Stitch up

[philthetube]

getting a photo at any time showing social distancing not being observed in this shop may help your cause.

It won't.

Sorry I do disagree with you there, if it can be shown that at times it is impossible to buy a ticket without infringing social distancing rules it would make a huge difference.

Any decent staff member is going to think, "do I want a headline saying Mersey rail insist passenger breaks social distancing rule to buy ticket. and as we know, newspapers love this stuff.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sorry I do disagree with you there, if it can be shown that at times it is impossible to buy a ticket without infringing social distancing rules it would make a huge difference.

Any decent staff member is going to think, "do I want a headline saying Mersey rail insist passenger breaks social distancing rule to buy ticket. and as we know, newspapers love this stuff.

In my experience the TVM is hardly ever in use, I've certainly never had to queue for it, and you can't miss it on the way out of the shop - to leave the queue you have to walk for several seconds with it right in front of you.

To the OP: That said, the Liverpool Echo does love a good excuse to plaster the yellow Ms all over the front page and print some good old fashioned "Miseryrail" controversy, so you could try to get them to take it up. But if you do, do still pay the £125 before it escalates. However, I think someone genuinely concerned about social distancing would have not even entered the shop and gone straight back to the barrier - it would be obvious if it was being done or not from the second you entered the door.

 

[Fokx]

Sorry I do disagree with you there, if it can be shown that at times it is impossible to buy a ticket without infringing social distancing rules it would make a huge difference.

Any decent staff member is going to think, "do I want a headline saying Mersey rail insist passenger breaks social distancing rule to buy ticket. and as we know, newspapers love this stuff.

It really won’t.

That’s like saying the staff would let a passenger who hasn’t yet travelled go through the barriers to their train without a ticket, it’s NOT going to happen

 

[Fawkes Cat]

The OP doesn't seem to have been back since the day after they first posted: I fear we didn't offer the sympathy and support they hoped for.

So hopefully it's ok to go off at a slight tangent.

(...) I would be raising the poor management of social distancing, as you felt it to be, with the railway / merseytravel (whoever ran the office) customer services, copy your complaint about that to you local Public Health Service, usually part of your 'upper tier' council & Metro Mayor (Steve Rotherham?)
(...)

That's not what Combined Authorities do. AFAIK, public health remains with each of the Metropolitan Boroughs, so in this case Liverpool City Council would (if this approach was taken) be the body to contact.

 

[WesternLancer]

The OP doesn't seem to have been back since the day after they first posted: I fear we didn't offer the sympathy and support they hoped for.

So hopefully it's ok to go off at a slight tangent.



That's not what Combined Authorities do. AFAIK, public health remains with each of the Metropolitan Boroughs, so in this case Liverpool City Council would (if this approach was taken) be the body to contact.

Thanks for the correction. I confess to not checking and as I don't live in a Combined Authority area am unfamiliar with it. I assume the Metro Mayor does have responsibility for transport tho, so Merseytravel (just to add to the confusion ref democratic accountability channels....)

 

[scrapy]

Thanks for confirming,

But are you saying that a Penalty Fare can be issued if you have been given permission to leave or have left a compulsary ticket area but not left a station?

There are no compulsory ticket areas on Merseyrail stations.

 

[LowLevel]

It really won’t.

That’s like saying the staff would let a passenger who hasn’t yet travelled go through the barriers to their train without a ticket, it’s NOT going to happen

I can guarantee you that that does happen. Plenty of places have an unofficial "avoid conflict for ourselves" policy of accepting any particular request to access the platform for any spurious reason.

The gateline staff at South Parkway back in the day were always letting people through without tickets on to the "mainline" platforms because the shop couldn't keep up with demand.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I can guarantee you that that does happen. Plenty of places have an unofficial "avoid conflict for ourselves" policy of accepting any particular request to access the platform for any spurious reason.

One I particularly recall is that I asked nicely to be let through to get what was my final ride on a Class 101 set from Manc Picc; I saw it there due to depart in something like 2 minutes and so there wasn't enough time to go and buy a ticket. The guard didn't have a ticket machine, but I did pay at Marple (who, if I recall, refused to sell me a return from Manchester and insisted on just selling a single back despite me saying what I'd done, though I suspect that was only 5p difference anyway).

There are no compulsory ticket areas on Merseyrail stations.

Even if there were, it's not applicable because a Penalty Fare for any Merseyrail journey would be £20 (there are no fares for journeys wholly on Merseyrail exceeding £10, though it's close - Southport-Chester is £8.70 Anytime Day Single). £125 is an out of court settlement offer and has nothing to do with PFs.

 

[prod_pep]

Extremely rare for a Merseyrail ticket office to be closed, but I guess there is a pandemic going on.

I realise this doesn't help the OP, but I have to correct the above: it is far from extremely rare for a Merseyrail ticket office to be closed. In fact, it is relatively common at both of my regular stations including pre-pandemic.

 

[robbeech]

Sorry I do disagree with you there, if it can be shown that at times it is impossible to buy a ticket without infringing social distancing rules it would make a huge difference.

Any decent staff member is going to think, "do I want a headline saying Mersey rail insist passenger breaks social distancing rule to buy ticket. and as we know, newspapers love this stuff.

I'm afraid you're forgetting one crucial piece to this. This, is the railway.
As for a headline, sadly, nothing like this phases them. what are passengers going to do for their journeys on the Mersey Rail network? Use another operator?

 

[Mag_seven]

As we appear now to be drifting off-topic somewhat we are going to close this thread.

@Rilz03, if you wish to update us as to what the latest is with your dispute or require further help then please contact a member of the forum staff and we will look to have the thread reopened.