Paddington-Reading: Restriction Code W1

[phil1960]

Hello.

Basically the ticket I bought yesterday was CDR Boundary Zone 3 to Reading via Slough = restriction code W1:

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=0042&dest=RDG&grpd=0403&rte=801&tkt=CDR

And for completeness, I was using Zone 1-3 Travelcard on Oyster to travel from Paddington. I was also using a Staff Travel Card to reduce the fare, but that had no bearing on the validity of the ticket. Scrutiny of the restriction W1 shows that this doesn't bear any PM restrictions from Paddington as applies to the one from London Terminals to Reading via Any Permitted = restriction code J9:

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=PAD&dest=RDG&grpo=1072&grpd=0403&tkt=CDR

My plans were to jump on the 17:42, but barrier staff refused to let me through. I could understand why they first said no as it was restricted as per J9 and clearly advertised to that effect on the CIS screens. They did not show any willingness to check or back down despite my ticket was valid, surely?

Back to the ticket office to see if they instead could confirm the W1 restrictions and possibly print them out was met with a "No, wasn't possible". That I find hard to believe.

I simply couldn't be bothered about trying all over again at a different gatelines for other trains up to 18:03, so as a result just waited for the 18:05 which was the first fast service I could possibly get on without any hassle.

It wasn't the 20-odd minute delay that bothered me, but the fact if a ticket restriction is issued then staff should at least have the courtesy to check, apologise if they were wrong and let me on.

So, whilst staff probably go into auto-pilot mode for restriction J9 that time of day, can I assume this was a staff knowledge and subsequent customer service issue? It does seem odd that code W1 exists and applies for fares from zone boundaries as quite obviously J9 is put in to keep off peak tickets off busy PM services out of Paddington.

I've emailed GWR but understand issues with Paddington gateline staff are not uncommon.

Regards
Phil

 

[bb21]

Don't have too high an expectation, or you'll find that they are crushed mercilessly.

I put it down to a cultural thing at some locations. At these places, staff live in their own little bubbles and no amount of retraining or briefing will change that. You may get an apology from Customer Services, but things will more than likely carry on as they have always been. Most of the time you will find that even a team a couple of miles down the line, headed by the same manager, will be stark contrasts.

Some of these so-called professionals give everyone else who try their best to help the customers a bad name, but I doubt they actually care about that, and unfortunately some of these "teams" work at the most significant flagship stations, so primely located doing the whole industry a disservice. Indeed some seem to revel in causing fellow staff no end of trouble and delight in doing so.

Paddington are very much an exception amongst GWR stations, but my goodness isn't there some appalling deadwood there (speaking from plenty of personal experience) whose attitude on show should have seen them nowhere near such an important job at a busy London terminal.

There are still good staff there (see this thread for example), but the poor ones are very very noticeable.

 

[furlong]

You have two straightforward escalation routes outside the company - the DfT as an indisputable breach of the Franchise Agreement wherein the company had agreed to honour all valid tickets - and the ORR as a breach of the Consumer Regulations whereby an average consumer would have been likely to have needed to pay more than was necessary to travel on the train due to a lack of professional diligence. Both should lead to the company agreeing action plans that avoid the problem happening again. In extremis if the problem persists and appears wilful, the ORR has the power to prosecute the company.

Given the number of similar threads, perhaps it is time people affected asked these bodies to take action?

 

[Michael.Y]

Isn't the 1742 first stop Didcot anyway?

 

[furlong]

Isn't the 1742 first stop Didcot anyway?

Indeed, but they should have explained that was the reason if it was and just directed the OP to the 1745 (e.g. platform 4 instead of 2, if the platform was already advertised).