Yahoo News Commuter chaos as rail ticket machines across Britain broken due to IT glitch
Millions of commuters have been left furious after rail ticket machines across Britain broke down due to an IT glitch.
A number of operators have been affected, including Greater Anglia, Thames Link and Great Northern with others still to be named.
Many machines were out of action on Thursday morning due to a software glitch which operators claim is "beyond their control".
The problem is thought to be ongoing as only ThamesLink has confirmed that its ticket machines are now back in use.
Many morning travellers faced huge delays at stations across Britain, leaving some passengers unable to buy or pick up tickets using their cards.
Massive queues formed at stations, with irate commuters revealing that they had been forced to miss trains and were made late for work.
Dozens of passengers took to social media to vent their frustrations after finding they were unable to get tickets from machines, delaying their journeys.
Ticket machine failure at @NetworkRailLST is making me late for my mphil viva. Terrible stuff from @greateranglia.
— Josh T. U. Cohen (@JoshTUCohen) June 22, 2017
Wouldn't let anyone collect tickets. Had to queue for ages and missed train
— Josh T. U. Cohen (@JoshTUCohen) June 22, 2017
@greateranglia ticket machine at Sawbridgeworth isn't accepting card payments. Tweeting you as proof in case I am stopped by inspectors.
— Andrew Bertoni (@drewcif3r) June 22, 2017
I get that there may be a central issue with the ticket machine software but then to only open 1 booth is rubbish. @TLRailUK#harpenden
— The Bee's Knees (@SauvignonMum) June 22, 2017
Anthony Smith, chief executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Passengers tell us buying ticket is complicated enough without yet more complications.
"Train companies will need to investigate what caused this major disruption to ticket machines and to learn the lessons to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
“The train companies affected must make sure that no one is penalised if they were unable to purchase a ticket because of this fault.”
A ThamesLink spokesman said: "We apologise to customers who were unable to buy their tickets using their credit cards this morning due to a technical problem with some of our ticket machines.
"The problem is now fixed and all our machines are able to accept credit cards. Anyone who was unable to buy a ticket as a result of the problem will not be penalised."
