Fare’s fair at Nairn railway station after intervention by Highland MSP
RAIL passengers no longer run the risk of being ripped off by a ticket vending machine.
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP David Stewart complained to ScotRail after it came to his attention the machine at Nairn railway station did not always show the lowest fare on its main display screen.
This meant passengers travelling on the 09.17 service to Inverness were being prompted to pay the peak-time fare of £9 – rather than the £6.50 off-peak rate they were entitled to.
To get the cheaper valid fare they would have to manually search for their destination themselves and Mr Stewart worried many would not be aware of this.
He wrote to ScotRail director Bill Reeve to flag the issue up and has now been told the matter is sorted.
He said ScotRil had spoken to the supplier of the ticket machines and the times when the main display screen will show off-peak fares has now been pushed back.
He said the situation at Nairn had been an “isolated incident”.
Mr Stewart said: “I am grateful to receive ScotRail’s assurance and pleased that they have fixed this machine – but the bottom line is passengers should not have to go digging around the ticket machine to get the cheapest fare. It should be staring them in the face. Who knows how long this was an issue and how many people have fallen victim to this faulty machine? Problems like this are an afront to rail passengers who are having to put up with hefty fare price hikes and chaos on our Highland rail network.”
