Moonrakerz's logic appears to be that if he cannot get on a platform because of barriers then it is a de facto CTA, and he can henceforth refer to it as one.
Absolutely correct ! SWT were not letting anyone enter the platform area without a ticket - yet when I asked SWT 3 times in writing to tell me if this was a CTA - each reply ignored my question. When I spoke to DfT they informed me that there was
NO CTA at Salisbury. (Perhaps SWT didn't know what "de-facto" meant !)
SWT also informed me (in writing) that Salisbury was a Penalty Fares station for all TOCs operating from there (normally a requirement for a CTA) - this is
NOT so (see FGW website) - my letter to SWT pointing this out was totally ignored.
AIUI the staff are simply using their discretion not to let him on the platform, which seems OK as far as the byelaws go?
How can the staff be
"using their discretion not to let him on the platform, which seems OK as far as the byelaws go" ? If I am contravening the byelaws I am committing an offence, since when has asking to meet my unwell daughter off a train been an offence ? Should BTP not have been summoned to arrest me ?
There is
NO "discretion" applicable to someone wishing to access the platforms, the DfT rules on this are quite clear:
"4.10 At stations with a CTA, operators must make arrangements for people who are not travelling to be allowed into the part of the station covered by the CTA, if they have a good reason. This includes people who are meeting passengers, seeing passengers off or helping them with luggage, people helping passengers with disabilities, and people such as railway enthusiasts. The arrangements might include making platform tickets available at the ticket office or from a machine. People who are helping passengers with disabilities should not be charged to enter a CTA."
I have every sympathy with the TOCs trying to catch fare dodgers, but when their response is to treat every honest visitor/passenger as a fare dodger then I am
NOT prepared to be treated as such.
Perhaps the most annoying thing about the original "incident", which occurred on a fairly quiet Saturday evening, was that a couple of weeks later when I visited Salisbury as a fare paying passenger, on a busy Tuesday (market day) was that on arrival and departure, there were NO staff in attendance and all the barriers were locked open !!! A couple of weeks later, both entering and leaving the platforms, my ticket was rejected - the response from the barrier staff ? " oh - these machines don't like tickets from Warminster"..............
However I wonder if, by not registering their stations as CTAs, SWT are perhaps not subjected to inspections or scrutiny to ensure they are complying with good practice? Just a hunch though.
That was obviously their train (:roll
of thought - but according to DfT all the complaints had caused at least 2 (possibly 3) visits by DfT to see what was going on and to tell them to follow the Rules - regardless of what this area was called or actually was.
