Unstaffed barriers not accepting valid tickets

[blimmo]

I always just force open the wide aisle barrier whenever this happens. If there is no staff there and you have a valid ticket then i see no issue with this. I end up having to do this at least a few times a month. They are supposed to have staff standing by the barriers. So if they fail to do that then i am not standing around for hours waiting for somewhere to appear. I just push the wide aisle barrier open.

The problem is that this is illegal. I agree it feels justified but unfortunately that's not how the law works. Probably worth the risk if a one off but certainly risky doing it regularly.

 

[stadler]

I worry that one day there's going to be a situation at a station (like the false alarm at Oxford Circus a few years back) that could lead to a crush event at an unstaffed but closed gateline. I doubt most regular punters know about the red emergency plunger, and forcing a wide access gate is not an acceptable alternative to staff members actually doing their jobs correctly.

Indeed that is a very real possibility. It is not just an issue of causing an inconvenience but also a safety issue.

The problem is that this is illegal. I agree it feels justified but unfortunately that's not how the law works. Probably worth the risk if a one off but certainly risky doing it regularly.

How is it illegal? What law does it break? If you have a valid ticket and there are no staff standing around then i can not see any chance of being prosecuted even if it is illegal. Also if it is illegal then who would report it when there are not even staff to see you doing it. The chance of anything happening is zero! The fare evaders do this every single day without any repercussions so they are not going to go after an honest ticket holder!

 

[torontoaddick]

How is it illegal? What law does it break?

TfL byelaws:

(3) No person shall open a barrier or any other gate on the railway except where there is a notice indicating that it may be used by him or with permission from an authorised person.

 

[Tester]

TfL byelaws:

(3) No person shall open a barrier or any other gate on the railway except where there is a notice indicating that it may be used by him or with permission from an authorised person.

Every time I pass through a barrier by touching/inserting a valid ticket I open the barrier (how else would it open?).

 

[bcarmicle]

I think 9(2) is more applicable:

Where the entrance to or exit from any platform or station on the railway is via a
manned or automatic ticket barrier no person shall enter or leave the station,
except with permission from an authorised person, without passing through the
barrier in the correct manner

 

[blimmo]

9(2) is what I was referring to. Just because there aren't people around doesn't mean you aren't being recorded doing it. Whether anything will come of it is another matter (almost certainly not) but if the TOC concerned takes issue with you, you don't have a defence to 9(2).

 

[Peter0124]

What is the best approach if one was in this situation? Ie gateline unmanned but valid ticket won't let through.

 

[CarrotPie]

9(2) is what I was referring to. Just because there aren't people around doesn't mean you aren't being recorded doing it. Whether anything will come of it is another matter (almost certainly not) but if the TOC concerned takes issue with you, you don't have a defence to 9(2).

Conversely, is there some sort of byelaw or rule that the TOC/TfL would be breaking by having the barriers unstaffed and therefore not letting you out with a valid ticket? Probably not, becasue the byelaws are always designed to find fault with the passenger customer, but I have little knowledge in this area.

 

[Benjwri]

I worry that one day there's going to be a situation at a station (like the false alarm at Oxford Circus a few years back) that could lead to a crush event at an unstaffed but closed gateline. I doubt most regular punters know about the red emergency plunger, and forcing a wide access gate is not an acceptable alternative to staff members actually doing their jobs correctly.

The gates are made to open if they are pushed too hard, something often criticised in terms of fare evasion but it would stop a situation such as that occurring.

 

[redreni]

The gates are made to open if they are pushed too hard, something often criticised in terms of fare evasion but it would stop a situation such as that occurring.

Perhaps that could be a legal defence? It's designed so you can push through in extremis (e.g. a crush), and I did so in extremis because, contrary to their own rules, TfL left the barrier closed and unattended and programmed to reject my valid ticket and I would have missed my train and been stranded, so I used it as the designer intended it to be used in extremis i.e. in the "correct manner" as per 9.2 of the Bylaws.

There must be circumstances in which it is acceptable to push through the barrier, or they would be designed as far as possible to stop people doing so, and they aren't.

I don't wish to test any of the above, of course, which is why I mentioned I would not want to make a habit of pushing through barriers and will allow more time next time.

 

[AlterEgo]

At Chesham I would just push through if it was unstaffed. It's not like there is a death laser trained on the gateline to vaporise you if you do it.

 

[Sonic1234]

TFL really need to crack down on their staff doing this. They need to issue a reminder that the barriers must be left open if you need to pop in to this office or go on a break. I remember years ago it was almost unheard of for staff to leave the barriers closed but unattended. It is only in recent years that this keeps happening.

TfL actively encourage it, with their grading of stations based on how long gates are in use for. Their rulebook will of course say that barriers must be attended (this is backed up by safety regulations), but local management don't want to take the hit of having them open.

The problem is now that contactless is widespread staff rarely have people who require assistance so they get away with popping off and leaving the barriers closed. It's why I would encourage the use of the emergency release if you are stuck behind barriers, it sends a clear signal to station management that this is unacceptable. Sort of a "paper tickets matter" campaign.

 

[z444z]

The help point put you on hold !!

What if you had said someone was threatening you, or you feel stranded by the gate and vulnerable. What would they have done then if they expect you to hold when there is a problem?

There’s an information button and an emergency button. You’d hope an emergency call wouldn’t be put on hold.

 

[adelante_burns]

It is not within LU or TfL policy to have remotely operated gatelines like this, hence why they don't have camera operated help points to check tickets. Either the gateline is unstaffed and the gates are open, or the gates are closed and there are staff in the ticket hall or office to assist.

If there was indeed nobody to assist, then it is worth making a complaint.

I would definitely recommend making a complaint and highlighting the safety issue - I did this after experiencing the same issue with ticket rejected at unmanned barriers at Walthamstow Central, and was given an apology and an offer of £10 compensation for the inconvenience. Since my complaint, whenever I’ve been through on occasions when the barriers are unmanned, they’ve been left open so I think maybe, just maybe, the complaint worked!

 

[orestad]

Another TfL trick is to open the wide gate only, this apparently fools the software that the barriers are closed and keeps the station in the good books

Each gate is individually tracked, this wouldn’t be the case.

 

[Mattplans]

Each gate is individually tracked, this wouldn’t be the case.

Surely they review stations holistically and only look at a % total for each station?

 

[orestad]

Surely they review stations holistically and only look at a % total for each station?

That I’m not too sure about, but I’m guessing there would still be a regional manager telling specific stations their own numbers and chatting with them about why the gates were open for x amount of time or something along those lines.

 

[gingerheid]

They shouldn’t be left closed when unstaffed no, unfortunately it is becoming more common.

I've found this happen at (of all places to be unstaffed!) Stratford.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Feb 2026 ==

What is the best approach if one was in this situation? Ie gateline unmanned but valid ticket won't let through.

Would be interested to know the answer to this. I presume the police wouldn't be amused if you phoned to report that you were trapped in a station because you weren't willing to push the barrier. Though I imagine they'd also tell you to push it, and I guess you'd be entitled to treat them as an authorised person!

 

[Sonic1234]

The problem is that this is illegal. I agree it feels justified but unfortunately that's not how the law works. Probably worth the risk if a one off but certainly risky doing it regularly.

If someone is around to catch you, there is someone around to open the gate. As well as the age-old problem on the railway, identifying someone. Particularly if you are exiting a station.

 

[Belperpete]

It's why I would encourage the use of the emergency release if you are stuck behind barriers, it sends a clear signal to station management that this is unacceptable. Sort of a "paper tickets matter" campaign.

I assume that use of the emergency release would also be contravening bylaw 9.2.

 

[redreni]

I assume that use of the emergency release would also be contravening bylaw 9.2.

Not if it's an emergency.

And arguably not if the barrier has rejected your valid ticket and no assistance is available. The barrier is designed to be opened in at least five ways that I know of:

1. By a ticket (including Smartcards, payment cards, NFC devices etc).
2. By staff.
3. Automatically if there's a fire almarm / evacuation signal.
4. Using the emergency release.
5. Brute force.

The barriers are designed to be opened in any of those ways. Any of those ways of opening the barrier could be "the proper manner" for the purposes of the bylaw under the right set of circumstances, in my opinion.

Ultimately, if you have a valid ticket but (1) isn't working, you need to rely on one of the other methods. Ideally you need a member of staff to let you out, and I'm sure all TfL's operational and safety guidance is premised on the idea that assistance should be readily available to passengers in this case.

If, contrary to what should happen and to what is safe and reasonable, there's no member of staff present, arguably you should use a help point to try to find somebody, but you do need to open the barrier somehow. If you can't see a help point or it isn't working or it fails to result in anybody opening the barrier for you, you're pretty much left with the emergency release. If you're going out. If you're coming in, you're left with brute force.

 

[philthetube]

If you force a gate you will never be prosecuted, this would require a member of staff to admit that the gates were closed and there was no one in attendance.

 

[barringtoncem]

I have had this happen at Upton Park station despite the Travelcard working fine at all other barriers i also ended up forcing the barrier as no one answered the help point as it just rung and went dead as no one was about at the station despite it being a busy time of day

 

[ChilliSauce]

This is becoming a bigger problem at stations on the London Underground in recent years. So many stations have the barriers shut but unattended. I come across this somewhere every week. They are supposed to be left open but in reality a lot of staff will just pop in to their office and leave the barriers unattended for a while.

For some reason there seems to be a few random tube stations that reject perfectly valid travelcard tickets. It is not an issue with the magstripe as they work fine everywhere else. So it is probably wrongly programmed barriers. The other major issue is those Steatite printers that the guards have. They are awful at properly encoding magstripes on tickets. I often buy travelcards from guards and at least 10% of the time (maybe even 25% of the time) the tickets fail to work any barriers.

I always just force open the wide aisle barrier whenever this happens. If there is no staff there and you have a valid ticket then i see no issue with this. I end up having to do this at least a few times a month. They are supposed to have staff standing by the barriers. So if they fail to do that then i am not standing around for hours waiting for somewhere to appear. I just push the wide aisle barrier open.

TFL really need to crack down on their staff doing this. They need to issue a reminder that the barriers must be left open if you need to pop in to this office or go on a break. I remember years ago it was almost unheard of for staff to leave the barriers closed but unattended. It is only in recent years that this keeps happening.

Watford Metropolitan Station as example. The gates I have found always to be closed and there is never anyone on gate line duty ...i.e. standing or sitting at the actual gate line . If your ticket or pass doesn't work you have to go to what was the ticket window on the public side or what was the excess fares window on the barrier side and hopefully someone will be in that office to assist ...

 

[Sakuradori]

Every time I pass through a barrier by touching/inserting a valid ticket I open the barrier (how else would it open?).

I feel like that constitutes "permission from an authorised person" though.

On the topic of the thread, I went through Brent Cross West last week, and the gateline was left closed and unattended for at least 45 minutes - probably longer, as I waited 15 minutes for staff to show up and let me through on my pass, and 30 minutes after that waiting for the next train. Not one single member of staff for at least 45 minutes. So not quickly nipping off because they had something else they had to do.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

The mag stripe on a paper travelcard seems to be easily rendered unusable.
When I’ve had to travel via Ealing Broadway to get a 112 bus to Stonebridge Park during engineering work closures, the barrier invariably didn’t open. A young staff member looked at my paper ticket like she’d never seen one before!
If I ever have to use a paper travelcard now, I always head for a gate where staff are congregated, on the assumption it will reject. Such foresight can be the difference between catching and missing the next bus!

 

[Edvid]

The mag stripe on a paper travelcard seems to be easily rendered unusable.
When I’ve had to travel via Ealing Broadway to get a 112 bus to Stonebridge Park during engineering work closures, the barrier invariably didn’t open.

I suspect the Ealing Broadway issue is one of gateline programming. I've had a Day Travelcard rejected there not too long ago despite it working everywhere else (before and after) that day.

 

[saismee]

That I’m not too sure about, but I’m guessing there would still be a regional manager telling specific stations their own numbers and chatting with them about why the gates were open for x amount of time or something along those lines.

The logs have a line entry for every time any gate is opened or closed, though I am unsure whether there's also an automatic % calculated.

I've found this happen at (of all places to be unstaffed!) Stratford.

Happened at the Jubilee line exit at Stratford last time I was there. My friend had an e-ticket so needed help, but we decided not to leave.

In my training (and while working) it has been drilled into us that we cannot go more than 5 seconds from the barriers without leaving them open. We aren't even allowed to sit. I've both seen and reported barriers being left unattended in my area, to local managers, but if you don't know the managers then your complaint will likely disappear. It is a worse issue where I am as I use NR stations and only about 50% of tickets actually work the barriers.

 

[plunet]

I suspect this might be an issue with the information that can be encoded on a NR mag stripe.

I previously had season tickets issued by Chiltern from Missenden or Wendover and these were also incapable of opening barriers at Ricky, Chorleywood, Chalfont & Latimer, Amersham or Chesham - you always had to show your ticket to get the barrier opened, and the LU staff were used to it, at least for Chiltern tickets.

It was once explained to me by a Chiltern manager that the reason for this was when LU drew up the standards for the Mag stripe many moons ago, they asked BR what space they would need on the mag stripe for their own BR tickets (which were just paper at the time and were not thinking about mag stripes or automated gates) and in a shoot-yourself-in-the-foot moment whoever was responsible to reply to LU on behalf of BR just asked for the minimum conceivable mag stripe space in order to represent a BR ticket. So LU had 90% ish of the mag stripe space and BR a few bytes of data.

The standard was set and LU roller out mag stripe tickets and automated gates and BR looked on with interest and slowly got around to doing similar, but because of a short sighted response several years earlier they didn't have much space on the agreed standard, and because of this limitation a BR (now NR) paper ticket can only encode validity to Zone 6, but can't do anything for any of the extended zones.

 

[crablab]

It was once explained to me by a Chiltern manager that the reason for this was when LU drew up the standards for the Mag stripe many moons ago, they asked BR what space they would need on the mag stripe for their own BR tickets (which were just paper at the time and were not thinking about mag stripes or automated gates) and in a shoot-yourself-in-the-foot moment whoever was responsible to reply to LU on behalf of BR just asked for the minimum conceivable mag stripe space in order to represent a BR ticket. So LU had 90% ish of the mag stripe space and BR a few bytes of data.

The standard was set and LU roller out mag stripe tickets and automated gates and BR looked on with interest and slowly got around to doing similar, but because of a short sighted response several years earlier they didn't have much space on the agreed standard, and because of this limitation a BR (now NR) paper ticket can only encode validity to Zone 6, but can't do anything for any of the extended zones.

I'm not sure this is the right way around, and certainly inaccurate to suggest BR weren't thinking about magstripe

BR's APTIS/PORTIS was well advanced with budget having been approved several years prior; magstripe (as a fraud prevention method) was a key part of the business case. In ~ 1984, London Underground expressed interest in APTIS being modified to be compatible writh their AFC (Automated Fare Collection) project.

The magstipe track layout of APTIS was subsequently modified to being compatible with LU, once the GLC had approved the additional spend to cover BR's costs.

The majority of data on the magstripe is APTIS, not LU.

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