Paul Corfield wrote:
On 27 May 2006 12:16:13 -0700, "MIG"
wrote:


David Cantrell wrote:

On Fri, 26 May 2006 13:47:03 +0100, Walter Briscoe
said:

I look forward to a report of the response from SWT.

I predict that the response will be "thankyou for telling us about
this. We value your custom. Here's a worthless voucher that's not
valid for any journey you'll want to make. And we've now thrown your
complaint in the bin".



SWT definitely has training issues with regard to travelcards. I was
travelling from Richmond to Twickenham on a one-day all zones
travelcard, which I had stuck in my season ticket wallet. The guard
insisted on me taking it out, which I couldn't understand the reason
for, and then he crossed through it with his pen.

Travelcard tickets should never be defaced in that way. You run the risk
of further problems on other modes if a visual inspection is undertaken.
That sort of nonsense is almost as bad as using hole punches and then
punching through the magnetic stripe.

I asked why he did that when it was a travelcard, and he said that it
could only be used on one return trip on that line. I said again that
it was a travelcard and I could use it as much as I liked, and he
responded on the usual "telling me my job" lines.

Sounds like someone needs to tell about him the absolute basics of his
job like what a ticket is, what a validity is and a reminder to check
where he is when he undertakes a check.

I took his name and complained to SWT that he might potentially issue
penalty fares or, more likely, trick people into thinking that they had
to buy another ticket.

Or cause an unnecessary row, upset passengers and cause complaints to be
sent to the company that employs him.

Got a bland apology, but why do they have problems like this over such
a simple thing that has been around for years? Could it be because
they make fraudulent money out of it?

I suspect the reason is that it costs money to train people properly to
do what is a complex job. The sheet complexity of products and
validities is not only a problem for the fare paying public but also all
those employed to sell and check tickets.

There may be a fraudulent aspect but I would say the likelihood is very
small indeed - far more likely to be ignorance.



Probably right, but paper one-day travelcards have been around for
years and are about the simplest ticket there is. In the story that is
the real subject of this thread, it's a new machine, but the problem
again is travelcards. Almost as if SWT leaves travelcards out of the
training.