Search this site
Delude Retreat Indemnify Prevaricate Squander

Gateway to the new world

An East Coast Main Line station in the north of England has recently had new ticket gates commissioned. To enter or exit the platforms, passengers - sorry, customers - now have seven gates to choose from - three inwards and four outwards, although all are reversible. This set-up has caused the nearest thing to a farce since the Whitehall Theatre closed its doors. Heaven help you if you want to use the gates at the same time as trains arrive simultaneously from both the north and the south.

The problems stem from the fact that, within 15 steps of the gates, customers approaching from the concourse side have to pass by -

  • two large information/advertising boards
  • three cash machines which create queues into the route of customers
  • one large pillar/roof support
  • two ticket machines which create queues into the route of customers
  • a busy coffee outlet which creates queues into the route of customers
  • the ‘automatic’ (now ‘power-assisted’) entry/exit door to the ticket office which only opens when a button is pushed, creating queues into the route of customers
  • people congregating outside the gates waiting for friends/relatives.

The TOCs are so impressed by the new gates that, as you set off on your journey, the familiar cry of “tickets please” is heard from the coach end.

The planners must be congratulated. It’s done wonders for the travelling experience. But an even bigger ‘well done’ goes to York Council for not allowing similar gates at its station.

Story added 1st October 2010

Back to Jungle Ron's Recent Rants
Page Top

Front Page | Safety Valve | Jungle Ron | Newshound | Red Tape | On The Line
Four by Three | Forgotten Relics of an Enterprising Age | God's Own County | Image Library

© Four by Three 2014