Ticket sales point audit - 15th July 2023

At Melksham when I joined the train with around 25 others at 09:10, there is a threatening Penalty Fare notice. The ticket machine was in order, but I had been unable to obtain the ticket best suited for my planned day. I had guessed this would be the case, but had been unable to purchase online either. I spoke briefly to the Train Manager as I boarded, and he came round and sold me my ticket (£16.50 Heart of Wessex day ranger with a senior railcard). He took a while to find it on his machine and apologised saying that they don’t sell many of these.

At Weymouth yesterday, 15:00, the ticket office was closed due to “staff shortage”. And with it the waiting room. The ticket machine WAS operational but listing what could be purchased there , and what could not. Entrance to the station was via the side gates, and a canopy on the island platform provides some shelter. There were staff around - train drivers and guards (a.k.a. train managers) and I think one locally based operational person - a dispatcher. When asked questions by a steady flow of occasional travellers, they were being as helpful as they could be within their own segments of knowledge, but people were reduced to walking up to several staff to get appropriate re-assurance. The information screens were reasonably correct at that time though they hadn’t been so when I had arrived.

At Upwey, the information screens were out of order directng people to the Help point and saying nothing about the trains that were calling. At the station entrance, a big penalty fare notice warned of £100 if you failed to buy a ticket before boarding, but the ticket vending machine was out of order.

At Trowbridge, the ticket office was closed, there were the same warning signs about being penalty fared, and the ticket machine was out of order. I know there is a ticket machine on the other platform but I did not go across to take a look - rather I walked up to the (filthy) but stop and took the last bus back to Melksham rather than waiting for a train. No signage to the bus stop from the station, no through ticketing, but as a robust traveller I know what I am doing.

I HAD planned to leave Weymouth straight back on the 11:30, with awful weather forecast. As it was, it turned out to be wonderful these and I stuck around for the 13:30 … then stuck around further and didn’t leave until 15:30 (phone interview to be done which was arranged only during the morning - from a Heart of Wessex line train would have been risky) so in the end I could have uses just a £14.15 Melksham to Weymouth day return,