There is, it's called mute. But some train companies choose to block people who correct them instead, because their software apparently doesn't support the mute button.
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Open ticket office unstaffed
- Thread starter Starmill
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R
RailUK Forums
It's not really possible to challenge the social media staff provided by a train company. Doing so will at best get you no response, at worst it will get random people who don't know what they're talking about wading into to add their views, or criticise you for questioning the staff as 'abusive'.
Can't remember the last time a Meet the Manager session was with Northern?
Can't imagine that they would have been very happy having to do them either over the last couple of months, what with them working trains on strike days and that...
Sam
Frivolous, perhaps, but they are entitled to do so. A passenger wanting a monthly season ticket and departing from a station where there is a TVM is supposed to purchase a single to his/her destination and get the monthly on arrival where the price of the single will be deducted.
ForTheLoveOf
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But is that process established in the Conditions of Travel? Not anymore, as far as I can tell.
Mutant Lemming
Established Member
At least you have the option to actually catch the train. There are instances with Thameslink barriered stations where short of leaping over the said barriers you don't even have access to catch your train.
Most stations have a clock with adjustable hands so they can say when they'll be back. Back in nn minutes is only any good if you know when it was put up!
Is this actually true though?
I would happily accept this process if all ticket office staff were trained well enough to execute this when I got to the first opportunity to do this. In reality we all know that very few ticket office staff would have the knowledge, ability and understanding to be able to offer the season ticket and deduct the price. There are staff at my nearest staffed station who are not able to issue season tickets as apparently their system doesn’t allow it. Of course it’s just a lack of knowledge as other staff can do it. So as is often the case we are fighting a battle with staff training. It seems more and more often the staff with the knowledge are either staff that have been there for a while and were trained properly (though this poses its own problems when rules change) or newer staff (notice I don’t say younger) that have a genuine interest in the rules so have done their own research.
You find this equally on social media too. I notice with many a TOC there will be one or two people who seem to know the rules and cite them correctly and accurately, the rest just spout alsorts if drivel which can be misleading for the passenger and cause them to incur additional costs that aren’t required. It’s very unlikely that staff in this area receive different amounts of training to do the same job, so what is happening? It seems to me that those with the correct knowledge have this genuine interest in the job they do and they’ve studied documentation and can give more accurate results. The worst scenarios is when they’re corrected time and time again by people yet provide no apology, no official response and don’t even consider the fact that their training may be inadequate. This of course means that nothing changes and they’ll give the same incorrect advice next time too.
As for this case. It seems to me that the stock response from VT that you must always buy before you board is from someone who hasn’t bothered to read the entire thing, they haven’t bothered to try to understand what’s happening here and they aren’t interested in learning anything. I do not for one minute think that they’ve studied the situation in any detail, looked at the facts , used their training to then come to this conclusion.
A stack of promise to pay tickets on the counter for this situation would be ideal, the likelihood of them all being taken or thrown around by idiots is slim in a small space of time.
I thought that section of the rules was dropped when the NRCoC was replaced by the NRCoT, presumably as it makes for a very fiddly transaction on the TIS when the ticket is exchanged.
_toommm_
Established Member
Correct, removed when we moved over to the NRCoT.
If we're just basing it on the NRCoT, because the OP can't buy their ticket at their starting station, they should be allowed to, without penalty, either onboard or at a suitable interchange point/their destination.
Of course in reality that varies wildly.
RJ
Established Member
That rule genuinely caused more problems that it solved. When it was signed off I don't think it was considered that a large number of staff doing tickets would never be taught how to do it or even be aware it was a rule. I've been selling tickets since 2010 and never known there to be a proper procedure for it so it would be a case of improvisation, which not everyone can do.
It's not present in the NRCoT. See Condition 6 - unless there's a specific Permit To Travel scheme in place you only need to buy at the first practicable opportunity.
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