New barriers at Huddersfield railway station were hailed as just the ticket.

But that’s the problem - they won’t accept all tickets.

Hundreds of passengers find themselves having to queue for assistance as the electronic barriers will not recognise the popular M Cards used by bus and train passengers across West Yorkshire.

Station officials admit the barriers, installed in May last year, are not fitted with the required software to accept the M Cards.

But they hope they will soon get confirmation of more funds from the Department for Transport, who paid for the ticket barriers.

The barriers were brought in to try and prevent backlogs at the station with passengers waiting to get tickets and to stop fare-dodgers.

Regular commuter David Butterworth, who travels from his Guiseley home to work at the University of Huddersfield, said: “You’d have thought the new barriers would have been planned to accept the M Cards as these were in the pipeline at the same point the barriers were being fitted.

“We get the M Cards as our season tickets for travel and many large employers now use them. They work on bus and trains in zones across West Yorkshire and are a bit like Oyster cards in London.

“When we get to the station we have to ask a staff member to open the barriers for us because the cards do not work. As you can imagine, at rush hour it can be very congested and take a lot of time”

A First TransPennine Express spokesperson said: “The electronic gates at Huddersfield station have proved to be extremely successful since their installation in the spring of 2013.

“Ticketless travel has been reduced by meaning other fare paying rail users aren’t funding fraudulent travel.

“We are however aware of customer feedback regarding the gates not currently being compatible with the WYPTE M-Card.

“The gates are funded via the Department for Transport and we are in discussions with them to update the software to allow the M-Card to be used.

“These discussions are at an advanced stage and we are hopeful that an announcement can be made soon and the gates made compatible.”

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