Surrey Quays station ticket office opening hours

[bicbasher]

On occasion, I've been able to use the ticket office at Surrey Quays in the afternoon, this is despite NRE saying it's only open in the morning peak.

Today it was closed and mentioned the morning peak opening times sign which has been put up in the past, yet has re-opened again after 10am.

Why isn't there a clear consensus that the ticket office is open after 10am?

 

[maniacmartin]

It's virtually never open outside the morning peak. For it to be open in the afternoon is in my experience a rarity.

That said, there is usually a member of staff in the office doing apparently very little when the office is closed. But that doesn't mean that they'll serve you.

 

[bicbasher]

I normally pop up on Wednesday afternoons to pop across to Tesco's and it's normally open. I even see the ticket clerk take their break in the shopping centre.

 

[bicbasher]

Returned to the station today and the ticket office was open at 1415! It may be worth an email to LOROL to enquire why the station opening times don't match.

 

[Mojo]

The station is staffed all day; being sat in the ticket office is normally the best place for the station assistant to be visible, provide customer service, and monitor the gateline, so just because they are sat in there does not necessarily mean that the ticket office is open because the person may not be appropriately licensed, or if they are they may be under instruction to only sell tickets during certain hours.

Certainly I note you say you have sometimes been served outside of these hours, but the minimum hours may only be there because on some occasions they might want to cover the shift with someone who cannot sell tickets or busy doing something else, and they don't want to disappoint.

 

[bicbasher]

The station is staffed all day; being sat in the ticket office is normally the best place for the station assistant to be visible, provide customer service, and monitor the gateline, so just because they are sat in there does not necessarily mean that the ticket office is open because the person may not be appropriately licensed, or if they are they may be under instruction to only sell tickets during certain hours.

Certainly I note you say you have sometimes been served outside of these hours, but the minimum hours may only be there because on some occasions they might want to cover the shift with someone who cannot sell tickets or busy doing something else, and they don't want to disappoint.

I noticed that when the ticket office was closed last week, the person providing customer service was a gateline assistant, while this week, there wasn't one.

Assuming it's like Forest Hill where the ticket clerks can operate the gateline from a button inside the ticket office to let passengers through, that enables the gates to remain closed?

 

[tsr]

If the office is sometimes open for customer service enquiries but not ticket sales, how hard would it be to have a rotating/magnetic sign above/next to the window where the phrases "Customer Services" (or "Information", or whatever) and "Ticket Office" could be interchanged?

Then all that needs to happen is the opening times sign needs to be changed to read "Ticket sales are available here until 10am. After this time, the window may be open, but is for information & travel assistance only."

I'm sure that would prevent confusion, and would cost pennies in the grand scheme of things!

 

[bicbasher]

London Overground use the sign "Assistance & Tickets" at most stations, although the LO signs standard booklet also has "Assistance" for non-ticket sales booths.

 

[Mojo]

If the office is sometimes open for customer service enquiries but not ticket sales, how hard would it be to have a rotating/magnetic sign above/next to the window where the phrases "Customer Services" (or "Information", or whatever) and "Ticket Office" could be interchanged?

Then all that needs to happen is the opening times sign needs to be changed to read "Ticket sales are available here until 10am. After this time, the window may be open, but is for information & travel assistance only."

I'm sure that would prevent confusion, and would cost pennies in the grand scheme of things!

They already have a sign which says something along the lines of "Information only."