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Title: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: BerkshireBugsy on December 07, 2011, 09:23:26 Yesterday afternoon a very helpful TM offered to renew my weekly season ticket for me to save me time this morning. The thing I have noticed is that when the ticket is used in the barriers (both at Reading and Reigate) they reject it as if the mag stripe is corrupt (or not encoded at all)
Is this a common problem with tickets issued using the "roaming" ticket machines? Thanks Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: readytostart on December 07, 2011, 10:29:59 Shouldn't be a problem, is the season printed square on the ticket?, sometimes if they come out a bit wonky they may fail to encode.
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: BerkshireBugsy on December 07, 2011, 10:50:47 Shouldn't be a problem, is the season printed square on the ticket?, sometimes if they come out a bit wonky they may fail to encode. Now you mention it it is not sqaure - from one side to the other I would guess it slants by about 2 degrees Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: FarWestJohn on December 07, 2011, 11:18:24 I regularly get this problem with tickets purchased on the Falmouth branch failing to open the barriers at Truro or Plymouth.
The gate line staff are always very understanding and it seems to be a regular problem. Must be a pain with a season ticket though. Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: BerkshireBugsy on December 07, 2011, 11:20:02 I regularly get this problem with tickets purchased on the Falmouth branch failing to open the barriers at Truro or Plymouth. The gate line staff are always very understanding and it seems to be a regular problem. Must be a pain with a season ticket though. It's not really problem to me but I am concious of the impact of me holding up the stampede at Reigate in the morning! Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: inspector_blakey on December 07, 2011, 17:37:41 I've heard anecdotally that the magnetic encoding is weaker from a portable Avantix machine than from a booking office machine, don't know how true that is.
If you know that it's not going to work in the gates then i don't see a problem with going straight to a manned barrier and showing your ticket there. Alternatively you could try asking a station ticket office for a replacement on the grounds that it's not working properly, but that may end up bieng more hassle than it's work for a weekly season. Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: Worcester_Passenger on December 07, 2011, 18:31:54 I've always been told that a portable ticket machine, of any kind, will never have enough oomph to put a magnetic stripe on a ticket.
I'm surprised that they've never gone in for barcodes on these instead. Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: BerkshireBugsy on December 07, 2011, 18:33:37 I think know I am fairly certain its some skew on the stripe ill live with it for the rest of its life.
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: thetrout on December 07, 2011, 18:50:11 I'm pretty sure you can go and get a replacement Season Ticket at the booking office, free of charge. You just need to say it doesn't work in the barriers and they "should" give you a replacement.
I'm not 100% on that though, so *Paging Ollie* as he's bound to know ;) ;D :D Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: 6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01 on December 07, 2011, 19:52:58 You can aslong as its the same train operating company.... If its a weekly I really wouldn't bother
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: ellendune on December 07, 2011, 20:16:33 I once had this problem on a weekly and the gate line staff at Swindon requested me to get it changed. He was quite insistent. In my experience they always make you try it before they will let you through.
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: EBrown on December 07, 2011, 20:32:55 I'm led to believe that gate line staff like you to put the ticket in the machines to check it hasn't already been used. Particularly the case for Open returns.
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: vacman on December 07, 2011, 20:34:24 I once had this problem on a weekly and the gate line staff at Swindon requested me to get it changed. He was quite insistent. In my experience they always make you try it before they will let you through. the reason any good gateline assistant will ask you to try is so that they can find any counterfeit seasons, there are a hell of a lot of them about!Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: Ollie on December 07, 2011, 23:27:00 You can get it replaced by any National Rail ticket office on the route the season ticket covers, it doesn't need to be the same company that issued the ticket. (However if it is not clear what the ticket is actually for you will need to go to same company as they will be the ones with a record)
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: Chris from Nailsea on December 07, 2011, 23:41:29 Thanks, Ollie. :)
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: 6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01 on December 07, 2011, 23:59:14 Ollie even with annual seasons? How is the database updated?
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: Ollie on December 08, 2011, 00:10:20 Whoever deals with the paperwork should be notifying the appropriate TOC.
Will find the entry in "The Manual" for you. Edited to add: Quote Replacement for damaged or ^Encoding Failure^ If a valid weekly or period Season Ticket/Travelcard is damaged, or can^t be read easily, or no longer opens automatic gates, it can be replaced free of charge (using appropriate ^Replacement Ticket^ stock) at any National Rail station ticket office on the route or in the zone/s that it is valid for. If the ticket is unreadable, refer the customer to the issuing office of the ticket, who may issue a replacement if the details of the ticket sale can be verified or the customer^s records can be checked. All tickets issued by Transport for London stations (formerly London Underground, London Buses, Docklands Light Railway and London Tramlink) may only be replaced at their respective stations and offices. In case of other than weekly Season Tickets/Travelcards, the record at the original issuing station/telesales retailer must be updated to record that a replacement has been issued. The office issuing the replacement should complete the form ^Advice of Replacement of Damaged/Encoding Failed Season Tickets^ RSP 25805/31 (or the equivalent Train Company/third party retailer authorised document): Send top copy to the station that originally issued the Season Ticket; Retain the second and third copies. A Season Ticket/Travelcard/Annual Gold Card may be replaced whenever necessary, without limit on the number of occasions. Specially printed tickets bear the overprint ^Replacement^ on the lower part. Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: BerkshireBugsy on December 08, 2011, 05:56:39 Now that the loos on p4 are no more I often use the ones on the main concourse when changing from p1 to p4a/b around 615 in the morning. Although I would be happy to do so I have never been asked to run my ticket through the machine before asking the member of staff on the ticket barrier to let me through
On a slightly different but related note yesterday (Wednesday) I saw RPI and BROWN taking someone to task for not having the correct ticket on arrival at reading. Good for them </soapbox> Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: BerkshireBugsy on December 08, 2011, 06:32:13 s an experiment this morning (at reading main) I asked for the ticket to be replaced because of the stripe and although the assistant (on the main concourse ticket desks) wasn't familiar with the process with the aid of a collegue it was done in less than 3 minutes so q result and Ta to everyone here
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: thetrout on December 08, 2011, 10:04:54 Thanks Ollie ;)
Glad it's all sorted, BerkshireBugsy! Just on vacman's point there, whenever I have put my ticket through a barrier and the bl**dy thing comes up with "Seek Assistance" and refuses to co-operate, it always fills me with dread when I literally have to "Seek Assistance" as it makes me feel like i've done something wrong!! Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: BerkshireBugsy on December 08, 2011, 10:16:38 Just on vacman's point there, whenever I have put my ticket through a barrier and the bl**dy thing comes up with "Seek Assistance" and refuses to co-operate, it always fills me with dread when I literally have to "Seek Assistance" as it makes me feel like i've done something wrong!! It wasn't such a big deal to me but, particulary at Reigate, there is such a crowd leaving the service and trying to get through the barries at the same time I don't like holding other people up. Commuters in the South East aren't always known for their patience! Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: Surrey 455 on December 11, 2011, 00:01:02 You can get it replaced by any National Rail ticket office on the route the season ticket covers, it doesn't need to be the same company that issued the ticket. (However if it is not clear what the ticket is actually for you will need to go to same company as they will be the ones with a record) I had this problem last year. I had an annual all zones London travelcard bought at FGW Paddington. Half way through the year I moved house and found myself using SWT to get to work on the existing ticket. When the stripe failed as they always do (only once or twice have I got through the year with the original ticket) I took it to SWT Waterloo who refused to replace it so I had to make a special journey to Paddington to do so. Similarly this years ticket bought at Waterloo failed in the Summer and my local SWT station refused to replace it saying it had to be done at Waterloo. I eventually got it done at Guildford which isn't even on the route of my ticket. I just happened to be there and there was no queue and the ticket staff were more obliging. Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: Ollie on December 11, 2011, 00:13:40 Paddington shouldn't have refused it, no grounds too unless it wasn't clear what the ticket was actually for.
Hopefully it wasn't a case of not wanting to do it just because have to manually create a record of the ticket in the system which can sometimes take a few mins. Sorry that happened. Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: Surrey 455 on December 11, 2011, 23:01:31 No, Paddington did replace it. It was SWT who didn't want to.
Title: Re: Magnetic stripe on ticket bought on train Post by: Ollie on December 12, 2011, 00:02:28 No, Paddington did replace it. It was SWT who didn't want to. Ah sorry I misread :)Waterloo should have done it. No reason not to. This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |