I can actually give an example of potentially missing a train, at Liverpool Street, when taking a train to Manningtree (to get to Harwich) before Christmas.
For whatever reason, a member of staff had let someone through the wide gate (even though it was marked as open from my side - but possibly set to first come, first served or manually opened?) which immediately saw virtually everyone on a train that just arrived on the next platform decide to come through instead of using the gates.
I had two suitcases so had to wait until the last person came through, and the gate was then left free for me to pass.
Now, if staff regularly open the wide gates manually to let people through (it may even be the case that the gate was left open all the time by the person there) then it would seem rather easy to get out without having a valid ticket. As you can quite easily walk up and down 'airside', you could probably just hang around until another train arrived (Stansted Express perhaps?) and then get through with ease.
The Cubic gates are dead easy to double up on anyway, given how slow they open/close.
Hmm yes this is rather strange, not something SWT would do at all unless passenger flows were uncontrollable! I can assure you that at least in my TOC the gates are taken seriously and leaving one "Open" without good reason can get the staff member into trouble!
It is possible that the gate (WAG) was set to "Open", this must have been the case, otherwise it does shut after 30 seconds of idling time (double that of standard gates) and also when people go through and there is a gap in passenger flow it will shut.
I agree that Cubic gates are slow, but only talented fare dodgers will tailgate through the normal size gates, most target WAG's as they are slow! Sometimes the opposite happens and I've seen the gate shut on people who carry umbrellas through in front of them or suitcases behind them or even some that take children through the normal gates. (That's great to catch those who should have bought a child ticket!)
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I've never done that, but if I see an open gate (for whatever reason, such as someone touching their Oyster but not walking through) then I will not hesitate to walk straight through it.
That's something I don't approve of, I still think people should validate their ticket even if the Gate is momentarily open, as it is open for the other person who validated their ticket/Oyster first! I can see that it is convenient for you, and that you do have a valid ticket, but to us Gateline workers it looks dodgy!
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Come to Hitchin in the evening peak, when a 12 coach first stop Hitchin is disgorging. There are usually 3 out and 1 in plus the WAG (operated in much the same manner as previously described by others).
Around how many people get off this train? I know a similarly busy station with a smallish gateline, Walton-on-Thames, with 3 Barriers and 1 WAG, in the peak there may be around 80 passengers getting off a service from Waterloo!
The barriers are easy to operate though so I would expect the staff to modify how many in and out gates to suit the passenger flow, in your example it is possible to have 4 Out Gates and 1 WAG on 1st come 1st served IF the "in" flow isn't busy at all!
