Faded barcode All Line Rail Rover

[Hadders]

Can't we just go back to magstripe? Or even old fashioned cardboard? I'm travelling on my All Line Rover which is not far from being blank, wondering if I'm going to be asked to buy a new ticket/penalty fared/arrested etc etc

Magstripes never failed and print on CCST never deteriorated…..

I did an ALR last summer that was issued on PRT and there was no deterioration in print quality at all. PRT in itself isn’t the issue, more the quality of the printer it was printed with.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Magstripes never failed and print on CCST never deteriorated…..

I did an ALR last summer that was issued on PRT and there was no deterioration in print quality at all. PRT in itself isn’t the issue, more the quality of the printer it was printed with.

Err what about all the CCST Railcards that had to be reissued after fading ?

 

[redreni]

Magstripes never failed and print on CCST never deteriorated…..

I did an ALR last summer that was issued on PRT and there was no deterioration in print quality at all. PRT in itself isn’t the issue, more the quality of the printer it was printed with.

Yes, but in order to be in the OP's position with a CCST, the print would have to fade and the magstripe would have to fail.

Although even then, by all accounts the failure of the magstripe wouldn't cause too much concern as barriers typically weren't set up to accept ALRs anyway.

In practice the OP would have just taken a photograph of the ticket while it was faded but still legible, and thereafter would have presented the ticket and the photograph together. Okay, maybe somebody would have queried it, but he wouldn't have the additional concern that it's meant to be scannable but isn't. The training staff have had on barcodes has led some into the mindset that anyone presenting a barcode that can't be scanned at all may be trying to deceive them and that they are not supposed to accept such tickets.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Jul 2025 ==

Err what about all the CCST Railcards that had to be reissued after fading ?

It was possible to get them reissued, then?

 

[Hadders]

Err what about all the CCST Railcards that had to be reissued after fading ?

Indeed! My comment was ironic.

Yes, but in order to be in the OP's position with a CCST, the print would have to fade and the magstripe would have to fail.

I’ve never known an ALR magstripe open a barrier, anywhere!

 

[Jan Mayen]

Well, I've finished with the Rover. I didn't get penalty fared or asked to buy another ticket, so all good.
Many thanks for all advice and support .

 

[Starmill]

Well, I've finished with the Rover. I didn't get penalty fared or asked to buy another ticket, so all good.
Many thanks for all advice and support .

Much as hoped. A huge relief! Well done.

 

[Haywain]

Well, I've finished with the Rover. I didn't get penalty fared or asked to buy another ticket, so all good.
Many thanks for all advice and support .

As a matter of interest, did you buy the rover just before starting to use or a week or two in advance?

 

[Jan Mayen]

Just before.

 

[Amaranthe]

Hopefully not too off-topic as tied into the question of reissuing/reprinting an ALR slightly (but please detach if appropriate)...

Let's say I was currently on day 5 of a 7 day ALR and I decided I wanted another week on the rails could I go to a ticket office and ask to "excess" the remainder of my 7 day one to a 14 day one of the same class?

I suspect I'd be met with a very confused face and politely invited to purchase a new 7 day ALR to commence the day after the current one expires but the saving by "excessing" it could be over £500.

I guess the probable issue here again ties in with the OP's original question is that they have no facility to backdate the start day of a Rover?

 

[Starmill]

Unfortunately I don't think there's anything in the Conditions which you could rely on to support excessing to a different rover. Unlike a replacement for a faded ticket.

 

[Amaranthe]

Unfortunately I don't think there's anything in the Conditions which you could rely on to support excessing to a different rover. Unlike a replacement for a faded ticket.

I suspected there wouldn't be but thought it was an interesting theoretical question.

 

[Starmill]

I suspected there wouldn't be but thought it was an interesting theoretical question.

Sadly there are already a significant number of things like that that there's a theoretical entitlement to, which in practice there's no provision for unless you're willing to pay for court action. I would like to say that excesses to rovers and Travelcards should be allowed but they would simply become part of this list of impossible scenarios that can only be dealt with by a handwritten note and some hope, or nothing.

 

[Amaranthe]

Sadly there are already a significant number of things like that that there's a theoretical entitlement to, which in practice there's no provision for unless you're willing to pay for court action. I would like to say that excesses to rovers and Travelcards should be allowed but they would simply become part of this list of impossible scenarios that can only be dealt with by a handwritten note and some hope, or nothing.

I could just imagine the numerous issues one would encounter with a hand written note authorising a 1 week excess extension to an ALR at gate lines

 

[Jan Mayen]

As much as I'd like to think that I was having such a great time, and the employer was agreeable to me having a short notice one week extension to my holiday, that I could go up to any ticket office and say here's £599, (or whatever) please may I have an extra week? And they'd say of course, I doubt it would ever happen.
Has anyone on this forum who has had a one week Rover really wanted to get an extension?

 

[crablab]

You can't excess an Interrail pass to a longer duration

 

[Flying Snail]

You can't excess an Interrail pass to a longer duration

2 weeks standard class ALR would buy you 2 months 1st class Interrail.

 

[mikeg]

Surely there's a consumer rights issue here in selling a product not fit for purpose? I did a Northern Only day ranger two weeks ago, despite having been in my wallet and nowhere else, a week and a half later, the ticket had faded to be barely recognisable. Oddly enough, I have several Belgian train tickets nearly a year old, all are still almost as good as the day I got them and use a presumably similar technology, an aztec code and some info printed on a smaller, square piece of receipt roll style paper. Why are our tickets so crap by compare?

 

[J663738]

A friend of mine just purchased a yearly 'Valleys Senior Railcard' which gives 50% off off peak fares in South Wales for a year and its only £15, a bargain!
When I saw the pass I was surprised it was just a standard thermal type ticket with just his name on it and he wasn't even asked for any ID to prove his age. Looks rather flimsy to be honest.
Not sure it would even last a year and told him to take a photo of it to be sure.