London Banter - View Single Post - Those little machines used by NR staff to check Oyster cards

Bob Wood · May 26th 06, 08:53 AM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:

On my Oyster I have a Zone 1-2 annual travelcard for the commute from
my home to my regular office. Currently I'm working offsite in
Feltham, though, so in addition to that I have a Zone 3-6 monthly
travelcard.

This morning, on the train from Waterloo to Feltham, an especially
surly ticket inspector asked to see tickets. I gave my Oystercard,
the light on the little machine went green, all fine. Or so I
thought. The inspector asked where I was travelling to, and I
replied, Feltham. He then said, loudly and aggressively, "you only
have Zones 1 & 2 on that Oyster so your ticket isn't valid to
Feltham". I told him that there was also a Zone 3-6 monthly
travelcard on it as well. He replied that no there wasn't, only
Zones 1 & 2, and said that I would have to leave the train at Clapham
Junction as my ticket wasn't valid to Feltham. So I had to get out
the paper receipt to show him! After extended scrutiny, he grunted
and accepted that I had a valid ticket as far as Feltham; needless to
state no apology for the public humiliation, or explanation why his
machine hadn't been able to read it. Of course the Oyster card
worked fine on the gates at Feltham, as it has done every day since I
got it.

So what's the problem with those little machines? Are they simply not
sophisticated enough to read more than the main ticket on an Oyster
card?

I suspect that it was the attached person that wasn't sophisticated
enough.

--
Bob