Yesterday my wife and I travelled to York by train from Newark. I regularly travel by train to London using the 'East Coast' Train company and class myself as normally competent (and observant) holding down a professionally demanding job. I am in my 50s but have all my faculties

 

As I was as paying for the tickets I booked via Trainline.com in advance. I was sent 10 separate tickets (address, credit card confirmation, seat reservations, etc.). This always strikes me as being a lot of cards and can be quite confusing.

 

 

Going to York involved a change at Doncaster and the first leg from Newark to Doncaster was with East Coast. It was 10 minutes late meaning we only had a few minutes to catch the connection to York - 10.12 East Coast Service. I checked the one display board on Platform 4 and saw our train listed as due on Platform 4 (but no indication if on time). At 10.11 a train pulled into Platform 4, neither my wife or I saw any obvious company markings on the train and presumed it was our train (it turned out the company logo was on several carriages but not ours) and the on the loudspeaker the announcer (in a distorted and 'Norman Collier' voice said something like, "........form 4...the.....10.....ice....to....calling... at....ork...."

 

Mrs Bikealot and myself (also normally having all her faculties) got on the B Coach and found our seats. About 10.13 the train pulled off and a few minutes later the ticket inspector checked our tickets and said we were on the wrong train. It was going to York but was a "Cross Country" company train. We had to pay again a total of £25. I explained that the train came at the same time as the service we should have caught and he said his train was late and our train was probably late too and the arrival time was simply a coincidence

This is why I avoid travelling by train where possible. Overpriced, overcomplicated ticketing systems, delayed, overcrowded etc. I do enjoy driving them though!

Have you tried getting a parking ticket at Oxford station? Totally automated phonecall system, totally confusing, time consuming and wrong, took about an hour of stress, mobile phone cutting out, voice recognition not working, multiple calls, halfway to destination on the train before a ticket was finally purchased. How older folk deal with it, I'll never know, as a couple in our 30's & 40's with complex jobs requiring intelligence cannot get it to work properly and found it difficult to remember the instructions!

I'm quite sure it's not just you Bikealot, I've seen numerous complaints about this. I don't usually use public transport but recently had a need to use the mainline trains between Croydon and Central London and also make a return booking for someone travelling from Bury St Edmunds to Croydon. The latter entailed tickets for the North Eastern stage on mainline trains and the tube to link them.

 

Trying to book the latter tickets ahead of time so they could be posted to the person who was to use then was a nightmare of incompatibility, repeatedly ending up with faulty online results, necessitating restarting the process.

 

Zoning in the London area on mainline as well as tube is another confusing thing. What does one do at a ticket machine when needing to know the zones involved at start and finish when there's no indication of how to find this out? Now I know that Central London is Zone 1 and Croydon is Zone 5 on mainline, I'm ok, but it nearly cost me a £20 penalty first time journeyed, through being unaware of zoning. Only the kindness of one railway employee avoided that for me. I've no idea whether the tube zones are the same.

 

I've recently learnt that London's Oyster Card (tube & suburban mainline) can often overcharge with maximum fares if the scan-out isn't recorded by the point used, so that's a poor solution too.

 

The whole ticket system needs a drastic rework if it's ever to attract people out of their cars, rather than existing just for season ticket commuters and other regular users as it does at present.

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I think you have every reason to complain and at the very least get your money back and more besides (for getting on a slower train). I know it is a pain but if everybody complained then (hopefully) the service will get better. It doesn't take much for me to put in a complaint. On the tube it is easy to get you money back once you have a 20 minute delay.

I have alot of friends around the mid to late 20's that have also been caught out by this.

 

I myself have been done. I refused to pay the extra 25 pound and declared i had no cash or cards to pay the fee. All of which was lies.

They knew it, i knew it.

I ended up getting off at the next stop and then getting on the right train.

 

No one can make you pay a fine. Sick of the jobs worth. They can all burn in hell.

 

Parking clamps are another of my pet hates. One of them got me to declaring i had to pay a fine of 150 notes.

I took my wheel off and removed the drive shaft and lower suspension bolts off the car and left them with a chain and clamp. They immediatly said what i was doing was illegal. But sod it why should i fund their wages. There just lucky i don't carry bolt cutter's in the boot.

No, not just you.

 

My missus was down in the East End yesterday with a friend. She has got a travel pass (old persons that we are), friend hasn't. So, wanting to go two stops (from Leyton to Wanstead), missus goes to ticket office at Leyton and asks for a return to Wanstead (journey time 5 minutes).

 

Price: £7.30...

 

She could have got a cab at least one way for that.

 

Ticket office herbert didn't, of course, tell her that buying an Oyster card (or whatever) would have halved that ridiculous fare, and missus paid up.

 

Allen

In January, I wanted to go from Limehouse to the boat show on the DLR. It was a Sunday, I went to the station, there was no-one there who could help. I found the machines far too confusing, and in any case did not know what station I needed to go to. I walked up onto the platform to see if there were any railway employees there, only to find that you are liable to a fine for simply being there without a ticket.

The whole stupidity of the thing left me disgusted.

Last October, late at night, I pulled into a rest area on the Motorway near Folkstone. I was in my camper and wanted stay overnight. There were huge signs giving the cost of staying, but the only way of paying was by ringing a number (For which convenience they charged an extra 50p). I went into the shopping area but there were no staff there. Eventually, I found a security man eating his supper in his van. I told him that I did not have a mobile phone. He told me not to bother because the number was wrong anyway!

I seriously think there are a load of young London tosspots who dream these ideas without any practical experience of the Law of Unintended Consequences.