with a superiority complex. This member of staff is in no way representative of the brilliant company which is GatEx.

To be honest I'd be surprised if they fired him. After all, crap customer service coupled with staggeringly inadequate ticketing knowledge is a perfect embodiment of GatEx on the whole and is probably a job requirement to work there. Well done for not losing your cool, it can't have been easy. Definitely customer services. If no resolution within 6 weeks London Travelwatch is next.

 

[swt class 450]

Thought i would mention that someone on Twitter has today complained of the same problem that i had (thank you to yorkie for making me aware of these Tweets).

https://twitter.com/slimsladey68/status/799248793707442176

So now the gateline staff at Victoria are ripping up valid tickets ! So much for your promises to me a couple of weeks ago

https://twitter.com/slimsladey68/status/799253658823180292

The station manager would be notified gateline staff were making the rules up as they went along and they'd be retrained

https://twitter.com/slimsladey68/status/799254256712716288

Anytime day travelcard Rye to London zone 1to6 .. only 1 exit at P13/14 all other gates set to entry .. staff member on gate

https://twitter.com/slimsladey68/status/799254516554076163

checking tickets ripped up my travelcard .. and also someone else behind me .. told him needed it for return travel

https://twitter.com/slimsladey68/status/799254803088019457

grunted at and told to buy new ticket .. At least wasn't told that Gat Ex was HS1 this time so small improvement !

https://twitter.com/slimsladey68/status/799263527152324608

Yes ticket was kept .. already emailed CS yesterday on day of incident .. and unsurprisingly still waiting for reply ..

I imagine that the person who ripped up my ticket was the same person who ripped up this Twitter users ticket. It is really shocking! It makes me wonder how many people get their perfectly valid tickets (that are still needed for the Travelcard and return journey) ripped up every day by these incompetent staff members!

 

[RJ]

Don't let them brush this under the carpet - its when bad habits are tolerated that they begin to stick.

Generally speaking (not about any specific TOC), it's likely that the managers who are responsible for frontline staff are probably snowed under with other more intrinsic problems relating to headcount, attendance, train service issues, general running of the premises and the staff who cause untold amounts of grief before even taking into account any customer service issues.

By the time any complaint gets through Customer Services and through the line manager's emails, the incident would have taken place several weeks before. Either it would have been long since forgotten about by the staff involved, or some story will have been concocted by said staff which makes it impossible for the manager to actually be able to do anything about it.

Sadly, to the customer that has a valid complaint, it will seem like incidents get brushed under the carpet. The only way to get complaints taken seriously these days is either to go through social media, or take a course of action that costs the company money and generates unavoidable workload for the people who are in a position to address the complaint properly. Else it will go to the bottom of the pile and disregarded and all you'll get is template email with a load of platitudes from Customer Services.

 

[bb21]

There is a guy at Southend Victoria who rips tickets for passengers who want to keep them passing through the barriers (it's happened to me three times).

Not a major issue if there is no further validity, but if the customer requires them for further travel or for other meaningful purposes then this should not happen.

In the latter case it needs reporting.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

I've never worked on the railway, but from speaking to revenue protection and gateline staff over the years, I'm led to believe you never ever rip up a ticket.

Without taking this discussed too far OT I would like to point out that "never ever" is a very strong wording. It may well be appropriate for gateline checks but I can assure you that there are situations where ripping up and binning a ticket is very much the correct action. Though absolutely not so in this case!

 

[AlterEgo]

Without taking this discussed too far OT I would like to point out that "never ever" is a very strong wording. It may well be appropriate for gateline checks but I can assure you that there are situations where ripping up and binning a ticket is very much the correct action. Though absolutely not so in this case!

Out of interest, when would this be? (Assuming you're not being facetious by referring to retained tickets in the gate or TE's pocket!)

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Out of interest, when would this be? (Assuming you're not being facetious by referring to retained tickets in the gate or TE's pocket!)

Guard checking train for litter (when time allows), particularly after arriving at terminus. Vast majority of discarded tickets found will clearly have been used and can be disposed of. Avoids chancers finding them later in the day and trying to re-use them.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Guard checking train for litter (when time allows), particularly after arriving at terminus. Vast majority of discarded tickets found will clearly have been used and can be disposed of. Avoids chancers finding them later in the day and trying to re-use them.

Okay, at a gateline then! I thought it was clear enough in my post that its when staff are interacting with a passenger.

 

[Nippy]

I almost want to fill a priv box in and use the next day to see what they do......

 

[infobleep]

I almost want to fill a priv box in and use the next day to see what they do......

You'd want to make sure you get the right gateline staff member.

Out of interest. What would have happened what one stood in front of the old exit gate, blocking it for everyone else. Your ticket is valid. Surely a policeman, who would be called over I am sure, could see it is valid. It's obvious or don't the British Transport Police do obvious?

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[yorkie]

I was once at Victoria platforms 13/14 when they called BTP because they made a false claim about the name of the train company, and someone asked "who is your employer?" The police were asked to make the passengers leave.

I doubt BTP will know much in the way of ticketing matters, they will believe the staff and remove anyone from the stayion who isn't complying with theit unreasonable demands.

I know it's hard to believe but this is what can happen when there is no ombudsman, no effective regulator and the DfT in cahoots with the rain company's management instruct their staff to insist people pay a "premium".

The platform 13/14 ticket office even refused to sell priv fares for destinations other than Gatwick.

They tell people GX is fastest even when it isn't, and even when it's actually overtaken (e.g. Diverted via Crystal Palace while their non-express takes the faster route).

They even reject not HS1 fares , arguing GX is a high speed route.

Expect the unexpected. Anything can happen at Platforms 13/14. Nothing surprises me. Nothing...

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Okay, at a gateline then! I thought it was clear enough in my post that its when staff are interacting with a passenger.

I take it you don't often travel on trains with a conductor on board. Occasionally when checking tickets a chancer would proffer a ticket that had clearly been discarded and they'd picked up from the floor somewhere. Just to make the point that said ticket was not going to be accepted I would sometimes tear it up in front of them and suggest they try a more realistic approach.

But at gatelines I would think it unlikely as it's more likely to create just the sort of situations with other, non-involved, passengers as described in this thread.

 

[Please Explain]

Just disgraceful behavior..

You want to go into the GTR reception and ask to see a duty manager.
That guy was bang out of order to do that to you, he is on some trip...

@yorkie

That stuff about HS1 is unreal, I can't believe their treating FARE PAYING PASSENGERS like that! Anyone with half a brain cell knows that HS1 refers to the CTRL.
Bully boys on the barrier...

GatEx has always been a massive con since day one, ripping off tourists and exploiting people who don't know any better. The whole service has been run into the ground in recent years since it merged into Southern and now GTR.

 

[Skimble19]

I would advise you CC [email protected] in to your email, or send it to him direct and CC customer services in. You probably won't get a response from him but this way it will get picked up by the Customer Relations managers very quickly, and escalated to Station Managers far quicker and more seriously than the standard Customer Relations route.

 

[bb21]

I would advise you CC [email protected] in to your email, or send it to him direct and CC customer services in. You probably won't get a response from him but this way it will get picked up by the Customer Relations managers very quickly, and escalated to Station Managers far quicker and more seriously than the standard Customer Relations route.

You know why sometimes letters to Customer Services take longer for a response than they would have otherwise done? It's because of practice like this which like to jump the queue rather than giving Customer Services a chance to resolve the matter first, before escalating via appropriate channels.

You haven't even given Customer Services a chance to resolve this first. How do you know it will not be dealt with properly? What do you think people at Customer Services do with your complaint? Laugh and snigger and discard it?

Anyone who tries this with me goes to the bottom of the pile straight away. :roll: You wait for your turn.

 

[VauxhallandI]

You know why sometimes letters to Customer Services take longer for a response than they would have otherwise done? It's because of practice like this which like to jump the queue rather than giving Customer Services a chance to resolve the matter first, before escalating via appropriate channels.

You haven't even given Customer Services a chance to resolve this first. How do you know it will not be dealt with properly? What do you think people at Customer Services do with your complaint? Laugh and snigger and discard it?

Anyone who tries this with me goes to the bottom of the pile straight away. :roll: You wait for your turn.

Whilst understanding where you are coming from on this isn't there a case for prioritising complaints much like a held desk does with issues?

The compliant in this thread is frankly outrageous and I would expect a company would want to address it rather quickly?

 

[35B]

You know why sometimes letters to Customer Services take longer for a response than they would have otherwise done? It's because of practice like this which like to jump the queue rather than giving Customer Services a chance to resolve the matter first, before escalating via appropriate channels.

You haven't even given Customer Services a chance to resolve this first. How do you know it will not be dealt with properly? What do you think people at Customer Services do with your complaint? Laugh and snigger and discard it?

Anyone who tries this with me goes to the bottom of the pile straight away. :roll: You wait for your turn.

Maybe. But when I recently had an issue with another TOC and copied my email to the MD, it was dealt with on a separate track, with a very positive response, both financially and in terms of following up the issue raised