Easement not allowing me through the gate?

[coursemyhorse]

Travelling from Aldershot to London Waterloo, there is a train each morning at 09:04 arriving at London Waterloo for 09:59. I believe there is an easement in place which allows the purchase of off peak return tickets for this train. Normally it would only be on trains that arrive at Waterloo after 10am. I have used this ticket a number of times buying paper tickets at the station, but each time I travel I cannot get through the gate without a station worker allowing me through. I show them the ticket and they just shrug and let me through.

I thought this may be because I was trying to go through the gate before 9am but it does not make a difference as tried after 9am too.

Why does this happen? If I buy the same journey but load it into a smart card would this open the gate automatically or face the same issue?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Next time it happens note down the code that appears on the screen on the gateline by "Seek assistance". That can be used to find out why the ticket was rejected.

 

[jfollows]

An off-peak day return Aldershot-Waterloo (https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=AHT&dest=WAT&expert=on&flow=2&multi=0&fare=10&tkt=CDR) has restriction code UV

Not valid on trains timed to arrive:

• London Terminals after 04:29 and before 09:52.

so it's not technically an "easement", it's more simply a different restriction code than (possibly many) other tickets but the bottom line is that it's clearly totally valid for you to use on the train as you say.

 

[Haywain]

The restriction text for the Off Peak Day Return and the Off Peak Return (both restriction code UV) states Not valid on trains time to arrive: London Terminals after 04:29 and before 09:52, so that ticket is perfectly valid.

 

[SargeNpton]

Always the possibility that the clock used by the gates is incorrect so it thinks that the time is earlier than it really is.

 

[jfollows]

Always the possibility that the clock used by the gates is incorrect so it thinks that the time is earlier than it really is.

I suspect that it's more likely that the gates have limited processing power or limited information they can read, and they can't differentiate between the UV restriction code from Aldershot and, say, the more common US restriction used for similar tickets from Woking, which are restricted

Not valid on trains timed to arrive:

London Terminals after 04:29 and before 10:00.
Vauxhall or Clapham Junction after 04:29 and before 10:00.

and, as a result, they're set to automatically reject all off-peak tickets prior to 10am, which will continue to be a pain for coursemyhorse if so, but at least we've confirmed that the ticket is valid shortly before 10am.

EDIT But the ticket isn't valid to arrive before 9am or even after 9am until a train timed to arrive at 09:53 or later. It's fine for the train timed to arrive at 09:59.

 

[Haywain]

I suspect that it's more likely that the gates have limited processing power or limited information they can read, and they can't differentiate between the UV restriction code from Aldershot and, say, the more common US restriction used for similar tickets from Woking, which are restricted

The OP appears to be asking about the barriers at Aldershot, so it would be a surprise if they were not set up for the relevant restrictions - and gates, for information, do not utilise the restriction code as it is not encoded onto the magnetic stripe.

 

[jfollows]

The OP appears to be asking about the barriers at Aldershot, so it would be a surprise if they were not set up for the relevant restrictions - and gates, for information, do not utilise the restriction code as it is not encoded onto the magnetic stripe.

I'm sure you're right, thank you for correcting me and apologies for any confusion caused by my thinking that we were talking about barriers at Waterloo.

 

[coursemyhorse]

I'm sure you're right, thank you for correcting me and apologies for any confusion caused by my thinking that we were talking about barriers at Waterloo.

Thanks for the info on this one. Going forward...there is nothing I can to to prevent this happening then? What about the Aldershot station...can they correct this behaviour or are we talking an impossibility here as it's coded into the entire system and would be a centralised change? What about loading the journey onto a smart card? Same would happen?

 

[davews]

As suggested this is probably just a quirk of that particular set of barriers. The ones at Richmond always rejected my off peak return from Martins Heron (0905 arriving c 0945) which is perfectly valid as it meets the arrive at Waterloo after 1000 rule. Chaps on the gate were obviously very aware of this and let everybody through without question. They seem to have fixed that one now.

 

[coursemyhorse]

I asked a different guard about this, this morning as he let me through the barrier. He said if you enter the barrier at 09:05 onwards it works with off peak tickets. I said that's convenient for the 09:04. He smiled.