On Feb 10, 6:46 pm, Dave Newt wrote:
MIG wrote:
On Feb 10, 2:11 pm, Edward Cowling London UK
wrote:
In message , Wolfgang Schwanke
writes

The part I don't understand is why they do this in the first place. I
thought the LU system is rather "fraud safe". You can't get in or out
of the system without some form of valid ticket (except by climbing
over the gates or taking a detour to a DLR station), so hunting down
fare dodgers should be pointless. What am I missing?
Several times I've been caught by this trick, so perhaps they watch for
it. Everyone hurtles up to the barrier and the person in front of you
offers up their ticket / card. They start striding through the barrier
and you follow up behind and put your Oyster on the reader, just as they
get the "seek assistance" screen. They carry on through (on your card)
and you get left there looking like a lemon.

I now hold back and wait for the person in front to fully exit the
barrier before I put my Oyster anywhere near the reader. On two
occasions I've had people with the "seek assistance" screen look back at
me, and look at my card.... obviously waiting to be let out. Oh no, now
I just glare at them until they go elsewhere.

It's easily done. I once grabbed the wrong ticket out my wallet and by
the time I was getting seek assistance, the woman behind had put her
ticket in and opened the gate. I had no choice but to go through and
then lend her my travelcard to get out with.

No choice? When that happens to me, I turn round, come back out (with
the gates waiting open) and let the person who the gate "belongs" to go
through. And then re-do mine


How long do you suppose the gates remain open? Anyway, with people
jammed up behind, it's not easy to turn round, and by the time you
could shuffle out, the gates would definitely be closed.

My ticket would then still have worked, but hers wouldn't.