Confusion over ticket acceptance on St Albans–Luton bus

[nwassassin]

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting here, but I know this forum is full of knowledgeable people, so I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I had a ticket from London Bridge to Luton, but due to cancellations I had to change at St Albans. On the Thameslink website it clearly states that rail tickets will be accepted on local buses between St Albans and Luton during disruption, including Arriva services. ( the actual bus I boarded was written on the thameslink website which I showed the driver )

When I tried to board the Arriva bus, the driver refused to accept my rail ticket and told me I had to buy a separate £3 ticket. It’s not a huge amount, but it shouldn’t have happened if ticket acceptance was in place.

I’d like to make a complaint and get that £3 refunded. Should I be contacting Thameslink, Arriva, or both? For context, I’ve already submitted a Delay Repay claim to Thameslink for the cancelled train.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[AlterEgo]

The complaint is with Arriva assuming Thameslink did in fact arrange acceptance.

 

[ChilliSauce]

Do

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting here, but I know this forum is full of knowledgeable people, so I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I had a ticket from London Bridge to Luton, but due to cancellations I had to change at St Albans. On the Thameslink website it clearly states that rail tickets will be accepted on local buses between St Albans and Luton during disruption, including Arriva services. ( the actual bus I boarded was written on the thameslink website which I showed the driver )

When I tried to board the Arriva bus, the driver refused to accept my rail ticket and told me I had to buy a separate £3 ticket. It’s not a huge amount, but it shouldn’t have happened if ticket acceptance was in place.

I’d like to make a complaint and get that £3 refunded. Should I be contacting Thameslink, Arriva, or both? For context, I’ve already submitted a Delay Repay claim to Thameslink for the cancelled train.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Do you have a screen shot of ticket acceptance in place ? I assume this was the 321 bus ?

 

[nwassassin]

Do

Do you have a screen shot of ticket acceptance in place ? I assume this was the 321 bus ?

Yes I do have a screenshot of the ticket acceptance in place, I have attached it here, and I did show the dirver as well on the day, but was having none of it unfortunately, and yes it was the 321 bus.

 

[Trainman40083]

Could be worth asking Thameslink why, having advised tickets would be accepted, the. bus operator declined to accept them. Did Arriva not inform their drivers? (Often done as a message over the ticket machines these days).

 

[transportphoto]

I’d suggest the complaint is with GTR Thameslink as you are their customer - they should be in a position to advocate on your behalf and/or resolve it for you before subsequently dealing with Arriva.

 

[pdsalford]

Personally, i'd be raising the issue with Arriva, they should be arranging for their staff to know what tickets to accept. Thameslink are not in a position to do that.

Years ago, I had a similar issue with First Leeds whose driver told me I was stupid for trying to use a plusbus ticket as it was only for rail travel.

Fortunately I was able to point to the plusbus sign on the... bus itself

 

[ChilliSauce]

I’d suggest the complaint is with GTR Thameslink as you are their customer - they should be in a position to advocate on your behalf and/or resolve it for you before subsequently dealing with Arriva.

I think you are correct in thinking as if I went to Currys and purchased a TV with Sony on its badge name and the TV didn't work correctly my recourse would be back to Currys not Sony ..

So it's a customer complaint to Thameslink as their supplier of alternative services (arriva) is non compliant with the arrangements that Thameslink have (apparently) put in place.

 

[galwhv69]

GTR will be able to raise it with Transport UK (who will raise it with Arriva) as to why drivers did not accept tickets. GTR customer services will also be able to give you a refund for the bus fare if you can provide an image of the bus ticket

 

[800001]

Could be worth asking Thameslink why, having advised tickets would be accepted, the. bus operator declined to accept them. Did Arriva not inform their drivers? (Often done as a message over the ticket machines these days).

Of which driver can only read message when it safe to do so ie stationary at a bus stop.

Question would be when was message sent to drivers? Had that message reached the drivers ticket machine?

I've known machines receive message several hours after message had been sent, even though other machines received message within minutes.

 

[philthetube]

If someone turned up on my bus in this situation I would accept the ticket even if I had not been informed of acceptance, if someone is playing games it does not take long to et around the depot and for all drivers to be aware of the individual.

 

[gray1404]

Personally I would complain to both GTR and Arriva. The wording will be very similar in both complaints anyway. I would attach copies of both my train tickets and the additional bus ticket I was required to purchase. Hopefully find one of them offers to refund you in their first reply.

 

[WesternLancer]

Personally I would complain to both GTR and Arriva. The wording will be very similar in both complaints anyway. I would attach copies of both my train tickets and the additional bus ticket I was required to purchase. Hopefully find one of them offers to refund you in their first reply.

My thoughts too. Complain to both.

 

[Haywain]

GTR will be able to raise it with Transport UK (who will raise it with Arriva) as to why drivers did not accept tickets. GTR customer services will also be able to give you a refund for the bus fare if you can provide an image of the bus ticket

In what way is Transport UK involved?

 

[galwhv69]

In what way is Transport UK involved?

Transport UK manage all rail replacement operations and ticket acceptance for GTR

 

[jon0844]

For quite some time on the ECML, GTR no longer had ticket acceptance with Arriva for disruption. I am not sure why, and it seriously limited acceptance at places like Hatfield and WGC where acceptance was only with Uno Buses (and late last year, one of the key buses from WGC to St Albans - the 601 - was axed meaning Uno wasn't really a viable option for many).

 

[MadMac]

Years ago, I had a similar issue with First Leeds whose driver told me I was stupid for trying to use a plusbus ticket as it was only for rail travel.

Fortunately I was able to point to the plusbus sign on the... bus itself

I’d have been inclined to ask whether it was the “Plus” or the “Bus” part that was causing the difficulty…..

 

[riceuten]

I've had this issue before, and not bothered complaining, because Non-Arriva will generally not answer any query that you email them.

It goes to an office in Brighton (I think) who then contact the depot, who either don't answer, or claim whatever incident you claim happened did not. You stand a 50% chance of getting a response and a 0% chance of a response that makes any sense.

For a while, drivers on the 100/101 bus between Stevenage and Luton didn't accept the Intalink Explorer tickets they sold for the whole route, and told passengers that they had to pay another £3 from Great Offley to Luton. I contacted Herts County Council, and after first confirming Arriva's stance (!), they wrote to Arriva instructing acceptance - the depot manager had actually been instructing drivers not to accept Explorers outside of Herts.

I also had this with PlusBus and Stagecoach in Dover (I asked the driver to call control who "confirmed Stagecoach do not accept PlusBus in Dover"). I complained to the people running the PlusBus scheme, and to their credit, they did hassle Stagecoach and instruct them to accept them going forward.

It would not surprise me, however, if Thameslink did not bother to contact Arriva.

 

[galwhv69]

It would not surprise me, however, if Thameslink did not bother to contact Arriva.

Ticket acceptance is only added to passenger information (such as the PIDD) once it is confirmed to be in place...

 

[RFBlakey]

An explanation for what happened which doesn't seem to have been posted before; the OP was travelling northbound (St. Albans > Luton) but the bus ticket acceptance information only specifies, by the wording used, travel from Luton > St. Albans. So as mad as it seems perhaps that is the interpretation that the bus driver concerned put on the information presented. Jobsworth? Quite possibly, but in these circumstances the TOC involved should be more specific in their messaging (e.g. adding the phrase 'in either direction'). This shouldn't really be necessary but we do live in very strange times.

 

[z444z]

An explanation for what happened which doesn't seem to have been posted before; the OP was travelling northbound (St. Albans > Luton) but the bus ticket acceptance information only specifies, by the wording used, travel from Luton > St. Albans.

It doesn’t say from, it says between.

 

[galwhv69]

An explanation for what happened which doesn't seem to have been posted before; the OP was travelling northbound (St. Albans > Luton) but the bus ticket acceptance information only specifies, by the wording used, travel from Luton > St. Albans. So as mad as it seems perhaps that is the interpretation that the bus driver concerned put on the information presented. Jobsworth? Quite possibly, but in these circumstances the TOC involved should be more specific in their messaging (e.g. adding the phrase 'in either direction'). This shouldn't really be necessary but we do live in very strange times.

When ticket acceptance is requested it's always XYZ routes between A and B in both directions

 

[choochoochoo]

I've had similar experiences with TfL on the tube and then having ticket acceptance refused on suggested alternative bus route. The driver wanted me to tap in my payment card on the bus. I explained that I'd tapped out at the station (outside of which I had boarded the bus) and that tapping in again would result in me being charged additionally.

I refused to tap in and the driver said that it was up to me if I wanted to take a risk if a ticket inspector came on. I figured if i did encounter an inspector, my argument could be verified easily enough.