Excuse me - my Tickets Gone....

[Butts]

With the introduction of automatic barriers on a lot of UK Stations has anyone ever had their ticket inadvertently swallowed up and retained by the fiendish device.

I am referring to someone who has an onward journey on the same ticket that has just been swallowed.

Does this happen very frequently , and when it does is the retrieval process relatively easy or like trying to find a "ticket in a ticket stack"

 

[MidnightFlyer]

With the introduction of automatic barriers on a lot of UK Stations has anyone ever had their ticket inadvertently swallowed up and retained by the fiendish device.

I am referring to someone who has an onward journey on the same ticket that has just been swallowed.

Does this happen very frequently , and when it does is the retrieval process relatively easy or like trying to find a "ticket in a ticket stack"

I would say it is very, very unlikely that the gates would malfunction.

 

[exile]

All barriers are staffed, you need to ask the staff member on duty. I imagine the ticket would be the top one in the pile within the machine!

 

[HST Power]

I always worry the machine will swallow my ticket, but thankfully, it never has.

 

[Intermodal]

I would say it is very, very unlikely; and no, you cannot retrieve any tickets swallowed by gates.

The staff can do it....

 

[Butts]

All barriers are staffed, you need to ask the staff member on duty. I imagine the ticket would be the top one in the pile within the machine!

Are they stacked up neatly then - and what happens to them when they are emptied - are they binned or retained ?

 

[richw]

Are they stacked up neatly then - and what happens to them when they are emptied - are they binned or retained ?

recycled and remade into new blank ready to go tickets i'd like to think!

 

[oversteer]

Who'd trust their ALR to one then?

 

[Butts]

Who'd trust their ALR to one then?

Could be very costly if it was a 1ST Class 14 day jobbie

 

[ainsworth74]

Who'd trust their ALR to one then?

Only a fool

If your ticket were to get swallowed the gateline staff will be able to retrieve it. As for how they're ordered it varies by gate some will have them in a pile other just drop them straight into a bin which means you'll have to go rooting around a bin with dozens of tickets in it. But as others have said it's increadably rare indeed I normally have the reverse issue it gives me back tickets that have no more validity!

 

[Mojo]

Are they stacked up neatly then - and what happens to them when they are emptied - are they binned or retained ?

The older style E1 gates (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/BPW/images/photos/800/o1313-0000068.jpg) save the last few tickets in the escrow before they end up in the capture bin.

The newer E2 gates (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/AYS/images/photos/800/o1124-0000041.jpg) dump the tickets straight into the bin.

I don't know what the S&B gates (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/LDS/images/photos/800/o2327-0000179.jpg) do.

 

[headshot119]

Who'd trust their ALR to one then?

I doubt any barrier would accept it anyway.

I was shocked to find that the Lime Street gates accepted my Cheshire day Ranger yesterday.

No barriers accepted my heart of England 3 in 7, Freedom of the Southwest 8 in 15, North Wales Day Ranger, or my last Cheshire day Ranger.

 

[metrocammel]

I doubt any barrier would accept it anyway.

I was shocked to find that the Lime Street gates accepted my Cheshire day Ranger yesterday.

No barriers accepted my heart of England 3 in 7, Freedom of the Southwest 8 in 15, North Wales Day Ranger, or my last Cheshire day Ranger.

Barriers can be set to accept anything that's in-date. That may be the case at Lime Street? Otherwise, full marks to whoever has set the said barrier's acceptance!

 

[junglejames]

Barriers can be set to accept anything that's in-date. That may be the case at Lime Street? Otherwise, full marks to whoever has set the said barrier's acceptance!

Ive never had a barrier which accepts an ALR. Which is a pain in the neck. Ive nearly missed a train once because the only guy on duty was the other side dealing with passengers coming off a peak arrival.
Dam those gates!

 

[Paul Kelly]

I had a ticket swallowed at the gates on the overbridge at Paddington, coming from the LU lines into the main station. Would have been about March 2010 I think. It was a LU paper ticket from Euston Square to Heathrow via Heathrow Connect. I think there might be an easier way to the Heathrow Connect platforms whereby I could have avoided barriers, but I didn't know it at the time.

Anyway I said to the barrier attendant that the machine had just swallowed my ticket. He asked me which one and I pointed to it, and he shook his head as if to say "Not that one again". Then without hesitation walked over and opened it with a special key and lifted out a huge vertical stack of tickets held within a plastic bin. He just lifted the first few up and asked me which one was mine and gave it to me. Seemed like a regular occurence.

 

[trentside]

I don't know what the S&B gates (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/LDS/images/photos/800/o2327-0000179.jpg) do.

Having had a ticket swallowed by these, I believe they stack the most recent tickets that they've retained. When I happened to me, it was because the TVM I'd got the ticket from had bent it slightly (somehow). I had a big queue of people behind me, and the member of barrier staff was nowhere to be seen. When he turned up he got the ticket straight out, and I was on my way!

 

[Stigy]

If you break your journey and insert the ticket to the barriers, it will usually reject the ticket as it doesn't recognise the destination. The last few tickets inserted, in modern barriers, are kept at the top of the machine in case they need retrieving by staff. I believe older barriers are slightly different to this though.

 

[dvboy]

I always find that going across London, the tickets are rarely accepted in the barrier leaving London if they've been through the underground barriers already.

I despise barriers that swallow tickets, and even more so station staff who stand next to an open gate and collect tickets when they know the train that's just arrived was delayed by more than an hour.

 

[Stigy]

I despise barriers that swallow tickets, and even more so station staff who stand next to an open gate and collect tickets when they know the train that's just arrived was delayed by more than an hour.

What should they do as an alternative?

 

[dvboy]

What should they do as an alternative?

Look at it, mark or clip it if they must, but not stand and collect them.

 

[richw]

as the passenger needs it for reclaim on the late runners

 

[dvboy]

as the passenger needs it for reclaim on the late runners

Or on expenses. Or both if the TOC allows you to do DR online

 

[First class]

Barriers can be set to accept anything that's in-date. That may be the case at Lime Street? Otherwise, full marks to whoever has set the said barrier's acceptance!

I am responsible for the Merseyrail ATG base data!

 

[strange6]

I am responsible for the Merseyrail ATG base data!

Great! At Southport, I have no problems with putting a Lancashire Rail Ranger ticket through the gates but would they accept a 7 day Freedom of the NW rover?

 

[First class]

Great! At Southport, I have no problems with putting a Lancashire Rail Ranger ticket through the gates but would they accept a 7 day Freedom of the NW rover?

They should do. Had to compromise with the need for Revenue Protection with a few things with rovers though...

It will also accept an x in x rover, until the final "last use" expiry, even though the boxes are full, as the boxes have no ticket data encoded. Just means if someone gets to complacent, and I get rovers blocked, they will be going to court...

 

[strange6]

They should do. Had to compromise with the need for Revenue Protection with a few things with rovers though...

It will also accept an x in x rover, until the final "last use" expiry, even though the boxes are full, as the boxes have no ticket data encoded. Just means if someone gets to complacent, and I get rovers blocked, they will be going to court...

The Southport barrier staff are great. They will let you through with a 4 in 8 day rover without putting it in the machine. I have noticed lately that the barriers are giving every ticket back now when people are leaving the platform. I wondered if it was because of complaints by people who needed their ticket back for receipt purposes?

 

[Intermodal]

Why would they put it in the machine? To check it hasn't been used for more than 4 days?

 

[strange6]

Why would they put it in the machine? To check it hasn't been used for more than 4 days?

I think he meant that the x in x rovers (not the section with the boxes on) can be put through the barriers by the passenger up till the expiry date no matter how many boxes you have filled in on the separate part.(Part 2 of the ticket cannot be put through the barrier because it has no magnetic information written on it

 

[Intermodal]

I think he meant that the x in x rovers (not the section with the boxes on) can be put through the barriers by the passenger up till the expiry date no matter how many boxes you have filled in on the separate part.(Part 2 of the ticket cannot be put through the barrier because it has no magnetic information written on it

Yes I know that, but what can you gain from putting the actual ticket in the machine that you can't gain from looking at it?

 

[snail]

Yes I know that, but what can you gain from putting the actual ticket in the machine that you can't gain from looking at it?

If there's no one there to read it (e.g. they are doing something else at the time) the barrier will be much quicker than waiting for them to get to you.