London Banter - View Single Post - Do platform tickets still exist for (i) tube and (ii) overground please?

Tony Polson[_2_] · July 5th 09, 07:23 PM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:

In article ,
(Tony Polson) wrote:

"Lawrie" wrote:

I have often had to help an elderley relative on and off the train at
Reading and I ask at the barrier and am given a laminated permit to go
on the platform for a temporary period which I then hand back when I
leave the platform. I do show my priv card, whether that makes a
difference I don't know.

They aren't usually given out at Reading for people who want to
watch/photograph trains, only for people who have a demonstrable need to
meet/greet or see off a relative/friend.

No vouchers at Cambridge but I've had no problem accessing the platforms
for watching/photographing trains as well as for helping a departing
relative.

It's a particular problem at Reading. Gone are the days when you would
see trainspotters on the platform ends. Nowadays, the only spotters or
Photographers you see are people who are starting or ending their
journeys at Reading, or changing trains.

I used to enjoy whiling away an hour or two at Reading station, having a
coffee or a drink from the bar or even a burger and chips from Casey
Jones on Platform 4 (if I recall correctly). Now the station is about
as easy to get into as Fort Knox, and it is staffed by the unusually
hostile and ignorant knuckle-dragging Neanderthals that First Great
Western seem to employ in so many key positions ...