What are the critea for clipping tickets?

[Bungle73]

I've been wondering this for years! Sometimes when I show my ticket on the train they clip/mark it in some way and sometimes they don't. There seems to be no pattern to whether they do or not! I've even had Travelcards clipped back in the early '90s (and this was on purely London TC on a journey within London). Are they following some kind of system, or you they just do it when they happen to feel like? :-?

 

[Flamingo]

All are supposed to be "cancelled", or shown as used on a date and train. In practice, if it's a one-day travelcard on the way home, or a short-distance ticket going to a barriered station where the ticket will be eaten, I might not bother. Every few seconds saved adds up, when you have short distances between stops and a lot of ground to cover!

 

[Bungle73]

I see, thanks.

What about the Travelcard thing? This was on a journey from Charing Cross to Orpington (ie entirely within the Zones). Mind you I haven't done that journey for years; and I don't live in London anymore, so I purchase out boundary TCs these days.

 

[MikeWh]

I would be pretty peeved if a travelcard was clipped at any time other than on my final use for the day. Anything which jeopardises it's safe passage through ticket gates would be a bad thing.

 

[Flamingo]

I'm inclined not to stamp travelcards on the way into London, as I am afraid (with no evidence, I hasten to add) that I might damage the magnetic strip, and the passenger will have hassle all day on the tube because of it.

They have the day's date on them and are less open to abuse than a ticket with one-month validity.

 

[yorkie]

I see, thanks.

What about the Travelcard thing? This was on a journey from Charing Cross to Orpington (ie entirely within the Zones). Mind you I haven't done that journey for years; and I don't live in London anymore, so I purchase out boundary TCs these days.

Well, if they all did that, you'd have Swiss cheese after a while, presumably by the time it got to just a magstripe they'd have to leave it at that as they're not supposed to put a hole through that part.

The most I had was the following on one ticket:

• An ink stamp
• A hole punch
• Another hole punch
• A rip!

The journey was from Coventry to York changing at Nuneaton, Warrington Bank Quay and Manchester Piccadilly.


I've not tried a journey from Penzance to Thurso, but I would imagine that could easily end up like swiss cheese (especially if it was a return portion).

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I tend to get mine defaced with a Biro scrawl all over it

 

[Bungle73]

I tend to get mine defaced with a Biro scrawl all over it

Yeah, they tend to just mark with it a pen I find these days. Don't they get issued with ticket clipping things...whatever you call them...these days? Mind you a while ago I got my ticket clipped and it was in the shape of some cartoon character or other.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Yeah, they tend to just mark with it a pen I find these days. Don't they get issued with ticket clipping things...whatever you call them...these days? Mind you a while ago I got my ticket clipped and it was in the shape of some cartoon character or other.

I've had mine clipped on SE High Speed before with steam loco and Christmas tree shapes. TBH I prefer a holepunch to a pen mark.

 

[Bungle73]

I've had mine clipped on SE High Speed before with steam loco and Christmas tree shapes. TBH I prefer a holepunch to a pen mark.

Actually I think mine was the steam loco too (I was just a bit fuzzy about it). This was on SE too (I think); maybe we had the same guard!

 

[mikeg]

Recently I've found that if the ticket has been clipped once they don't seem to bother clipping it again on the next train. But before I've had tickets with stamps all over them.

Grand Central seem very lax on clipping tickets, at least they do with day returns. Even with Grand Central only anytime returns they don't often clip it which surprises me given the month's validity of these tickets.

Apart from that I've had tickets hole punched in the shape of an apple, a christmas tree (seems to be a fairly common one even in July!), what looks like a malformed '2' backwards (anyone know what this is?), a star, and the good old fashioned round hole. To be honest I think for it to be any good for revenue protection purposes at least the date and headcode should be included. Otherwise you'll get people reusing tickets between intermediate stations saying they've just taken break of journey.

 

[lyesbkz]

Otherwise you'll get people reusing tickets between intermediate stations saying they've just taken break of journey.

Or, people actually breaking their journey and being refused onto the next train because "your ticket's been clipped" :roll:

 

[2Dogbox]

I always stamp the tickets with a proper company issued stamper, which has an individual Id and the date. It would be far better to have a headcode on it though. However, the ink we get supplied with is very easy to rub off tickets. The worst for ink rubbing off were the 'lipstick' style stampers which Central Trains used in the early 2000s, and I think some guards on LM still use these.

I've seen some strange hole punch ones as Mikeg has mentioned the Christmas Tree is a popular one! .... There is a guard somewhere that also has a hole punch that punches tickets in a shape that looks very suggestive. Lets say a banana snd two plums.

 

[scotsman]

I usually get nothing, or a scrawl of some kind. I once managed to get an ink-stamp of head code and operator and then a "stamped in error, TM 1S99 [signature]" after he stamped it, then got very confused by our ticket combination. In fact, his stamp was correct

 

[PR1Berske]

The pen scrawl is quite popular on NR and TPE.

I think one of the cut-aways was a deformed "3" (or was it just back-to-front depending on which way the ticket was held ).

 

[bb21]

If you want to see a sample of the range of shapes available, then see here and here.

 

[Jonny]

<shortened>
I've seen some strange hole punch ones as Mikeg has mentioned the Christmas Tree is a popular one! .... There is a guard somewhere that also has a hole punch that punches tickets in a shape that looks very suggestive. Lets say a banana snd two plums.

That makes one TPE guard's teddy bear stamp seem tame ...

 

[CarterUSM]

I usually write the headcode on the upper orange strip, though on suburban tickets I sometimes don't bother. At my depot we apparently sell a ticket every 40 odd seconds in the morning peak, so time is of the essence.

 

[Seacook]

Earlier this year I had a ticket inspector insist on clipping an All Line Rover. This was the only time anyone has even suggested it. If the ticket was clipped every journey the ticket would be unreadable well before it expired (it was a 7-day ALR, 14-day would be impossible).

Had it been the last day of eligibility it would not matter in the least, but this was day 2.. I really don't see the point.

 

[Platform 1]

A VT guard tried to clip mine - it was in a railcard holder. I think he was half asleep.

 

[142094]

Seen one guard who had bought one of those craft holepunches - this one was a star shape but much bigger than a normal punch - took a hefty bit out of the ticket.

 

[tsr]

On the rare occasion that Southern check my ticket (yes, even to/from VIC/LBG), they normally do not mark it, but about 10% of the time, it is stamped, scribbled on (no headcode) or punched, in equal measure.

 

[BestWestern]

My TOC is quite fussy about the implement used, it has to be a grea big beast of a stamper, which leaves ink all over your fingers if you happen to touch the wrong bit of your ticket afterwards. Unsurprisingly this tends to irritate passengers! The mark left shows the date, headcode of the train and the user's unique I.D. but is easily rubbed of and so I tend to squeeze quite hard to ensure that a clear indent is left as well as just ink

To be honest it's all a bit superfluous much of the time. All Guards can be occasionally guilty of stamping the wrong ticket and so you have to consider this to be a possibility when it's offered as an excuse, and many of the widely varying marks left have no real authority anyway. A pretty hole or a scrawl from a pen have absolutely no meaning whatsoever :roll:

 

[Flamingo]

To be honest it's all a bit superfluous much of the time. All Guards can be occasionally guilty of stamping the wrong ticket and so you have to consider this to be a possibility when it's offered as an excuse, and many of the widely varying marks left have no real authority anyway. A pretty hole or a scrawl from a pen have absolutely no meaning whatsoever :roll:

A line my favourite fare-dodger uses when presenting his (picked up off the ground) ticket is "I was testing a pen" when told his ticket with a scrawl on it has been used. Usually followed by a swipe in my Avantex and "Sorry, this says it has been used".

 

[trentside]

I've seen some strange hole punch ones as Mikeg has mentioned the Christmas Tree is a popular one! .... There is a guard somewhere that also has a hole punch that punches tickets in a shape that looks very suggestive. Lets say a banana snd two plums.

I think I've come across the guard with the 'interesting' punch. He clipped every single ticket on the train right through the mag strip, off the edge of the ticket, so when we arrived at our destination, no tickets would work in the barriers.

The best I've had was an intricate Dragonfly used by a Northern Rail guard. I actually saved it for awhile. Common ones seem to be the backwards 'S' shape and a steam train. I've never had a christmas tree though.

 

[clagmonster]

A line my favourite fare-dodger uses when presenting his (picked up off the ground) ticket is "I was testing a pen" when told his ticket with a scrawl on it has been used. Usually followed by a swipe in my Avantex and "Sorry, this says it has been used".

Assuming it's the person you've mentioned before, have you managed to quote condition 43 at him yet?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I think I've come across the guard with the 'interesting' punch. He clipped every single ticket on the train right through the mag strip, off the edge of the ticket, so when we arrived at our destination, no tickets would work in the barriers.

The best I've had was an intricate Dragonfly used by a Northern Rail guard. I actually saved it for awhile. Common ones seem to be the backwards 'S' shape and a steam train. I've never had a christmas tree though.

I believe a Hull based Northern guard has a collection of stampers, could it have been him? So far, I've seen trains, trees and rabbits amongst others that have faded in my memory.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

. . . . I've seen trains, trees and rabbits amongst others that have faded in my memory.

And a heart!

 

[Blindtraveler]

i often request the headcode be written on if indulging in a break of journey so I can if needed make refference to it later, particularly usefull if a gated station is involved.
Have often wondered though, do TOCs issue stampers or offer them for sale or how does it work? i know some here have said theres are quite fussy

 

[furryfeet]

I tend to get mine defaced with a Biro scrawl all over it

This still happens on London Midland. Sometimes it is scrawl, sometimes just a tick.

What is the "official" take on this ?
I noticed that in a recent edition of Todays Railways UK, "grumpy old man" had an article on precisely this issue, since it left the passenger ( i.e. consumer) in a difficult legal position - on a journey where one changed trains, or even guards, how could one prove that one had not "used the ticket beforehand".

Surely the TOC's can supply all their guards with proper stamps, so that this issue will go away.

 

[222007]

I currently use a christmas tree hole punch which i purchased myself. As for stamping ticket for me ALWAYS