Want to get the forum experts' opinion on an issue I had yesterday, to see whether it's worth my while making a formal complaint to the TOC involved or Interrail, or whether it'll just end up causing me more grief:
After travelling around Europe with my wife on Interrail passes with no issues, we arrived back at a London Terminus on our 'inbound travel leg,' at the end of the evening peak. Won't name the exact location or TOC for now.
We thought we had just missed a train home so put the next one into the Rail Planner App and added it to our passes.
15 mins before the train was due, went to the barrier and asked to be let through (as in my experience, the gates don't accept the pass), but was refused as the train listed on the pass was not given a platform yet. "I can't let you through until this one goes".
Eventually after some persuasion, the gateline staff member grudgingly let us through so my wife (who is mobility impaired) could sit on the seats on the platform to wait, but not without some serious 'attitude' from the staff member.
Upon arriving at the platform, we realised that the train we thought we'd missed was delayed and was still sat in the platform. We got on, stowed our luggage, found a bit of standing space in the packed train and updated our passes with the alternate journey via Rail Planner.
No problem, so we thought, bit of good lock.
Instead, a different member of staff comes running up the platform to the door we boarded at, demanding that we get off the train because our tickets weren't valid. He'd obviously been sent by the grumpy gateline staff member who'd decided to keep an eye on us and had seen us board.
Despite showing him the updated journey on our passes, he still kept insisting that we get off. When we refused, he then insisted that Interrail passes weren't valid during the peak (complete rubbish!).
When we still refused to move, he first threatened us with BTP, then that the train wouldn't go anywhere until we got off, and finally that the guard would charge us full price tickets. (Actually, the train wasn't going anywhere because the train crew were delayed on an inbound working!).
Eventually, after the repeated threats and shouting, he finally gave up and the train finally left about 20mins late once the crew showed up.
The whole experience left us deeply upset and angry, we had tickets that were valid, we were packed onto a delayed, full & standing train, and just wanted to get home, while being subjected to looks from other passengers who thought we were fare evading or the cause of the delay!
During the trip, there was no sign of the guard and the barriers were open at our destination so no issues there (though in practice, the staff there tend to be much more friendly and accommodating anyway!).
My understanding here is that what we did was perfectly valid, and it was due to the staff member not fully understanding the rules around Interrail and deciding to make up the 'not valid in peak' restriction, that we had this issue.
However I can easily see someone who was less confident of how Interrail passes work being bullied to get off the train and made to wait for the later one, or even issued with an invalid MG11.
I therefore want to complain to the TOC about the behaviour of their staff and their lack of training, but I'm concerned that by positively identifying myself, this might actually lead to more serious repercussions as I'm aware there are a number of grey areas:
- Was the staff member right to deny us access through the gateline (it's a shared gateline with access to all platforms, and the pass would be valid on any of the trains from that station)?
- Were we technically in the wrong updating Rail Planner after boarding instead of before (not that the app actually shows the time that the journey list was updated anyway)? The passes were still correct well before departure.
- Would we be, legally, required to get off the train as ordered by the obnoxious staff member even though we had tickets that were perfectly valid?
I also travel through the station semi-regularly, so don't want any hassle from the same staff in future.
Keen to hear the thoughts from experts here as to whether a complaint is worthwhile, and whether it would be best to send to the TOC or Interrail.
Of course, in an ideal world, the gateline staff member should have said "Actually, the previous train to your destination is still in the platform, update your passes and feel free to hop on", but that would expect a level of staff training that would only be provided in an actual 'customer-focused' railway.
