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Tube chiefs urged to investigate ‘disgraceful’ network meltdown

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...ravel-chaos.do

About 2,000 people had to trek through tunnels to safety on Monday.
Some claimed they were forced to pay afterwards by touching out with
their Oyster cards.

Thousands trapped in Tube blackout forced to walk along tracks

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...long-tracks.do

Passengers on the first three trains had to be led to safety through
tunnels. Commuters on the trains at Swiss Cottage and Westminster were
able to walk off after the drivers pulled into stations. The Swiss
Cottage passengers had to pay for their journeys by touching out on
their Oyster cards as they left the station.

===

"I was on one of the trains between St J Wood and Baker St which was
stuck in the tunnel for nearly 2 hrs 40 mins. People on the train were
very calm, I feel very sorry for the driver who had 2 run from one end
of the train to the other atleast 5 times. We live in a great city
called "London" where all the passengers were left in the tunnel
without any help / emergency rescue for more than 2 hrs ? We all know
that the things do go wrong sometimes but London Underground should
have a system where they can get people out in less than 30 mins.
Today was too much - a typical British system / engineering....
Anyways, the underground staff / british transport police were very
helpful - many thanks to them but what a shame on the emergency rescue
unit who couldn't make it faster. I thought not to make any complain
but when I asked for the refund on my pay as go oyster card then I
only received less than the original amount which was charged. The
staff at the ticket window gave the reason that his system does not
allow to refund the full money and you have to call 0845 number which
I did and it was on hold for more than 25 mins, still no refund as it
takes more than 24 hrs to register in their system. Just wondering how
many people must have checked whether they got the full refund. Spoke
with London Underground Customer Service about this and the lady at
the other end mentioned that as a good will they might give some
compensation to the people who were stuck on this particular train

- RJ, London, 18/10/2010 23:06"

===

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On 21 Oct, 11:45, CJB wrote:
Tube chiefs urged to investigate ‘disgraceful’ network meltdown

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...-tube-chief-sa...

About 2,000 people had to trek through tunnels to safety on Monday.
Some claimed they were forced to pay afterwards by touching out with
their Oyster cards.

Thousands trapped in Tube blackout forced to walk along tracks

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...-thousands-tra...

Passengers on the first three trains had to be led to safety through
tunnels. Commuters on the trains at Swiss Cottage and Westminster were
able to walk off after the drivers pulled into stations. The Swiss
Cottage passengers had to pay for their journeys by touching out on
their Oyster cards as they left the station.

That's bollox reporting innit?

Isn't it more the case that touching out at that station at that time
identified them as being those punters who were entitled to a refund,
whereas by not touching out they'd simply have unresolved journeys and
be charged anyway? It's not touching out that gets you charged; it's
not touching out that gets you charged (if you see what I mean).

I know these journeys would already have timed out.

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In message
, at
03:45:49 on Thu, 21 Oct 2010, CJB quoted a
newspaper saying:
The Swiss Cottage passengers had to pay for their journeys by touching
out on their Oyster cards as they left the station.

Surely they were saving themselves an unresolved journey, or would they
actually have one timed-out journey *plus* a second unresolved one?
--
Roland Perry

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On Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:39:05 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at
03:45:49 on Thu, 21 Oct 2010, CJB quoted a
newspaper saying:
The Swiss Cottage passengers had to pay for their journeys by touching
out on their Oyster cards as they left the station.

Surely they were saving themselves an unresolved journey, or would they
actually have one timed-out journey *plus* a second unresolved one?

If someone in the ticket office at one of the bombed stations had made an
announcement for people to come to the office if they wanted a refund then I
suspect at best he would have been accused of taking the **** and ended up
splashed across the Daily Wail with some ranting headline.

I wonder if theres an option to set the gates up so that the open journey
on the card is deleted and no money is taken?

B2003

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On 21/10/2010 16:20, d wrote:

If someone in the ticket office at one of the bombed stations had made an
announcement for people to come to the office if they wanted a refund then I
suspect at best he would have been accused of taking the **** and ended up
splashed across the Daily Wail with some ranting headline.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if he also had a queue (hasn't this
happened - there was a fire alarm and people insisted on touching out as
they evacuated?)

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

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On Oct 21, 12:02*pm, MIG wrote:

Isn't it more the case that touching out at that station at that time
identified them as being those punters who were entitled to a refund,...

That sounds correct - or punters who might like to claim compo.
No one would have been forced to touch out.

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In the Standard's reportage of this incident today at
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...-and-delays.do
there is a phrase that hit my head like an elbow:
"The Jubilee line opened a year late and only just in time for the
Millennium Dome celebrations. It cost more than £2 billion to build."
I thought the Jubilee Line Extension opened ahead of schedule. New
Year's Day 1999/2000 was not originally part of the deadline. Or am I
wrong?

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On Oct 21, 7:47*pm, Offramp wrote:
In the Standard's reportage of this incident today at
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...e-23890197-.do
there is a phrase that hit my head like an elbow:
"The Jubilee line opened a year late and only just in time for the
Millennium Dome celebrations. It cost more than £2 billion to build."
I thought the Jubilee Line Extension opened ahead of schedule. New
Year's Day 1999/2000 was not originally part of the deadline. Or am I
wrong?

It was late - the tabloid version of history has it that Blair brought
in Bechtel to ensure it got finished on time (where on time was
'before the bloody chimes strike on the new millennium'!).

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In message
Mizter T wrote:


On Oct 21, 7:47*pm, Offramp wrote:
In the Standard's reportage of this incident today at
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...e-23890197-.do
there is a phrase that hit my head like an elbow:
"The Jubilee line opened a year late and only just in time for the
Millennium Dome celebrations. It cost more than £2 billion to build."
I thought the Jubilee Line Extension opened ahead of schedule. New
Year's Day 1999/2000 was not originally part of the deadline. Or am I
wrong?

It was late - the tabloid version of history has it that Blair brought
in Bechtel to ensure it got finished on time (where on time was
'before the bloody chimes strike on the new millennium'!).

Well they did it with a year to spare.

--
Graeme Wall

This address not read, substitute trains for rail
Transport Miscellany at www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail
Photo galleries at http://graeme-wall.fotopic.net/

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"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message
, at
03:45:49 on Thu, 21 Oct 2010, CJB quoted a
newspaper saying:
The Swiss Cottage passengers had to pay for their journeys by touching out
on their Oyster cards as they left the station.

Surely they were saving themselves an unresolved journey, or would they
actually have one timed-out journey *plus* a second unresolved one?
--

I see it like this: Their journeys were already paid for in excess. That is
how the Oyster PAYG system works, by charging you for the maximum likely
journey and then giving back any untravelled amount i.e. charging you for
going from zone 1-6 then refunding you when it sees you've only gone thru
zones 1-3.
Pricecapping could also come into play so some folk only get a partial
refund. It would have been nice if all those affected could have touched out
and been recorded as being part of the delay thus entitling them to an easy
to claim decent refund. I see this as something like £20 refund to PAYG
cards and paper ticket holders and a £20 cheque/voucher for season ticket
users. A goodwill gesture that could even be instant via a specially
activated gate setup.
Compensation for the length of delay, stress and loss of personal time could
then be done separately.