The remarkable London Underground video showing how passengers reacted to the first ticket barriers

Publish date: 2024-06-17

It is hard imagine there was ever a time before ticket barriers on the Tube as we all turn to autopilot to pass through them without causing a queue behind us.

We all automatically know exactly what to do as we head to tap or insert our tickets, Oyster cards, phones and even watches.

So it's hard to believe that ticket barriers have only been around since the 1960s.

And they had Londoners very confused by the complex instructions, leading London Underground to make a film to show passengers how to work the new barriers.

READ MORE: The Prime Minister who hated the Tube so much when it first opened he boycotted it

The film itself is a absolute masterpiece, bringing more joy than any other four-minute YouTube clip the MyLondon team has watched recently.

In fact it's on YouTube because it was uploaded by the British Film Institute (BFI) in recognition of its whimsical style, and the soundtrack alone is worth watching for. Headphones are recommended and sadly no Shazam, SoundHound or not even Google appear able to find the name of that song.

Now if people really moved at this pace at the ticket gates today there would be a riot but the system was complex too.

A yellow ticket was best purchased from an automatic vending machine with different machines for different fares.

The barriers were not simple gates like we see now but double gates meaning you had to enter to then get through the next gate.

In fact they were described as a "robot ticket inspector" and an "experimental machine that checks tickets with a magic eye".

Unfortunately that space was tight, leading to the frankly hilarious images of Londoners lifting heavy bags with both arms as they go through the ticket gates.

The gates are believed to have first been installed at Stamford Brook station, near Chiswick on the District line.

You can tell the film is a product of the late 60s in London, with crazy colours, cartoon drawings guiding the whole story and incredibly funky messages where writing is required.

So you get told to take your yellow ticket from the machine and use it at the gate, lift your bags up and walk through the turnstile, turn around and get your ticket and head on.

At the other end, you have to use your yellow ticket again to get through.

A report from the time said it had trapped several pregnant women, held up rush hour passengers and "hemmed in those with handbags, briefcases and luggage".

Luckily London Transport promised to iron out those "teething troubles" before the pilot at Stamford Brook.

If you bought the wrong fare, that would be recognised and you have to go to the excess fares booth, some of which are still in place in stations like Regents Park on the Bakerloo line.

If you have a green ticket the Automatic Fare Collection barriers would not let you through, so there was still a gate where a station guard let you through.

If you have a season ticket, you take it with you and keep using it.

And if your bags are too big to carry over your head, like a chap with some golf clubs in the video, there is a luggage chute you can send it on through before you enter the barriers and pick it up on the other end.

I'm glad we moved on from there though so we now have much simpler barriers to pass to ride the Tube. Mind you it still seems beyond some people.

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