Airport rail passengers will no longer be fined for trying to pay by contactless

Local TV

A rail ticketing rule which has resulted in tens of thousands of people being fined after travelling by train from London to Stansted airport will be axed next month.

Transcript

00:00Passengers are currently able to open ticket barriers at Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale

00:07stations and board a train to Stansted Airport by tapping their contactless cards. But when they

00:15actually get to Stansted Airport, they are then prohibited from tapping out. Watchdog London

00:23Travel Watch estimated in 2019 that 16,000 Stansted Express travelers per year were being fined

00:31for trying to pay with contactless or Oyster cards. This fine stands at £100. And in recent years,

00:39Stansted Express operator Greater Anglia has regularly deployed teams of ticket inspectors.

00:45From the 14th of December, this will change and Stansted Airport's railway station will be one of

00:5250 across south-east England to accept contactless payments. Although it is worth noting Oyster

00:59cards will continue to be prohibited. Southend Airport's station will also accept contactless

01:07payments from the 14th of December, meaning passengers will be able to use the technology

01:14to pay for train travel from London to all airports serving the capital. A London travel

01:21watch spokesperson welcomed the decision to end the unfair ban on contactless payments for travel

01:30to and from London. While Rail Minister Lord Hendy said rail ticketing is far too complicated

01:38and long overdue an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century.

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