Rail passengers fury over DLR and Overground ‘short change’ ticket machines

Mike Brooke Thursday, February 21, 2013
6:34 PM

Rail passengers have been getting a raw deal buying tickets from vending machines that short change them at DLR and Overground stations.

The machines run out of cash—and church out ‘short change’ vouchers instead, London TravelWatch has found.

The rail watchdog organisation has been looking into complaints from the public and been in talks this week with rail bosses to sort out the hitch.

“Buying tickets is a complicated process,” said watchdog chairman Stephen Locke. “Passengers need to be able to buy the right ticket when and where they want to and to have station staff available if they need help.”

The ‘lack of change’ has been made worse by a lack of station staff to sort it out. Problems were made worse by staff on increased leave after last summer’s Olympics.

Latest figures from London Overground and DLR show most passengers buy tickets at the station, rather than online.

But the number of vending machines has fallen over the past 12 months—leading to a rise in number of complaints.

Passengers have also been complaining about buying Pay-As-You-Go top-ups or Travelcards and finding they haven’t been been uploaded to their Oystercard—despite payment being accepted.

London Overground and the DLR were now working to resolve ‘technical hitch’ problems with ticket machines, the watchdog has been assured.

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