FixMyTransport: Ticket Sales - Not enough staff selling tickets

Description

Bill Briceland

I haven't travelled by train for a couple of years since I have retired. I arrived at Glasgow Central Station on Friday 26 October at 6:48pm to catch the 7pm to Ayr. There was a large queue of people waiting to purchase tickets and there was only two ticket sellers working. After waiting until 6:55pm I realised I was going to miss my train. I went to a ticket machine but found that I couldn't purchase a Concession ticket there. I then made my way up to platform 14 thinking I could purchase one on the train. I found that barriers were fitted. I started telling my story to one of the railway staff and showed him my concession card and he waved me through. As I was walking up the platform another railway worker chased after me and shouted that I couldn't go on the platform without a ticket. I said I would get one on the train and he escorted me off the platform. I told him the difficulty I had getting a ticket and he said I could get one downstairs but I said I would miss my train. By this time there was about five staff around me one claiming to be a supervisor. One of them said "get a taxi" and another said "you need to get here earlier". By this time I was getting annoyed and I said to the supervisor " it is people like me that keep you in a job". He then said to one of the workers "this guy is getting aggressive get the police". I was flabbergasted. The police came and I told them the difficulty of getting a ticket and they told me to put in a complaint. As I was walking away the supervisor shouted "even if you get a ticket you are banned from travelling". What away to treat a customer. I then went home by bus.

Comment

Problem History

Expand All Collapse all

1 Bill Briceland reported the issue on FixMyTransport. close 15:11 27 Oct 2012 #
2 Bill Briceland wrote to ScotRail close 15:11 27 Oct 2012 #

Here is the letter that Bill Briceland wrote.

Ticket Sales - Not Enough Staff

I haven't travelled by train for a couple of years since I have retired. I arrived at Glasgow Central Station on Friday 26 October at 6:48pm to catch the 7pm to Ayr. There was a large queue of people waiting to purchase tickets and there was only two ticket sellers working. After waiting until 6:55pm I realised I was going to miss my train. I went to a ticket machine but found that I couldn't purchase a Concession ticket there. I then made my way up to platform 14 thinking I could purchase one on the train. I found that barriers were fitted. I started telling my story to one of the railway staff and showed him my concession card and he waved me through. As I was walking up the platform another railway worker chased after me and shouted that I couldn't go on the platform without a ticket. I said I would get one on the train and he escorted me off the platform. I told him the difficulty I had getting a ticket and he said I could get one downstairs but I said I would miss my train. By this time there was about five staff around me one claiming to be a supervisor. One of them said "get a taxi" and another said "you need to get here earlier". By this time I was getting annoyed and I said to the supervisor " it is people like me that keep you in a job". He then said to one of the workers "this guy is getting aggressive get the police". I was flabbergasted. The police came and I told them the difficulty of getting a ticket and they told me to put in a complaint. As I was walking away the supervisor shouted "even if you get a ticket you are banned from travelling". What away to treat a customer. I then went home by bus.
3 First Group Response responded to Bill Briceland close 15:17 27 Oct 2012 #

Thank you for contacting ScotRail. Under the terms of our Passengers' Charter, we aim to respond to all claims/correspondence within 7 working days.

Please note that you will not be able to respond direct to this email.

Whatever the weather, check your journey before you travel @ www.Scotrail.co.uk.

Check out our new traffic alerts on our homepage for 'at-a-glance' view of live running information and sign up for our iphone app. You can also follow us on Twitter.

Thank you for contacting ScotRail. Under the terms of our Passengers' Charter, we aim to respond to all claims/correspondence within 7 working days.

Please note that you will not be able to respond direct to this email.

Whatever the weather, check your journey before you travel @ www.Scotrail.co.uk.

Check out our new traffic alerts on our homepage for 'at-a-glance' view of live running information and sign up for our iphone app. You can also follow us on Twitter.
4 Paul Hollinghurst commented close 22:24 28 Oct 2012 #

Hello Bill,

FixMyTransport Volunteer here.

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience trying to buy a ticket for a Scotrail journey.

Their passenger charter has a paragraph about waiting times quoting a target of 5 mins for peak waiting times. You could mention this to them.

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Passengers_Charter_2011_-_2012.pdf
"When you purchase your ticket at a ScotRail station, we try to make waiting times as short as possible. You will be served at our ticket offices within three minutes at off-peak times. At peak times it should take no longer than five minutes to be served. We will publish the times of these busy periods at each station."

However, it is unclear how stating this helps passengers as there is no commitment to do anything if they fail to meet this target, as other FixMyTransport users have found:
http://www.fixmytransport.com/campaigns/stop-conductors-from-bullying-passen

One other point. From past experience, I am almost certain Scotrail will refuse to discuss this in public on FixMyTransport and ask you to contact them directly. If this is the case then you can contact them directly at Scotrailcustomer.relations@firstgroup.com

I hope you get a helpful answer from Scotrail. Please do come back to your FixMyTransport campaign page and update it to let us know what happens.

Paul (FixMyTransport Volunteer)

anorak

admin
5 Bill Briceland commented close 14:02 29 Oct 2012 #

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the information. I will let you know how I get on. Bill
6 Scotrail Customer Relations responded to Bill Briceland close 08:11 01 Nov 2012 #

ScotRail
Customer Relations
PO Box 7030
Fort William
PH33 6WX

Tel: 08456 015 929
Fax: 01397 708 239

Our Ref: SR6773542

Dear Customer

Thank you for your email dated 27 October 2012.

As a Train Operating Company, we want to keep our customers happy.

We have a series of initiatives in place to listen and act upon their comments. These channels range from 'Meet the Managers' at stations and on trains to Customer Forums.

We also have a dedicated customer relations centre which aims to respond to queries or complaints as quickly and effectively as possible.

We encourage our customers to contact us directly to help give them the service they expect and deserve.

Thank you for taking the time to write. Should you need to reply to this email, please respond to [ScotRail problem reporting email].

Yours sincerely

Terri Leggett
Customer Relations Advisor

First ScotRail Limited. Registered in Scotland No SC185018. Registered Office: 395 King Street, Aberdeen AB24 5RP

First ScotRail Limited. Registered in Scotland No. SC185018. Registered office: 395 King Street, Aberdeen, AB24 5RP.

This message is confidential. It may not be disclosed to, or used by, anyone other than the addressee. If you receive this message in error, please advise us immediately.

Internet email is not necessarily secure. First does not accept responsibility for changes to any email which occur after the email has been sent. Attachments to this email could contain software viruses which could damage your system. First have checked the attachments for viruses before sending, but you should virus-check them before opening.

For more information on our range of services or to book your tickets online, please visit:- http://www.firstgroup.com

ScotRail
Customer Relations
PO Box 7030
Fort William
PH33 6WX

Tel: 08456 015 929
Fax: 01397 708 239

Our Ref: SR6773542

Dear Customer

Thank you for your email dated 27 October 2012.

As a Train Operating Company, we want to keep our customers happy.

We have a series of initiatives in place to listen and act upon their comments. These channels range from 'Meet the Managers' at stations and on trains to Customer Forums.

We also have a dedicated customer relations centre which aims to respond to queries or complaints as quickly and effectively as possible.

We encourage our customers to contact us directly to help give them the service they expect and deserve.

Thank you for taking the time to write. Should you need to reply to this email, please respond to [ScotRail problem reporting email].

Yours sincerely

Terri Leggett
Customer Relations Advisor

First ScotRail Limited. Registered in Scotland No SC185018. Registered Office: 395 King Street, Aberdeen AB24 5RP

First ScotRail Limited. Registered in Scotland No. SC185018. Registered office: 395 King Street, Aberdeen, AB24 5RP.

This message is confidential. It may not be disclosed to, or used by, anyone other than the addressee. If you receive this message in error, please advise us immediately.

Internet email is not necessarily secure. First does not accept responsibility for changes to any email which occur after the email has been sent. Attachments to this email could contain software viruses which could damage your system. First have checked the attachments for viruses before sending, but you should virus-check them before opening.

For more information on our range of services or to book your tickets online, please visit:- http://www.firstgroup.com
7 Bill Briceland commented close 16:26 08 Dec 2012 #

I received a reply from Scotrail that did not address the issue?
8 Peter Dixon commented close 20:43 08 Dec 2012 #

Hello Bill

I am one of the FixMyTransport volunteers

I am sorry to hear that you received a reply that did not handle the issues you wanted dealt with.

My advice would be that you raise this issue with Passenger Focus, who are the rail complaints watchdog. Their contact form is http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/contact/passenger-help#complaint-form

I hope this helps

Kind regards

anorak

admin