Annual Trio ticket could not be issued

[fowler9]

A friend of mine living in the North end of Liverpool tried to buy an annual Trio ticket at his local Merseyrail station this morning. The guy at the local ticket office told him he wasn't able to do so as his managers were worried about burglaries at the station.

My friend asked if he could get on the train without a ticket and get one at the destination and the guy in the office actually rightly said he couldn't get on without a ticket and sold him a return to Liverpool Stations.

When my friend got to the city centre station he explained the situation to the lady on the barrier who arranged for him to get his annual pass to be renewed and added an extra week on as compensation for the bad advice he was given and the fact he was held up.

As my father used to work for Merseytravel and I have a good idea how much they frown upon this kind of thing happening I told him to report the guy on the barrier but my friend didn't want him to get in to trouble.

What would you do?

 

[yorkie]

If the fare you want is unavailable it is correct to issue a ticket which allows you to make part of the journey, the value of this is then deducted when you obtain the correct ticket at your destination.

In this case, more was credited than the amount required, so no issue there.

However whether or not the ticket should have been available or not, I do not know, you could ask Merseyrail and/or Merseytravel if an annual Trio ticket should be available at the station in question.

 

[island]

It is mostly in order. The correct course of action would have been to sell the passenger a single ticket and have the price of that ticket deducted from the cost of the annual ticket at the destination, but since your friend was given an extra week for free he has been more than compensated.

 

[fowler9]

I appreciate what you both have said but the ticket he wanted to buy is available from the station he wanted to buy it from. As I said my father used to work for Merseytravel and I am pretty well versed in who should be selling what from where if they enjoy doing it or not.

Would you report this person? That is my interest. My friend would not report him. As a person who is unemployed I would be happy for him to be reported and take the job myself.

As an aside, my friend got an extra weeks free travel because the bloke in the station couldn't be bothered doing his job. My friends compensation dips in to the budget of the local council, not the TOC.

 

[bb21]

A friend of mine living in the North end of Liverpool tried to buy an annual Trio ticket at his local Merseyrail station this morning. The guy at the local ticket office told him he wasn't able to do so as his managers were worried about burglaries at the station.

...

As my father used to work for Merseytravel and I have a good idea how much they frown upon this kind of thing happening I told him to report the guy on the barrier but my friend didn't want him to get in to trouble.

What would you do?

Who is it that you wanted reporting? I am getting rather confused.

As an aside, my friend got an extra weeks free travel because the bloke in the station couldn't be bothered doing his job. My friends compensation dips in to the budget of the local council, not the TOC.

Staff make mistakes, or perhaps indeed this was local policy. Would you prefer that your friend did not get this "compensation"?

Bring it to the attention of Merseytravel. They might then be able to tell you whether this is now their policy at certain stations, in which case the passenger's rights are clearly set out in the NRCoC. In fact your friend got more than what he was entitled to as defined in the NRCoC. If this is not their official policy then they would be able to re-train their staff or do something else to rectify the issue.

Sacking the member of staff in question is hardly constructive, nor will it be an easy solution.

 

[fowler9]

Who is it that you wanted reporting? I am getting rather confused.



Staff make mistakes, or perhaps indeed this was local policy. Would you prefer that your friend did not get this "compensation"?

Bring it to the attention of Merseytravel. They might then be able to tell you whether this is now their policy at certain stations, in which case the passenger's rights are clearly set out in the NRCoC. In fact your friend got more than what he was entitled to as defined in the NRCoC. If this is not their official policy then they would be able to re-train their staff or do something else to rectify the issue.

Sacking the member of staff in question is hardly constructive, nor will it be an easy solution.

I would say who I want reporting is the member of staff at the station in question. It certainly isn't Merseytravel policy there not to sell the ticket in question. My friend got more than he was entitled to from the PTE thanks to the member of staff not doing their job and a none PTE member of staff compensating him, and no I don't think sacking someone is constructive but as an unemployed member of society how would you feel? He got compensated with free travel on a PTE ticket by none PTE staff.

It really is a straightforward question, What would you do? You've answered it, nothing, thanks for that.

 

[bb21]

but as an unemployed member of society how would you feel?

I'm not sure how how your employment status is of relevance here.

It appears that everyone thinks he can do a better job than the person currently doing it when it comes to the railway. Before you have even giving the PTE and the member of staff a chance to investigate the matter and rectify any problems, you decided that the member of staff simply "couldn't be bothered doing his job" using your own words. Since your father no longer works at the PTE, I am surprised that you can claim with 100% certainly there cannot possibly be any local instructions in place at the present.

It really is a straightforward question, What would you do? You've answered it, nothing, thanks for that.

Clearly you did not bother to read my post. I get it. :roll:

 

[Polarbear]

Having read the OP's post, I can't see that there is anything to report or complain about.

Personally, I would have just taken what I was told by the person in the ticket office at face value. Yes, Trio tickets are supposed to be sold at all Merseyrail stations, but there may well have been a recent incident that hasn't been publicised that has given Merseyrail cause for concern. If it's not already in the public domain, I don't think a complaint will get you very far.

An additional week's travel was added to the Trio pass which in itself is not the correct procedure, yet no complaint is being made about this (which if mentioned, could actually get someone into trouble).

I'd let it lie personally. Your friend got more than they were entitled to in the end & a complaint could end up getting someone into trouble that doesn't deserve it.

 

[AntoniC]

I have an annual all zone Trio ticket and have actually had this problem before !.

I wanted to renew at Southport station once and was advised they didnt have the voucher to do so, so I went one station up the line to Birkdale, and renewed there.

BUT I renewed while my current ticket was still valid ( they will allow you to renew upto 4 days in advance) and as other have said I cant see what the guy at the station has done is wrong ?.

 

[Llanigraham]

Fowler9,
Really it has got nothing to do with you, and as it reads like you have a chip on your shoulder I suggest you move on and forget it.
Your friend has got nothing to complain about and has done well out of the matter.

 

[Chew Chew]

I appreciate what you both have said but the ticket he wanted to buy is available from the station he wanted to buy it from. As I said my father used to work for Merseytravel and I am pretty well versed in who should be selling what from where if they enjoy doing it or not.

Would you report this person? That is my interest. My friend would not report him. As a person who is unemployed I would be happy for him to be reported and take the job myself.

As an aside, my friend got an extra weeks free travel because the bloke in the station couldn't be bothered doing his job. My friends compensation dips in to the budget of the local council, not the TOC.

Is that really how low you would go?

I appreciate you probably didn't mean it but that really doesn't portray you in a very good light.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

What would you do?

Forget about it - then turn my attention to something more constructive.

. . . . I would be happy for him to be reported and take the job myself.

I expect that the employing Company would rather employ someone who tries to work constructively with customers and colleagues, despite any limitations in their abilities, rather than employ someone who turns against them.

 

[island]

Forget about it - then turn my attention to something more constructive.

I expect that the employing Company would rather employ someone who tries to work constructively with customers and colleagues, despite any limitations in their abilities, rather than employ someone who turns against them.

Quoted for emphasis.

Indeed, if the employee had gone against local instructions to sell the ticket in question, that might have ended up getting him sacked.

My crystal ball sees closure in this thread's near future.

 

[dave4jackie]

not all merseyrail stations sell annual trios, so my guess is he went to a station that never sold annuals

 

[yorkie]

As we don't know the origin station (sounds familiar?) the question cannot be conclusively answered, unless further information comes to light.

So in the absence of that I will close the thread. If anyone has anything significant to add, we can unlock the thread if required.