I had a query on this one firstclassx, i put the wrong (used carnet ticket) through a gate one morning as i have to keep my old ones to claim expenses back and in the stampede for the rush hour gates i mixed up the one i written out for that morning. to my surprise it went through, surely it should have rejected or alarmed? is the machine not capable of knowing it has been used already.

Just a small insight to the more technical side,

 

Everytime you insert a ticket into a barrier, the device attempts to reads the content of the magnetic strip. If it is valid, it will (based on the TOCs settings), rewrite the magnetic strip indicating use, and return the ticket before opening the gate, or simply retain the ticket in the capture bin and then open.

 

What customers don't realise is that the CUBIC backend software has detailed information about EVERY ticket/pass/Oyster/ITSO etc that passes, or attempts to pass, through a gate.

 

That information primarily includes:

 

Time & Date of entry/exit

Time & Date & Place when/where ticket was issued

Time, Date & Place ticket was last used

Origin

Destination

Ticket number/ID

Expiry/Start Date

Passenger Status "Child, railcards etc"

CAPRI ticket code, (which can be identified as "Anytime/Off Peak/Carnet etc")

Various London Underground information (cross london indication etc)

If the ticket was rejected, what the "reason code" was

 

Therefore, in this case, I could simply go back to the data for the 11th and check if the ticket used in the gate on the 19th is identical by comparing the ticket number and other features. I could produce such a record as evidence. This is quite easy as it exports into an Excel database and lets me add filters etc.

 

If I was really keen, I could start running comparisons with other rail ticket databases like LENNON, but if I had to sit there and wait whilst it trawls through millions of records only to find out that the customer was lying - I would ensure my unhappiness was reflected in the case.

 

Of course, some tickets simply show as 07, 08 or 09 meaning I can't prove anything (electronically) because the magnetic strip was corrupt(ed). However, I suspect in the case of the OP, the gate did read the ticket and produced a rejected code, and the RPI made a decision initially on that basis.