London Bridge Ticket Machine Almost Charges Passenger £10,000 to Get to Gatwick Airport
On a normal day, a single-fare ticket from London Bridge to Gatwick Airport is priced at about £11 (about $14 USD). However, on Wednesday traveler Lucy Watson was nearly charged what might be one of the most comically expensive mistake fares of all time: a difference of about £9,989.
Watson spotted the £10,000 rail ticket on a kiosk screen when she was on her way to Sussex from the London terminal. She later tweeted about the incident, joking that it might be better to opt for the cheaper Thameslink (which also goes to Gatwick Airport) instead:
Watson told MyLondon that since she was in a rush, she didn't have the time to speak to any rail staff members about the mistake. However, unsurprisingly, the tweet garnered some attention from fellow London commuters.
This new fare, although a mistake, occurred after the UK had raised their rail fares by about 3.1%, which cost commuters nearly £3,000 a year more for travel than in 2010.
It just so happens that on the same day as Watson's tweet, London Rail released a special discount for 26 to 30-year-olds (it's called the 26-30 ticket), which slices about one third off most rail fares.
“Ironically, I’m still in the online queue for the 26-30 Railcard,” Watson told MyLondon.
