Cross London (Maltese cross) tickets being rejected by Underground barriers

[Andrew99]

On my last two cross-London journeys, my tickets have been rejected by the London Underground barriers. On both occasions (well actually all four occasions, as they were return trips!) I was let through at each end by the barrier attendant without problem. However, I am curious whether this is a common issue or just a random glitch with my tickets.

The Underground barriers in question were at Euston Square and Paddington (Hammersmith & City platforms). The rejection code in all cases was 13, which apparently means "Excess". The tickets worked fine at the National Rail barriers at Paddington and Reading.

Prior to the first of these two trips (at the end of July), I have never had any issues with using cross-London tickets at the Euston Square and Paddington Underground barriers.

 

[Class800]

Obviously it would depend on the journey being undertaken as to which cross London journeys are considered appropriate. The only issues I've had recently are at Woolwich Elizabeth line and staff have let me through

 

[Andrew99]

The journey in both cases was Runcorn to Reading, so Euston Square to Paddington is probably the most obvious cross London route. I've done the journey numerous times before, but it's only the last couple of trips that the barriers have rejected my tickets. The barrier staff were fine about letting me through, so it's more a curiosity than a problem.

 

[Ralph Ayres]

(edited following previous post)
This sounds odd. LU gates don't actually analyse the journey, just giving one journey between any 2 LU stations on the cross-London list; it keeps the coding simpler and LU don't lose out if you do a different LU leg from the one relevant to your full journey so no point overcomplicating things. Did the tickets have any printed cross-London character ("Maltese" cross, "+" sign etc) or other printed route description that might clarify things? They don't say "VIA BANBURY" by any chance? Knowing where they were issued might also give a clue.

 

[Andrew99]

Tickets were Off-peak Returns Runcorn - Reading via London, showing the Maltese cross sign. They were purchased using the RailUK ticket site and collected from the Avanti ticket machines at Runcorn. This is a journey that I have done many times before without problems, so I guess something obsure has changed with either the barriers or the ticket encoding.

 

[Haywain]

Did the tickets operate barriers at any other station?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

This sounds a bit like they got demagnetised?

You didn't keep them next to your phone did you?

 

[MikeWh]

Did the tickets operate barriers at any other station?

This sounds a bit like they got demagnetised?

You didn't keep them next to your phone did you?

From the first post:

The tickets worked fine at the National Rail barriers at Paddington and Reading.

 

[Ralph Ayres]

Tickets were Off-peak Returns Runcorn - Reading via London, showing the Maltese cross sign. They were purchased using the RailUK ticket site and collected from the Avanti ticket machines at Runcorn. This is a journey that I have done many times before without problems, so I guess something obsure has changed with either the barriers or the ticket encoding.

I'd say it's the ticket coding being wrong then. A change to the data held by the gates would affect all cross-London tickets used at that station, and gateline staff at Paddington and Euston Square would be howling pretty quickly.