Farringdon fiasco: Thameslink and LUL must act now
You buy your ticket. You pay the right fare. You get off at your destination. And get stung with a £10 penalty fare by barrier staff who claim you've defrauded the train company.
This is the kafkaesque nightmare facing unwary Thameslink customers using Farringdon station. They have, quite reasonably, asked for a ticket to London, expecting to leap off at the gateway to the city and be about their business in short order.
But they are in for a shock. The reason? Farringdon station, unlike other Thameslink stations in London, is not technically defined as a "London Terminal" when travelling in from the South. These tickets are often chosen by passengers for their journey in to town because they are prominently displayed on ticket machines.
The ludicrous thing is that there is precisely no difference in the price between a "London Terminals" ticket and a "Farringdon" ticket. But, as seasoned travellers know, reasonable explanation will not cut any ice with revenue collection staff on a mission to enforce an absurd rule.
Farringdon is a joint station, run by London Underground, rather than Thameslink itself, which has made resolving the long-standing problem dependent on goodwill and close coordination between the two companies.
"A ticket to Farringdon costs exactly the same as a London Terminals ticket, so there is no reason why this problem cannot be solved by simply designating the station a London Terminal," said London Transport Users Committee Director Rufus Barnes.
"We called a round-table meeting with LUL and Thameslink late last year at which they agreed to examine the issue again. But this unacceptable situation needs to be resolved as soon as possible."
The London Transport Users Committee is the independent watchdog for transport services in and around the capital.
Speaking for transport users in and around London
8th January 2004