locked gates at Hertford East

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daskier
Posts:36
Joined:Thu 19 Dec, 2013 11:02 am
locked gates at Hertford East

Post by daskier » Sat 21 Jun, 2014 8:17 am

Yesterday I noticed the side gates to Hertford East was chained and locked.

Presumably all day (was locked on my way home).

Any reaaon why we had to funnel through the main foyer?

Is this another sign of staff shortages? ?

newcomer
Posts:118
Joined:Mon 02 Dec, 2013 11:00 am

Re: locked gates at Hertford East

Post by newcomer » Tue 24 Jun, 2014 10:20 am

And Monday and this morning... :cry:

newcomer
Posts:118
Joined:Mon 02 Dec, 2013 11:00 am

Re: locked gates at Hertford East

Post by newcomer » Mon 30 Jun, 2014 12:05 pm

I have asked a question via their customer relations webform and am waiting until the end of this week for their 8 working days response time to expire!

However I did ask the ticket lady today about it and she said her manager has told her to keep it shut for "safety" reasons. (I think I detected a roll of the eyes :roll:)

I would urge others inconvenienced by this to get in contact either via the form or phone them on 0345 600 7245 (option 8) (although you still get an email through saying it'll be 8 working days...).

Golden
Posts:237
Joined:Sun 01 Dec, 2013 10:36 am

Re: locked gates at Hertford East

Post by Golden » Mon 30 Jun, 2014 12:13 pm

I'd be interested in the 'safety reasons' as this does provide an alternative fire exit should there be an incident in the ticket office/taxi area!

Having said this I can see some logic with respect to there is no monitoring of the area and if it was shut for 'security reasons' then I'd be more understanding as there have even been comments on here regarding people loitering in the area where the ticket machines are located and that on occasions these have been perceived as threatening. Personally I've never felt threatened by them but there have been occasions when I've walked through this area and there are groups of youngsters gathered smoking, drinking and being quite foul mouthed and generally obnoxious. Again personally I'd see this as a management issue rather than one of merely shutting off the easy access route.

newcomer
Posts:118
Joined:Mon 02 Dec, 2013 11:00 am

Re: locked gates at Hertford East

Post by newcomer » Wed 16 Jul, 2014 10:42 am

Now, I'm back to work, I followed up my enquiry with Abellio. It seems they responded last week but it was put into the spam folder!

The response I got was as follows:
Thank you for your recent email with regards to the side gate at Hertford East station.

I am sorry to read of the inconvenience caused by the side gate at Hertford East station being locked shut. Having spoken to the Station Manager I can advise that this will remain locked shut to improve staff security at the station. I apologise for the inconvenience this causes.
Hmm not sure what staff safety issues that could be as it surely cuts out another escape route?

Please folks keep complaining, this could cost me over 2 hours a year!

daskier
Posts:36
Joined:Thu 19 Dec, 2013 11:02 am

Re: locked gates at Hertford East

Post by daskier » Wed 16 Jul, 2014 8:34 pm

Not sure how they judge it but on at least one day last week the side gate was reopened in the morning but when I got back in the evening it was closed again.

Staff security?? I hardly see any staff in the evening!

newcomer
Posts:118
Joined:Mon 02 Dec, 2013 11:00 am

Re: locked gates at Hertford East

Post by newcomer » Thu 17 Jul, 2014 8:57 am

On further querying what these safety issues may be I got the response:
Thank you for your further email with regards to the side gate at Hertford East.

I can advise that following my previous email there are no safety concerns at this station but we are continually looking to improve our staff safety and we feel that locking the side gate will help with this.

I understand the inconvenience this causes for which I apologise however, this decision has been made and there are no plans in place to unlock this gate.
I'm not sure this makes any sense!

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Darcy Sarto
Posts:277
Joined:Sun 01 Dec, 2013 7:38 am

Re: locked gates at Hertford East

Post by Darcy Sarto » Thu 17 Jul, 2014 5:59 pm

newcomer wrote:On further querying what these safety issues may be I got the response:
Thank you for your further email with regards to the side gate at Hertford East.

I can advise that following my previous email there are no safety concerns at this station but we are continually looking to improve our staff safety and we feel that locking the side gate will help with this.

I understand the inconvenience this causes for which I apologise however, this decision has been made and there are no plans in place to unlock this gate.
I'm not sure this makes any sense!
You're expectations of intelligibility in communications from this mob are, perhaps, higher than they should be ;)

TupennyRush
Posts:36
Joined:Thu 02 Jan, 2014 4:03 pm

Re: locked gates at Hertford East

Post by TupennyRush » Thu 18 Sep, 2014 1:30 pm

I threw in an email to them and got fobbed off with the same 'staff safety' excuse but they didn't actually explain the basis of any of these.

I have noticed that they do still open the gates every now and then but they do lock them at night even though there does't appear to be any staff in the station after about 3pm

Golden
Posts:237
Joined:Sun 01 Dec, 2013 10:36 am

Re: locked gates at Hertford East

Post by Golden » Thu 18 Sep, 2014 2:13 pm

My experiences in using the line on two occassions this week is that there are no staff on the stations 24/7!

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