Valid Tickets not accepted by train gates machines

[suzanneparis]

As per my previous post I bought a senior railcard version of a cheap return to Kew Bridge from Leicester.

When I returned from KB my ticket wasn't accepted at Vauxhall when I tried to leave the station. A railway official checked my ticket and railcard and let me through the gate.

The underground was ok to St. P. But at St. P again my ticket wasn't accepted by the automatic gate. I again had to show it to an official who checked it and confirmed it was ok then let me through.

On the train all was well no problem with the ticket inspector.

The delay at St P almost caused me to miss the train.

Why don't the automatic gates for trains allow me through, but the tube does?

Why can't it be solved?

Anyone know the technicalities?

 

[gordonthemoron]

breaking journey often seems to cause this

 

[LexyBoy]

Could be lots of reasons:
- ticket barriers set to reject certain types of tickets, e.g. Off-Peak outside of certain times, or Railcard discounted tickets
- ticket not recognised as valid at that station - by default only the barriers at the origin and destination stations will accept it (and London Terminals if it has the Maltese cross)
- corrupted magnetic strip, it could be that the Tube barriers are less sensitive or the marker for a cross-London transfer was not corrupted but other data were.

It could be solved by having human ticket checks, or by using a more robust technology such as smartcards. Generally it works OK but does need decent staffing to avoid delays.

 

[causton]

As far as I know:

-Tickets have to be manually entered as valid at intermediate stations such as this.
-The Tube data is held on a different part of the ticket to the National Rail bit and if one bit is corrupted the other may still work? (just a guess, the latter bit)
-Railcard etc blocks can be applied if the TOC wants to do manual checks, so perhaps this was the case? (more likely at STP than Vauxhall)

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The gates at London Waterloo seem to have a programmed reject set for the outward portion of all super off peak tickets - but they work on the way back.

 

[suzanneparis]

Thanks everyone

I don't think it is corrupted data because it always happens to me at St P if I have a through ticket - eg Gatwick, Brighton, KB, etc.

I am guessing ?? it's the senior railcard element that causes the problem. The tube usually works ok.

 

[Hadders]

It could be the railcard discount causing the rejection. At my local station the barriers are regularly set to reject railcard discounted tickets so the staff can do a manual check on railcards.

I've also known barriers to be set to reject Advance tickets, again so a check can be done to ensure passengers are not taking advantage.

 

[talldave]

St. P barriers don't reject Annual Gold Card discounted tickets, but through tickets to more obscure destinations are rejected (e.g. Epsom tickets are accepted but St Mary Cray tickets are rejected).

 

[gordonthemoron]

I believe that all barriers reject tickets with Two Together railcard discount (all I've tried have) although they work fine on the tube

 

[suzanneparis]

Thanks hadders, talldave and gordonthemoron.

Very interesting.

 

[Clip]

I believe that all barriers reject tickets with Two Together railcard discount (all I've tried have) although they work fine on the tube

Two Together work fine at Paddington.

 

[bnm]

Try Paddington.

There you'll have valid tickets refused by the barriers AND the staff.

 

[les.]

Not sure if he was winding me up but I was told by a London Underground employee that if you have your ticket in your pocket with a mobile phone it can corrupt the magnetic strip on the ticket.

I had a one day travelcard in London and it worked fine originally. I then put it in my pocket next to my phone and after that it didn't work all day and I had to get an assistant to let me through each time by showing him/her my ticket was valid.

 

[ashworth]

Not sure if he was winding me up but I was told by a London Underground employee that if you have your ticket in your pocket with a mobile phone it can corrupt the magnetic strip on the ticket.

That could be true. I've had that problem with a Travelodge Keycard. I had to have mine changed 3 times on a recent stay and I was told not to keep it with my phone and after that I had no problems.

Returning closer to the subject at the beginning of this thread I did last year have big problems with a 7 Day North West Rover not being recognised by any barriers. I know that there can occasionally be problems with this type of tickets but they mostly work these days. I wondered if it was because I had purchased this ticket at Alfreton in Derbyshire which was out of the area. The ticket did have Alfreton printed on it.

 

[maniacmartin]

I believe that its not the phones themselves but the magnets inside some phone cases that make them click and stay shut, or in Blackberry's case are used by the phone to detect when it's been put in the case

 

[CharlieSpotted]

I believe that all barriers reject tickets with Two Together railcard discount (all I've tried have) although they work fine on the tube

Just a note that myself and my partner have passed through the ticket barriers at Birmingham New Street with Two Together tickets with no problem on a few occasions.