If there is a revenue block on, on a platform, can they make you miss a train just to check your ticket? Espeiclsly if the train you arrived in on is late and the train you wish to catch is about to leave? What if the next train isn't for another 30 minutes?
This didn't happen today but what did occur was even more bizarre if you ask me.
Today a parent and their child did not stop at a ticket block on platform 1, at Guildford Station because they thought they would miss their train, the 8:07 to Waterloo. At the point they arrived it should have already left. A member of staff chased after them and said to the parent that they could see the signal aspect was red and the train wasn't going to depart.
How ludicrous to ask passengers to check signal aspects? Imagine South Western Railway asking passengers to do this at somewhere like Waterloo.
The train the passengers had arrived on, the 8:01 from Havant, is an official connection but was delayed. The minimum connection time at Guildford is 5 minutes. The 8:01 has been delayed every day since the new year and rightly or wrongly the man responded saying they should concentrate on running their trains on time. Clearly its not their job but its not the job of passengers to check signal aspects. The revenue staff did at least get to check the ticket and it was valid.
In the mean time, a train from the Cobham line, that held up our departure, was pulling into platform 3. Ironically I doubt there was any revenue block on that platform and passengers could have just got off the train; joined another train and travelled to another station without barriers, ticketless.
Towards the end of the discussion between the parent and revenue inspector, a load of children rushed onto the train. Clearly also off the 8:01 arrival. They didn't bother checking their tickets but maybe the signal aspect had turned green and the train was about to leave or they felt there was too many of them to check in such a short time.
Now whilst the parent and child could have got an earlier train, in order to make the connection and not have to run, from some stations it would need them to leave almost 30 minutes earlier. Had they missed the 8:07, they would have had an almost 30 minute wait for the next train. If they were going to the Bookham or stations on the Epsom line then the next train wouldn't be until 8:58, as there is no 8:28. That's a long time to wait. At least delay repay would be due, costing SWR more money.
I'm not against revenue blocks but they need to be done sensibly.
This didn't happen today but what did occur was even more bizarre if you ask me.
Today a parent and their child did not stop at a ticket block on platform 1, at Guildford Station because they thought they would miss their train, the 8:07 to Waterloo. At the point they arrived it should have already left. A member of staff chased after them and said to the parent that they could see the signal aspect was red and the train wasn't going to depart.
How ludicrous to ask passengers to check signal aspects? Imagine South Western Railway asking passengers to do this at somewhere like Waterloo.
The train the passengers had arrived on, the 8:01 from Havant, is an official connection but was delayed. The minimum connection time at Guildford is 5 minutes. The 8:01 has been delayed every day since the new year and rightly or wrongly the man responded saying they should concentrate on running their trains on time. Clearly its not their job but its not the job of passengers to check signal aspects. The revenue staff did at least get to check the ticket and it was valid.
In the mean time, a train from the Cobham line, that held up our departure, was pulling into platform 3. Ironically I doubt there was any revenue block on that platform and passengers could have just got off the train; joined another train and travelled to another station without barriers, ticketless.
Towards the end of the discussion between the parent and revenue inspector, a load of children rushed onto the train. Clearly also off the 8:01 arrival. They didn't bother checking their tickets but maybe the signal aspect had turned green and the train was about to leave or they felt there was too many of them to check in such a short time.
Now whilst the parent and child could have got an earlier train, in order to make the connection and not have to run, from some stations it would need them to leave almost 30 minutes earlier. Had they missed the 8:07, they would have had an almost 30 minute wait for the next train. If they were going to the Bookham or stations on the Epsom line then the next train wouldn't be until 8:58, as there is no 8:28. That's a long time to wait. At least delay repay would be due, costing SWR more money.
I'm not against revenue blocks but they need to be done sensibly.