Just had an unpleasant experience trying to enter the station at Chichester with a mobile ticket. They only have one gate with a scanner for mobile tickets and the staff member monitoring it has to swap the direction around.
Just had a very rude Southern staff member claim I had to hold my phone up high to be read by a non-existent camera, then telling me to keep moving back until the barcode is viewable.
He was probably bored or thinking I had been drinking, but I was completely sober. After he’d had enough of this game, he decided he would let me in. He also let other passengers watch this charade.
I was polite throughout, knowing that he was probably aiming either for me to miss the last train back towards London, or hoping I would say something so he could claim I was aggressive. Neither were true. I even thanked him and wished him a good night when he eventually decided he would switch the gate side.
I did make the train but it’s put a damper on the evening.
Is this what we should be expecting when using the railways? And is this likely to be the type of trick that gets pulled on people regularly, including those who are less frequently railway users?
Just had a very rude Southern staff member claim I had to hold my phone up high to be read by a non-existent camera, then telling me to keep moving back until the barcode is viewable.
He was probably bored or thinking I had been drinking, but I was completely sober. After he’d had enough of this game, he decided he would let me in. He also let other passengers watch this charade.
I was polite throughout, knowing that he was probably aiming either for me to miss the last train back towards London, or hoping I would say something so he could claim I was aggressive. Neither were true. I even thanked him and wished him a good night when he eventually decided he would switch the gate side.
I did make the train but it’s put a damper on the evening.
Is this what we should be expecting when using the railways? And is this likely to be the type of trick that gets pulled on people regularly, including those who are less frequently railway users?