Ticket Gate"Wiping" Ticket

[rdwarr]

About three weeks ago I exited Kings Cross via one of the gates near York Road. On putting my season ticket in the gate it chundered away for about ten seconds before spitting out the ticket (which had worked fine at Stevenage) and saying "Seek Assistance". After that the ticket never worked and I had to get it replaced.
I put it down to a one off but exactly the same thing happened this morning with the same gate. I mentioned my concern to the girl on the gateline who let me out but she said it "would be fine". However, the ticket wouldn't let me into St Pancras so it looks like it's been corrupted again.
Is this a common occurrence? I'll advise KGX about the issue but doubt anythign will happen if it's just me.

 

[michael769]

I have always assumed that this behavior happens when a gate is having trouble reading a ticket due to the strip wearing out - and it retrys a few times. I have had a few tickets that have done the "chundering away" but still eventually worked for a few days before giving up the ghost.

Incidentally my current ticket is 3 months old and still works - an all time record for me...

 

[Monty]

About three weeks ago I exited Kings Cross via one of the gates near York Road. On putting my season ticket in the gate it chundered away for about ten seconds before spitting out the ticket (which had worked fine at Stevenage) and saying "Seek Assistance". After that the ticket never worked and I had to get it replaced.
I put it down to a one off but exactly the same thing happened this morning with the same gate. I mentioned my concern to the girl on the gateline who let me out but she said it "would be fine". However, the ticket wouldn't let me into St Pancras so it looks like it's been corrupted again.
Is this a common occurrence? I'll advise KGX about the issue but doubt anythign will happen if it's just me.

May I ask where you keep your ticket when you are not using it? I've found that mobile phones are the most likely cause of the the ticket's magnetic strip being wiped.

 

[michael769]

I have discovered that eBook readers are terrible for wiping tickets. I think the eInk panels give off quite a strong magnetic field when the pages change.

 

[Tibbs]

My Annual ticket lasted 10 months before it wouldn't go through the machine any more, and that was putting it through a machine 4 times a day.

LM seem to print the annual tickets on sturdier tickets than the standard orange stock. It got battered quite quickly, but the ink didn't fade and the strip kept working.

I keep my ticket in a wallet in the same pocket, but separate to, my cash/card wallet and in the opposite side to my phone.

I didn't have a problem getting a reprint, took 5 minutes.

 

[rdwarr]

I keep my ticket in a ticket wallet with my Photocard and Oyster (could that be it?). Nothing else in the same pocket. On both occasions the ticket has only been a few days old whilst other tickets have lasted for months.

Just had another thought. Both tickets have been "red" ones (even though for periods over one month). Are these different to grey ones or Gold Cards in their makeup?

 

[Tibbs]

I keep my ticket in a ticket wallet with my Photocard and Oyster (could that be it?). Nothing else in the same pocket. On both occasions the ticket has only been a few days old whilst other tickets have lasted for months.

Just had another thought. Both tickets have been "red" ones (even though for periods over one month). Are these different to grey ones or Gold Cards in their makeup?

The gold tickets definitely seem to be less bendy and more sturdy. I have my oyster in the same wallet as my tickets and they seem to work ok. Having said that the experiences of one person is hardly conclusive proof that it's not your oyster card.

 

[jon0844]

I found over the years that some gates struggled to read my ticket, while others worked okay.. but sooner or later, they'd all stop reading it. Clearly the magnetic data had been weakened (most likely because of being near my mobile) and it's time to get a replacement to save hassle.

 

[rdwarr]

Thanks, I'definitely do a replacement. I go through 8 gates per day including the FCC one at St Pancras twice. That's often problematic and I was once accused of being "off route" using a Stevenage - London Bridge (Not Underground) ticket there.

 

[jon0844]

Sadly, as soon as some gateline staff hear the beeps and you go to them, they instantly jump to the conclusion that there's something dodgy going on.

Rarely, if ever, do they go over to the gate and see the error code (which I'm sure you'd find is that it can't read the ticket). If they did, they wouldn't then try and be clever by suggesting the ticket isn't valid if it's anything different from the norm.

Another reason to get your replacement ASAP.

 

[Wolfie]

The gold tickets definitely seem to be less bendy and more sturdy. I have my oyster in the same wallet as my tickets and they seem to work ok. Having said that the experiences of one person is hardly conclusive proof that it's not your oyster card.

Having had one start to delaminate I can say that the Gold ticket stock seems to have a thin layer of plastic in the middle.

 

[SAPhil]

On putting my season ticket in the gate it chundered away for about ten seconds before spitting out the ticket (which had worked fine at Stevenage) and saying "Seek Assistance"......
......Is this a common occurrence?

Exactly the same thing happened to me exiting Kings Cross Underground, so I guess it is pretty common!

 

[gooner88]

About three weeks ago I exited Kings Cross via one of the gates near York Road. On putting my season ticket in the gate it chundered away for about ten seconds before spitting out the ticket (which had worked fine at Stevenage) and saying "Seek Assistance". After that the ticket never worked and I had to get it replaced.
I put it down to a one off but exactly the same thing happened this morning with the same gate. I mentioned my concern to the girl on the gateline who let me out but she said it "would be fine". However, the ticket wouldn't let me into St Pancras so it looks like it's been corrupted again.
Is this a common occurrence? I'll advise KGX about the issue but doubt anythign will happen if it's just me.

Well i know that there was a entry gate a Twickenham that for a while did have its funny moments and appear to ruin a few goldcards but this was a E1 gate which was on its last legs so i dont know if there is any correlation