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Commuters who dither at ticket machines

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You get up for work when it's still dark and rush to catch the early morning train, only to discover that it's late again or worse still cancelled.  You then get crammed onto the next cattle waggon to arrive (having paid a fortune for the privilege), and then suffer the next hour or so of a boring journey a lot closer to your fellow commuters than you'd really like to be.  Finally, you arrive at your destination..  late, and you step off the train with determination ready to be make haste only to be met with a new problem.  People that don't look around them or consider other people.

Every day on a busy commuter route on the trains I am met with unmentionable numbers of people that think a good thing to do is to stand right in front of the ticket barriers, at which point they begin to look for their ticket and wonder which direction they are going in.

Then there are the ones who stand on the wrong side of the escalator oblivious to anyone that might want to go up or down them in a hurry.

when you take a train you'll have to put a ticket through a barrier...

Train ticket barriers - commuters who dither and don't know where they are going Surely it isn't a surprise that when you take a train you'll have to put a ticket through a barrier at some point?  So if you know that, why not have your ticket ready?  Why wait and stand in front of a machine in the morning rush hour blocking everyone else who needs to get somewhere in a hurry?

And not only that - when you ask these people to move (admittedly in a somewhat annoyed tone) they look at you as if you are about to mug them!  People who stand in shop doorways with prams, or loiter there to have conversations are just as bad and the same goes for those people who stop dead in the middle of a busy street (Oxford street in London is a classic one for this).

I don't understand why people can't be a little bit more aware of what is going on around them and have some consideration for other people who don't want to wait 10 minutes for them to find their tickets or get up the stairs.  Please hurry up, or get out of my way!

By: Channah


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Phil

Phil

Dear Channah,
I haven't used rail travel for years and wouldn't recognise a ticket barrier if I saw one. I would probably be confused and not sure what to do. I might just stand there fro several minutes waiting it to open. I guess you are not supposed to treat them like hurdles.

Rail is so expensive and unreliable. No thank you!
03/03/18 Phil
2
dragonfly TV

dragonfly TV

Dear Railway Users,
I am writing from an award winning television production company called Dragonfly Film and Television, who are the makers of documentaries such as “One Born Every Minute” and “The Family”.
We’re currently producing a new prime-time documentary series for Channel 4 about the UK complaints and customer service industry and we are looking for people who may wish to tell us their stories.

We are looking for people who are currently pursuing an ongoing complaint or who regularly complain about their train journeys or travel experience for a Channel Four documentary. No complaint is too small and we would love to hear from people who can share their experiences and give them a platform to voice their grievances.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us on 0207 033 2289 or email at ukcomplainers@dragonfly.tv
27/11/13 dragonfly TV
0
Screw London

Screw London

Bloody hell. Someone here thinks that everywhere apart from London is a shithole?

Where did they live before, Mogadishu?
22/10/13 Screw London
4
Have your ticket ready

Have your ticket ready

On the train I get every morning the conductor (I think they're now known as train managers) shouts, "Tickets please, have your tickets ready for inspection." And every morning someone doesn't have their ticket ready and then looks in disgust to the conductor. Drives me mad.
18/10/13 Have your ticket ready
5
Lord Snooty

Lord Snooty

I realise that coming from Dorset you are too busy marveling at electric light and inside lavvies to look around much in London, but there are 'shock! horror!' ticket barriers outside London!
On the original point, I have encountered similar behaviour at checkouts in stores, a suddenly frantic search for cash or card, are these people surprised that they have to pay?
18/10/13 Lord Snooty
4
Nick

Nick

move out of the cesspit called London? That's easier said than done because London is probably the ONLY place in the UK that is not a dump/sh1thole these days.
18/10/13 Nick
-8
Steffiegirl

Steffiegirl

Yes and I also can't understand why some people wait til they get on the bus to look for their fare and hold up the queue.......why is that...
18/10/13 Steffiegirl
1
Charmbrights

Charmbrights

Ah - how nice to be reminded of what I gave up when I retired ten years ago!
18/10/13 Charmbrights
4
Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Get a life and move out of the cesspit called London.
18/10/13 Derbyshire
0
Peter

Peter

I think Dorset Boy completely missed the point. Not everyone in London is an arrogant moron. Yes there are some people who do try and barge you out of the way and have zero consideration for other commuters or travellers. However, like the original griper mentioned, it's about common sense. I don't live in London, but go down to visit people a few times a year, I know when I get to my destination on the tube, I will have to put my ticket into a machine to get through the barrier so get my ticket ready beforehand. Even I cannot understand why people leave it to the last second so experiencing this everyday would be annoying.

Like in shops/supermarkets when people don't have their wallets/purses ready and leave it until the cashier mentions the price. Absurd.
18/10/13 Peter
1
Samson (Delilah's too busy to post)

Samson (Delilah's too busy to post)

I agree in part with the original poster. I get frustrated when I become delayed because of people that cannot organise themselves.
To be honest I find this to be worse at airports than on the underground. There are on average 6 million signs at security telling people about removing laptops from bags etc. but some still seem to be able to get to the conveyor totally oblivious to this. Very frustrating. It's the same when they board the aeroplane and need to stand in the aisle preventing everyone else from boarding whilst they search for their sudoku book and cheese and pickle sandwich!
No doubt we should allow more time for our journey so that short delays at ticket machines are not an issue but we are mostly busy people that don't have a lot of spare time from Monday to Friday. I start my commute at 6am and normally get back in to home around 9pm. I think my day is long enough without standing around underground stations waiting for people to find their ticket.
18/10/13 Samson (Delilah's too busy to post)
4
Dorset Boy

Dorset Boy

So glad I don't live in London and am unlikely to encounter morons like you.
18/10/13 Dorset Boy
4

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