Weekly ticked swallowed by machine - claim refused- HELP

jendotterry

Hi, Just after some advice really.
My son was on a weeks work experience, he purchased a weekly ticket for return train journeys Mon-Fri (Southern Trains). On Monday pm on the way out of the station the ticket machine swallowed his ticket. There were no staff members around and despite hanging about looking for a staff member there was no one and no way of getting it back. In the morning he went to the station early and asked what he should do, he was told there was no way of getting his ticket back and he would have to re buy and then apply for a refund.
So as advised he re purchased a ticket and we dutifully filled in the claim form and provided proof of purchase of both tickets and an explanation. After waiting over a month for a response we have just had a letter this morning stating that his claim has been rejected as " it is his responsibility to look after his ticket and tickets which are lost, stolen or unused will not be refunded".
This can't be right surely? he didn't lose it ...the station ticket machine swallowed it!
Not sure where to go or how to dispute this? Any ideas?
It's £68 so not a fortune...but for a 16yr old on work experience its quite a lot too lose.
Thanks

LawAbiding

I would reply directly to what they have said, quote what they have said, and clarify then it was taken by the machine and not returned.

£136 is alot for a ticket which should have only cost £68!

JimmyTheWig

Is the implication that the machines don't swallow tickets?

stragglebod

What station? There should always be a member of staff around if the gates are in operation?

It might be worth posting in https://www.railforums.co.uk/ - there are industry experts there who may be able to help.

jendotterry

The barriers often swallow the tickets once used..they are supposed to spit out the ones that still have days left on them though. I'm assuming it mis read it or jammed up? If he'd managed to find a staff member he could maybe have managed to get it back if it had jammed up, but there was no one about.

LawAbiding

stragglebod wrote: »

What station? There should always be a member of staff around if the gates are in operation?

I wish, I been stuck at stations with no staff at all and the ticket machines being out of order, then had to get a taxi to the nearest station.

KeithP

LawAbiding wrote: »

I wish, I been stuck at stations with no staff at all and the ticket machines being out of order, then had to get a taxi to the nearest station.

But you are talking about ticket machines, whereas strangglebod said that staff should always be available if the gates/barriers are in operation. Two different things.

Owain_Moneysaver

There must always be staff around when the gates are in use. It's a safety requirement. (In some cases at quiet secondary entrances, CCTV and intercom is accepted as a substitute)

Unfortunately at busy stations (which will be almost anywhere served by Southern) the gateline bins may be emptied several times a day.

The best course of action when this happens is be to block the gate so no-one else can use it until a staff member can come and open the bin, so your ticket will be near the top and can be retrieved easily.

silverwhistle

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Unfortunately at busy stations (which will be almost anywhere served by Southern)

I presume you're talking about stations with barriers? Plenty of smaller Southern stations out my way towards Portsmouth and along the south coast line with no barriers and no staff.