An analysis of cost against benefit will make it impossible to justify and, for many TVMs, making such a change will physically be a very difficult thing to do as it would mean cutting holes in the casing and finding mounting points for the scanning equipment.
A splash screen prompt “is your railcard with you and still in date” must be fairly straightforward, as someone mentioned earlier SWR’s machines already ask a similar question. Perhaps “not expired” rather than “valid” might be better, validity might be seen as referring to the time restrictions…
Totally this - when most tickets were bought at ticket windows the card was checked at point of purchase by staff. Risk of a problem on the journey very much reduced as a result of staffed point of sale. Since 'self serve' channel shift to buy your own ticket from TVM or on line that responsibility passes more to the customer - who is then prone to either forgetting or thinking they will get away with a discount to which they are not entitled just by pressing a button, click of a mouse.
However, if you have set a Railcard in your account (or app?), then the discount is applied automatically, which is why an additional reminder might help.
You need to renew your driving licence photo at least every 10 years. Again, they remind you though.
I needed to renew my photo this February and received no reminder of any sort.
How do you propose issuing people with a fine, which can only be done in a criminal court, and also at the same time...not...prosecute...them?
Easily
That's not a fine then, just to be clear. A fine can only be imposed by a court.
I think that what's being proposed is an out of court settlement. Rather like the current process but without having to wait for a letter and then reply to it.
you used to have to walk infront of a car with a flag but you don't anymore so there's little point referring to it
(obviously i understand your point)But they're a different breed aren't they. Determined to keep pre war Britain alive and well. I personally believe it's a game to them, and nobody has yet been able to prove otherwise.
The current driving license system is rather discriminatory, people who have a photocard license are forced to renew it every 10 years, but people who still have their paper license can keep it until they are 70.
And the roads are safer as a result with less people dragging massive caravans around on the back of a van with absolutely zero additional training.
We don't need everyone to do everything for us, but given the past year a helpful prompt isn't an unreasonable thing from a Customer service point of view.
The point is that in normal times, you would be regularly reminded of the expiry date every time you bought a ticket, but because of Covid many people may well not have looked at their card for 14 months. A gentle hint to check it is not spoon feeding, but good customer service. Some of the suggestions to verify validity with scannable cards and numbers are more involved than necessary.
Plenty of apps and websites (notably including The Trainline, which a lot of the general public use as their go-to) will save the last Railcard/discount you used and automatically apply it to your next search.
they are in Newcastle
As much as I agree with your point, ultimately the customer is responsible for ensuring their ticket is valid. To a TOC it is just an invalid ticket.
And all a splash warning is doing is assisting the customer in doing so. In the long run, being helpful rather than perceived to be trapping people for punitive measures will yield far more revenue to the railway.
