Anna B Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Yesterday I was using the train station, and although I arrived 20 minutes before my train was due to leave, I missed my train. This was due to very very poor management of the station and a severe shortage of human beings employed at the station. I queued for a ticket, at this point I still had 20 minutes, I was also second in the queue. There was a single member of staff selling tickets at the 'fair' price (if you buy on the train it is more expensive and you also risk getting into trouble for not boarding with a ticket). How the hell are you supposed to board with a ticket, when they are incapable of selling you a ticket in the first place. Why isn't there many human beings working in our station? A city of over half a million people, and just one person employed to sell tickets. Sheffield station is a disgrace, and the way it treats it's staff is a disgrace. Sheffield has plenty of unemployed people, and most of them want work. Sheffield station should be employing people to do a job that needs to be done. And until it employs people, then it should probably allow everyone in Sheffield to travel for free due to the sheer lack of staff on the counters selling tickets. Nobody in Sheffield should have to queue so long for a ticket that they end up missing their train. The simple answer is, people cost money. It's the same across every sector. Plenty of work needs doing, but no one is prepared to pay for it. Consequently 1 person either does the work of 2, or gets replaced by a machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvp82 Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 What websites? What procedures? The simple procedure is, walk into station and approach ticket staff, say "ey up", purchase ticket, board train. It is not my fault that the station is understaffed. The station needs to employ more people, and in Sheffield there are thousands upon thousands of people willing to work and wanting work. The simple solution would be to employ more staff and improve the station and in turn customers journey times. The current service being offered is not fit for purpose. Or perhaps you think Sheffield might be better if staff are laid off and replaced with machines, and fares increased further above inflation. ---------- Post added 01-06-2013 at 15:14 ---------- Aye, some of the supermarkets are now a complete joke. I quite often dump my shopping and leave when forced to use machines. Supermarkets also need to change their practices. Now your talking utter b******s. Doesn't sound like the ticket desk was understaffed, as you have stated yourself, you arrived 20 minutes before departure and where second in the queue. Arriving at the manned ticket desk to be 2nd in the queue doesn't equate to the ticket desk been understaffed. What is wrong with going to a self service ticket machine and purchasing a ticket. For 99% for the train journeys I make I don't need to interact with a human being to purchase a ticket. Press a few buttons, make my payment and a few seconds later I'm on my way. I did this very simple act yesterday, no doubt while you where stubbornly still stood 2nd in a queue missing your train. I would say it was your own stubbornness and refusel to use a self service machine that made you miss your train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosxuk Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I never buy tickets online for local journeys, I always pay cash. I might change my mind and wish to travel on a different day. I was also staying at a property without a PC. You know you can pay cash, on the day, using the machines in the station? I should be able to buy these tickets from a person at a counter. I shouldn't have to use a machine. I refuse to use them. Oh well, you'll just have to expect to wait a lot longer than normal passengers to get your tickets then. What's the point of having High Speed 2 to improve journey times, when you have to queue for 20 minutes or so to buy a bloody ticket. Instead of HS2, we could make the same improvement to journey times by taking on a member of staff at a cost of under £20k per year. How is someone in a travel centre going to improve journey times? Just because it takes you 20 minutes longer than normal people doesn't mean they'll get through the station any quicker. I'd pay on board the train if they offered off peak fares, which they should do when their ticket offices are so understaffed. They don't even have to do so if the ticket office is completely closed. There is no right to pay on board unless all ticket purchasing opportunities are unavailable at the boarding station. This may mean even purchasing a ticket which only covers part of your journey. It can be to one's advantage sometimes. I can get the train from my station and travel 20 minutes without a ticket collecter checking tickets. I don't dodge paying,but I aint going hunting for a collecter. Saves me about £6. Good luck when you come face to face with an RPI rather than a Guard. They've been doing several hits around SY recently, with people finding their normal £1.50 trip to Meadowhall becomes a £160 fine and desperately hoping not to be taken to court. Not having a ticket on board when you have passed a working ticket machine and/or open ticket office is a criminal offence which is recordable if caught / convicted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wednesday1 Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Quite agree Chemist, its like when you go to the supermarket and they say to you "would you like to use the fast lane and serve yourself".....i always tell them "no i wish to be served by someone", and on some occasions when i am that way inclined, i tell them "go and get some stock and i will fill the shelves up for you as well"...... Spot-on and so do I. It's not enough for these mutlinationals to close down all the local shops and keep screwing down the prices they pay to their suppliers, they don't want to employ anybody either! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosxuk Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Spot-on and so do I. It's not enough for these mutlinationals to close down all the local shops and keep screwing down the prices they pay to their suppliers, they don't want to employ anybody either! You're forgetting there's two reasons the self service machines were installed. 1) as covered - lower staff wages 2) People don't want to stand around for 20 minutes while one old biddy pays for her shopping in a selection of vouchers and 5p's she found down the sofa only to then be followed by the bloke with only a chequebook and the student buying more individual tins of beans than can physically be eaten in a year when you only want a loaf of bread and a pint of milk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLASGOWOODS Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 So you do dodge paying. ---------- Post added 01-06-2013 at 11:31 ---------- Did you not see the 20 or so machines that could all have sold you a ticket? Given such a short queue it doesn't sound like the station was understaffed at all, it must have been a very complicated purchase that the person in front of you was making though, to take 20 minutes! No i don't. The station i board at has no ticket machine,or ticket office. If the "on-board" ticket checker can't be arse to work his/her way through the carriages quick enough,then i aint going looking for them. ---------- Post added 01-06-2013 at 17:20 ---------- You know you can pay cash, on the day, using the machines in the station? Oh well, you'll just have to expect to wait a lot longer than normal passengers to get your tickets then. How is someone in a travel centre going to improve journey times? Just because it takes you 20 minutes longer than normal people doesn't mean they'll get through the station any quicker. They don't even have to do so if the ticket office is completely closed. There is no right to pay on board unless all ticket purchasing opportunities are unavailable at the boarding station. This may mean even purchasing a ticket which only covers part of your journey. Good luck when you come face to face with an RPI rather than a Guard. They've been doing several hits around SY recently, with people finding their normal £1.50 trip to Meadowhall becomes a £160 fine and desperately hoping not to be taken to court. Not having a ticket on board when you have passed a working ticket machine and/or open ticket office is a criminal offence which is recordable if caught / convicted. See post 26..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosxuk Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 No i don't. The station i board at has no ticket machine,or ticket office. If the "on-board" ticket checker can't be arse to work his/her way through the carriages quick enough,then i aint going looking for them. You don't have to. But you do legally have to buy a ticket for your entire journey at the first opportunity, be that on board, at an intermediate station where you change trains or at your destination. It's not unknown for the rail companies to target individual rail users where their ticket purchasing behaviour is noted to be incorrect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resident Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 No i don't. The station i board at has no ticket machine,or ticket office. If the "on-board" ticket checker can't be arse to work his/her way through the carriages quick enough,then i aint going looking for them. National Conditions of Carriage (terms you agree to by boarding the train) state under Condition 2 that if you're unable to purchase a ticket prior to boarding that it's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to find the conductor and pay your fare. By just simply sitting down you and waiting for them to come to you, you are considered to be attempting to dodge the fare and liable to all the usual penalties. It's only at the conductor's discretion that he sells you a ticket on board. To the rest of the forum: Next time train fares go up, rather than moaning about the train company, moan about criminals such as Glasgowoods, the fare dodgers that cost the company money, costs that the company is passing onto you via the fare increases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Spot-on and so do I. It's not enough for these mutlinationals to close down all the local shops and keep screwing down the prices they pay to their suppliers, they don't want to employ anybody either! Small shops aren't closed by multinationals. This is a big lie (unless I've missed under cover tesco operatives bundling people into vans to the nearest tesco express). You, and I for that matter, close small shops by not using them choosing instead to shop at tesco, asda morrisons etc. Simple as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLASGOWOODS Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 National Conditions of Carriage (terms you agree to by boarding the train) state under Condition 2 that if you're unable to purchase a ticket prior to boarding that it's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to find the conductor and pay your fare. By just simply sitting down you and waiting for them to come to you, you are considered to be attempting to dodge the fare and liable to all the usual penalties. It's only at the conductor's discretion that he sells you a ticket on board. To the rest of the forum: Next time train fares go up, rather than moaning about the train company, moan about criminals such as Glasgowoods, the fare dodgers that cost the company money, costs that the company is passing onto you via the fare increases. Haha! What a plank you are. So the dozens of commuters who pile on the busy Ayr to Glasgow train should all descend on the poor ticket collecter at the same time...Yeh great idea. I'm sure it would be chaotic. And just to make it clear to you mr/mz know-it-all...The sign at the station states..If the ticket office is closed (there aint one) and if the ticket machine is out of order (there aint one) then please purchase your ticket on the train from the conductor. Finally clever clogs...It don't matter if the trains are bursting with passengers all day everyday. Ticket prices still increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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