In Gatwick Airport station, last Sunday morning at 08:35, at the escalators at the bottom of platforms 1 & 2, there were two staff with Gatwick Express (GX) uniforms on calling out to passengers that anyone for Victoria should join the train at platform 2. This was the already waiting 08:50 GX service due to arrive into Victoria at 09:20.
A non-GX service was due into platform 1 at 08:41 to arrive Victoria at 09:16 (and left GTW on time). The GX service, in contrast, ran 3 minutes late into Victoria.
Of course, all of the tourists just did as they were told and took the GX option. Not once did the staff indicate to passengers that they might hold tickets that were not valid on GX. At the very moment the GX service started to pull out, a recorded announcement was played telling passengers that some tickets might not be valid on this service.
It seemed to me the whole set-up was designed to entrap customers into boarding the GX train regardless of whether they had the right ticket. I wonder how much money Southern is making out of this little sting.
Fortunately, my ticket was valid on any route, so they caught me out by a different means.
Seeing there were two services, I'd asked three separate members of staff -- because I've learnt not to trust station staff -- which one would get into Victoria first. All insisted it would be the GX, so I boarded that. By the time I'd fired up my phone and confirmed this was nonsense, the non-GX had just started to pull out. In this instance, getting into Victoria at 09:16 versus 09:23 made no difference to me, (but other times it can mean making an earlier connection rather than one an hour later). Even so, I strongly resent staff blatantly giving me information that is simply untrue.
A non-GX service was due into platform 1 at 08:41 to arrive Victoria at 09:16 (and left GTW on time). The GX service, in contrast, ran 3 minutes late into Victoria.
Of course, all of the tourists just did as they were told and took the GX option. Not once did the staff indicate to passengers that they might hold tickets that were not valid on GX. At the very moment the GX service started to pull out, a recorded announcement was played telling passengers that some tickets might not be valid on this service.
It seemed to me the whole set-up was designed to entrap customers into boarding the GX train regardless of whether they had the right ticket. I wonder how much money Southern is making out of this little sting.
Fortunately, my ticket was valid on any route, so they caught me out by a different means.
Seeing there were two services, I'd asked three separate members of staff -- because I've learnt not to trust station staff -- which one would get into Victoria first. All insisted it would be the GX, so I boarded that. By the time I'd fired up my phone and confirmed this was nonsense, the non-GX had just started to pull out. In this instance, getting into Victoria at 09:16 versus 09:23 made no difference to me, (but other times it can mean making an earlier connection rather than one an hour later). Even so, I strongly resent staff blatantly giving me information that is simply untrue.