Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Only if they are travelling alone, or where all the others are equally unable to use them (for this purpose, unable and unwilling are not the same thing).
True.
A fully operational ticket office five years ago would not have been in a position to accept an Electron card (there are probably some that still can't), but this would still have been an opportunity to pay even if the traveller only had an Electron card available to them.
I know we have seen some strict interpretations of this, but do you genuinely believe that if a station has a card-only TVM, it is prohibited to travel from there if you possess only cash (e.g. you have a basic bank account) because to do so you would be passing an opportunity to pay?
I *suspect* any TOC taking this line would be in breach of their franchise agreement and would not win a court case.
The railway did not used to accept Electron/Solo, and made this very clear, so that's different from cash (or credit/debit card) which is a stated accepted method of payment.
Neil