It's a perplexing scenario at London Bridge mainline station for Prepay
users. Prepay is valid on Thameslink services to and from London Bridge.
Some friends were travelling with me to London Bridge from Farringdon
using Prepay (I was using a season Travelcard).

We touched in at Farringdon and walked to the platform 8 exit to get
off. They tried to touch out, but the barriers threw up an error; the
assistant at the barrier then told them that their Prepay wasn't valid
and that they needed to pay a fare. I then had a bit of an argument with
him about the validity of Prepay (something like this: "Prepay is valid
on Thameslink from Farringdon to London Bridge" "No it isn't" "Yes it is").

Luckily he called over another guy who knew what I was talking about,
who said that the barriers from that exit wouldn't understand Prepay and
that my friends had to touch out using the platform validators.

So we trooped back to the platforms and tried to touch out - but it
wouldn't work. We then went to a different exit (the main exit from
platforms 1-6) where the gates still wouldn't open; in the end another
barrier assistant just let us all out, but my friends then had
unresolved journeys and it screwed up their daily cap.

The problem is - how do you ever get out at London Bridge? Prepay
doesn't seem to work the exit gates, so are you supposed to touch out
using the platform validators first, and then the ticket gates will let
you out? It seems unlikely to me that the exit gates will be any more
capable of understanding a completed prepay journey than an uncompleted one.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave Arquati wrote:
It's a perplexing scenario at London Bridge mainline station for Prepay
users. Prepay is valid on Thameslink services to and from London Bridge.
Some friends were travelling with me to London Bridge from Farringdon
using Prepay (I was using a season Travelcard).

We touched in at Farringdon and walked to the platform 8 exit to get
off. They tried to touch out, but the barriers threw up an error; the
assistant at the barrier then told them that their Prepay wasn't valid
and that they needed to pay a fare. I then had a bit of an argument with
him about the validity of Prepay (something like this: "Prepay is valid
on Thameslink from Farringdon to London Bridge" "No it isn't" "Yes it is").

Luckily he called over another guy who knew what I was talking about,
who said that the barriers from that exit wouldn't understand Prepay and
that my friends had to touch out using the platform validators.

So we trooped back to the platforms and tried to touch out - but it
wouldn't work. We then went to a different exit (the main exit from
platforms 1-6) where the gates still wouldn't open; in the end another
barrier assistant just let us all out, but my friends then had
unresolved journeys and it screwed up their daily cap.

The problem is - how do you ever get out at London Bridge? Prepay
doesn't seem to work the exit gates, so are you supposed to touch out
using the platform validators first, and then the ticket gates will let
you out? It seems unlikely to me that the exit gates will be any more
capable of understanding a completed prepay journey than an uncompleted one.


I've not done this journey using PrePay myself, but I have seen posters
up at other Thameslink stations that read as follows (and I quote
directly):


"When getting on or off a train at London Bridge you must touch your
Oyster card on the card reader on the National Rail platform. If you do
not, you may be charged the wrong fare."


So perhaps the problem was that you didn't touch on the platform card
reader first, though like you I don't quite see why it didn't work
properly when your pal went back & 'touched' the platform reader then
went back to the gates.

There is scant publicity regarding this scenario, and it's a bad
situation that the platform staff didn't know the rules - though it
doesn't surprise me in the least either.

Perhaps an email to both Thameslink and Oyster customer services
wouldn't go amiss. Though saying that I haven't yet come across an
email address for Oyster customer services.

"Dave Arquati" wrote in message ...
It's a perplexing scenario at London Bridge mainline station for Prepay users. Prepay is valid on
Thameslink services to and from London Bridge. Some friends were travelling with me to London
Bridge from Farringdon using Prepay (I was using a season Travelcard).

We touched in at Farringdon and walked to the platform 8 exit to get off. They tried to touch out,
but the barriers threw up an error; the assistant at the barrier then told them that their Prepay
wasn't valid and that they needed to pay a fare. I then had a bit of an argument with him about
the validity of Prepay (something like this: "Prepay is valid on Thameslink from Farringdon to
London Bridge" "No it isn't" "Yes it is").

Luckily he called over another guy who knew what I was talking about, who said that the barriers
from that exit wouldn't understand Prepay and that my friends had to touch out using the platform
validators.

So we trooped back to the platforms and tried to touch out - but it wouldn't work. We then went to
a different exit (the main exit from platforms 1-6) where the gates still wouldn't open; in the
end another barrier assistant just let us all out, but my friends then had unresolved journeys and
it screwed up their daily cap.

The problem is - how do you ever get out at London Bridge? Prepay doesn't seem to work the exit
gates, so are you supposed to touch out using the platform validators first, and then the ticket
gates will let you out? It seems unlikely to me that the exit gates will be any more capable of
understanding a completed prepay journey than an uncompleted one.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

I travelled from Kings Cross Thameslink to London Bridge with a friend
and we both encountered a similar problem.

We touched in ok at Kings Cros TL but at London Bridge we touched the
validators on the platform (like the sign said) and they flashed up
"seek assistance" and so did the main barriers when we passed through them.
The member of the staff just waved us through the side gate. I asked if that
would be ok but he didn't reply and started talking to someone else.

It was not ok - upon checking next day I had an unresolved journey and
I paid too much in total that day. I went to the ticket office to get it resolved.
Checking later that day I realised the bloke at the ticket office had cleared the
unresolved journey but charged me for it again. The next ticket office person
I spoke to didn't understand me when I tried to explain this and suggested
I call the Oyster helpline.

From experience I would not advise anyone to do this. The people
who answer the phone are useless and I doubt have ever travelled on
London Underground or been to London or seen an Oyster Card.
Worse still they give refunds for 80p in the form of a cheque.

That said, if you email via "ask oyster" the response is quick and they
even refund the amount directly to you Oyster Card when you pass
through a nominated station.

As for Thameslink - I don't think I would use it again with prepay
because in the 3 times I've used it, it hasn't worked once.

The journey must be completed using the platform validators at London
Bridge. The gates will let prepay travellers through, but won't resolve
journeys.

"Matthew" wrote in message
oups.com...
The journey must be completed using the platform validators at London
Bridge. The gates will let prepay travellers through, but won't resolve
journeys.

Not for my friends with pre-pay loaded Oysters about two weeks ago. Tried
to get through the barriers by platform 1, but barriers reported 'seek
assistance' (Error code 57 from what I recall). Guy on the barrier tells
them they can't use them, so we gave up and got the Tube instead of using TL
to King's Cross.

Sounds like the Oyster config of London Bridge barriers is seriously broken.

Nick

Nick wrote:
Sounds like the Oyster config of London Bridge barriers is seriously broken.

Yup - I tried to touch my Oyster there last night - got the same "Seek
assistance - Error 57" message, which is a real pain as it means I have
to make a (unnecessary) tube journey just to add my auto-topup instruction.

Regards,


/Neil/

--
Web design, hosting and domain registration
http://www.spellings.net/

Hardware store
http://buyit.spellings.net

Neil Spellings wrote:
Nick wrote:
Sounds like the Oyster config of London Bridge barriers is seriously broken.

Yup - I tried to touch my Oyster there last night - got the same "Seek
assistance - Error 57" message, which is a real pain as it means I have
to make a (unnecessary) tube journey just to add my auto-topup instruction.

Regards,


No you don't

I was in the same situation last night
touched barrier £20 credited £1.10 deducted
ticket office could not /would not help
took name of station supervisor to moan at oyster
ticket clerk then actually tried to credit it back
it worked no problem £1.10 back on card
Moral of the tale do not believe all you are told
HTH Phil

wrote:

I was in the same situation last night
touched barrier £20 credited £1.10 deducted
ticket office could not /would not help
took name of station supervisor to moan at oyster
ticket clerk then actually tried to credit it back
it worked no problem £1.10 back on card

Which platform's Oyster reader did you use?

Cheers,


/Neil/


--
Web design, hosting and domain registration
http://www.spellings.net/

Hardware store
http://buyit.spellings.net

ticket office could not /would not help
took name of station supervisor to moan at oyster
ticket clerk then actually tried to credit it back
it worked no problem £1.10 back on card
Moral of the tale do not believe all you are told


The training of LU staff on Oyster is poor to variable at best.

I sometimes wonder if the training has been deliberately scant as the
system has been designed to eventually replace most of them and
thorough training was not considered a worthwhile investment.

How long before annual tickets are only available over the phone
or by internet?

wrote:

I was in the same situation last night
touched barrier £20 credited £1.10 deducted
ticket office could not /would not help
took name of station supervisor to moan at oyster
ticket clerk then actually tried to credit it back
it worked no problem £1.10 back on card

No problems at London Bridge when I did the same a couple of days ago,
the LU ticket clerk immediately understood what I was doing and
cancelled the journey.

I've never had any problem with LU staff when trying to resolve Oyster
problems - usually unresolved journeys thanks to me forgetting to touch
out at NR platform readers.