Dave W
Member
Hello,
Long time forum user, but I'm querying this on behalf of a friend. I think I know the consensus the forum will reach but hoping for some confirmation.
She travels from Rochester to Victoria some mornings; her shift pattern is erratic and so she doesn't buy a season ticket, rather choosing to load weekly tickets to her smartcard when she needs them. She intended to do this this morning, arriving in good time to find a long queue and only one ticket window on. Instead, she tried to use a ticket machine to add the ticket to her smartcard, and believed from the behaviour of the machine that the transaction had been completed (it since transpires she's not had an email receipt and no shadow for the amount has been placed on her bank account)
Upon trying to use the gates, the card didn't work (for good reason, if the transaction hadn't completed). However, the lady on the gateline saw that she'd been using the machine and, with the train pulling in, waved her through.
Inevitably, explaining this timeline at Victoria did not wash and she was issued with a penalty fare. A comedy of errors, I'm sure you'll agree. I suspect what I'll get back from the great and good here is to put it down to experience, pay the fare and move on, which she's willing to do.
However, is there something she could do regarding the wider experience she's had this morning? Namely:
Long time forum user, but I'm querying this on behalf of a friend. I think I know the consensus the forum will reach but hoping for some confirmation.
She travels from Rochester to Victoria some mornings; her shift pattern is erratic and so she doesn't buy a season ticket, rather choosing to load weekly tickets to her smartcard when she needs them. She intended to do this this morning, arriving in good time to find a long queue and only one ticket window on. Instead, she tried to use a ticket machine to add the ticket to her smartcard, and believed from the behaviour of the machine that the transaction had been completed (it since transpires she's not had an email receipt and no shadow for the amount has been placed on her bank account)
Upon trying to use the gates, the card didn't work (for good reason, if the transaction hadn't completed). However, the lady on the gateline saw that she'd been using the machine and, with the train pulling in, waved her through.
Inevitably, explaining this timeline at Victoria did not wash and she was issued with a penalty fare. A comedy of errors, I'm sure you'll agree. I suspect what I'll get back from the great and good here is to put it down to experience, pay the fare and move on, which she's willing to do.
However, is there something she could do regarding the wider experience she's had this morning? Namely:
- She arrives at a regular time each morning and usually has plenty of time to buy a ticket if necessary, does this establish a precedent that she DID arrive in "good time"?
- Does her experience with the machine (which I didn't witness so can't speak for) leading her to believe the transaction was completed mean anything?
- The gateline staff member was clearly doing her a favour waving her through but does that establish an authority to travel?