Checking tickets when stations have barriers?

[WestCoast]

I have noticed a tendency for guards to not do the ticket check when they know a station has barriers, after passengers have boarded from such a station. I have noticed it the most on local Northern Rail/Transpennine services which I frequently travel on.

I am not criticising any staff for not doing ticket checks because I know revenue is not the urgent priority and other matters will take precedence.

What do other people think?

 

[ainsworth74]

Can't say I've noticed that. I use TPE/Northern services from Leeds quite regularly and get checked more often than not. Same on all operators from Darlington (EC/XC/NR/TPE).

 

[Failed Unit]

I have definately noticed ticket checks are less frequent when barriers are installed making it much easier to avoid detection when travelling on the wrong ticket.

 

[43167]

Northern and TPE have always checked out of Leeds. East Coast on London bound services, its normally full grip after Wakefield.

 

[WestCoast]

Maybe it is more of a west side thing, as an example tickets will never be done on/out of Blackpool North. Passing Liverpool South Parkway on LM/TPE/NT they don't seem to check. There are countless other examples, I really noticed it yesterday on a Northern service BPN-YRK, no check after/into Bradford or Leeds.

 

[scotsman]

Rare on Fifes out of Waverley, not so on all other services I find

 

[142094]

As we all know barriers only allow you onto the platform with a ticket, but doesn't necessarily mean that everyone buys the correct ticket for their journey. I notice it quite a lot, especially Newcastle - Durham - Darlington - York. Since the first 3 are barriered it is not uncommon now to find that I can go the whole journey and not have my ticket checked. Not much to stop me using my Metro ticket to get through the barriers at Newcastle and having a free trip to York.

 

[Flamingo]

Barriers do keep out a large proportion of the idiots, but they are easly circumvented, as any look at the number of people travelling on a Reading-London train with tickets to Reading West or Earley will show. Also, in Cardiff, there are significant numbers coming in from unbarriered stations in the Valleys.

Ticket checks are useful as they are the only way to find out who is on the train, are good PR, and a way to identify who needs assistance or advice, as well as revenue protection. Most revenue I take is from people on incorrect tickets / missing railcards & !st class upgrades - not no ticket at all.

I hear the "Safety takes precedence" argument from too many guards whose usual method of working is to dispatch, and go back to their tea and crossword, for it to carry much weight with me.

However, I will admit, there are occasions during a trip where I will think, "I need 10 minutes time-out, and the last station was barriered, I'll wait before I go through."

 

[Liam]

On most Scotrail Dundee/Perth trains from Edinburgh tickets are checked after Inverkeithing, i'e' the first station without barriers, however on most Waverley-GQS's tickets are checked after leaving Haymarket/GQS.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

All Merseyrail barriers are still set to accept any ticket which is within it's validity regarding date.
You could have a London Terminals to Reading ticket and it'd go through, providing it was dated correctly. I'm reliably informed they'll soon alter the settings though, now everyone's used to going through the ATGs.

Point being that barriers won't always mean a passenger has a valid ticket.

 

[Flamingo]

Point being that barriers won't always mean a passenger has a valid ticket.

As the number of 20+ year olds in South Wales on child tickets prove!

 

[Anvil1984]

Sometimes I may wait for the next stop along before I start a check just for any one going past the stop, I tend to like to mix it up a bit otherwise they know they can use a certain ticket and get away with it

 

[Pumbaa]

In the last three years or maybe more, I have never had my ticket checked south of Northampton on LM, with all stations vaguely barriered.

 

[scotsman]

This is why EDB-HYM is set at £2.40!

 

[Deerfold]

Can't say I've noticed that. I use TPE/Northern services from Leeds quite regularly and get checked more often than not. Same on all operators from Darlington (EC/XC/NR/TPE).

My experience differs - I usually get checked into Leeds from the Airedale line but very rarely out of Leeds even though Leeds is the only barriered station. I realise it's a tricky line as the stations are very close north of Shipley but they're close in both directions. On EC I usually get checked out of Leeds but less often out of KGX.

 

[Dewedin]

This is why EDB-HYM is set at £2.40!

£1.80 for a single. Though why anyone would actually do this journey by rail I haven't a clue. You'd lose the time you save over the bus climbing down to/out of the respective stations.

 

[Bellwater]

Northern and TPE have always checked out of Leeds.

TPE Especially as there's usually a manager, mobile phone in hand, waiting for the Guard not to come through straight away.

As has been previously mentioned, Barriers are all well and good but you could have people on child tickets, people without railcards, people on tickets for trains 2 hours later.. the list goes on.

Will always go down and Grip unless it's impossible to. Man Picc 13/14 and Liverpool Lime Street are as "watertight" as a paper bag...

 

[Peter Mugridge]

As has been previously mentioned, Barriers are all well and good but you could have people on child tickets, people without railcards, people on tickets for trains 2 hours later.. the list goes on.

I have seen several instances in London recently where the barriers flash up on three lines on their screens ( for someone else, not me ) with:

a code number
child ticket
seek assistance

only to see the barrier then open normally...

Sort of destroys the whole point of having the barrier in the first place doesn't it?

 

[Bellwater]

Yes, pointless... the barriers can be programmed to reject anything you want, something needs to be done there.

i've only seen "Seek Assistance" on LU before.

 

[Jonny]

The issue with TPE/Northern is that the Guard doubles up as the Conductor; (s)he responsible for the doors at stations as well as checking the fares. As a passenger on their trains, one of my major bugs is when door opening is held up by ticket checks. This is particularly annoying when it is a minor station on a major line and the stop is potentially at risk (and it happens to be my origin), doubly so when the origin station before is barriered and the following two stops just happened to be barriered majors as well so potential for fare evasion is very limited.

PS using "operator-only" and child tickets would leave a statistical trail, a revenue bod could chase any ticket misuse without holding the train up.

 

[Clip]

Yes, pointless... the barriers can be programmed to reject anything you want, something needs to be done there.

i've only seen "Seek Assistance" on LU before.

I think the barriers at MYB have it showing also..

 

[linesider]

I have been out and about today with a 7 day north east rover ticket (starts today) but i have had to get assistance at each station with barriers as they would not accept my ticket.Is this normal for these tickets? I was in the right area, i should point out.

 

[swt_passenger]

I have been out and about today with a 7 day north east rover ticket (starts today) but i have had to get assistance at each station with barriers as they would not accept my ticket.Is this normal for these tickets? I was in the right area, i should point out.

It's often reported as a problem, yes. I suspect as usual it is because the people setting up the barriers just set up the default 'station name' for the location. Anything else requires significantly more effort - and a certain amount of intelligence...

You get similar issues with break of journey when you're trying to use an A - C ticket or season at B.

 

[Dolive22]

I've had seek assistance at St Pancras before, going down to the FCC platforms.

 

[Crossover]

From experience, I have found that TPE don't seem to check tickets from Dewsbury until after Leeds - it may just be that time doesn't really allow mind, but it could be partly due to the barriers at Leeds

On the numerous occasions travelling from Milton Keynes Central to Manchester (and occasionally Birmingham), ticket check generally didn't seem to happen on the VT's. There were checks on one of the LM's to Euston though, as it was an all shacks stopper which I guess wouldn't be barriered - on that occasion they turfed two people off for having no ticket or money with which to buy one.

 

[142094]

On some days Dewsbury and Huddersfield have manual barriers on, so there has been a few times where my ticket has only been checked after Stalybridge on a Leeds - Manc journey.

 

[Darandio]

I have been out and about today with a 7 day north east rover ticket (starts today) but i have had to get assistance at each station with barriers as they would not accept my ticket.Is this normal for these tickets? I was in the right area, i should point out.

Yeah, completely normal.

It's especially a pain when you want to get out of the station just for a cigarette (dirty yes, but needed) but luckily there is always someone there. In conjunction with the thread though and people not having correct tickets, when on one of these rovers/rangers, many times its easy to hold the ticket and tell the person manning the barrier what it is where they will flash you through without even looking at the ticket itself.

Also, it would have been far too easy for me to buy a DAR-DND single last week in order to access the platform, then complete a journey to Doncaster unchecked. It's something I have noticed since the barriers were put in place at Darlington.