TRAIN users have faced difficulties buying tickets at Basingstoke railway station because of the poor visibility on the ticket machines which have been moved outside.

South West Trains is carrying out a major refurbishment of the front of the station, including the ticket office, which is expected to be finished at the end of the year.

While the work is carried out, the ticket machines have been temporarily placed outside the station.

But some passengers have experienced difficulty viewing the screens on the self-service machines, because of sunlight outside.

Mike Pearce, from Kempshott, Basingstoke, who occasionally uses the trains to travel to Bristol on business, said: “The workforce have kindly erected a transparent screen to shelter customers from wind and rain. However, they have not taken into account the effect of the sun shining on the screens.

“I, and many other customers, are now finding it extremely difficult to read the display screen. I imagine that some people will find they simply cannot fathom out how the machines work.”

Mr Pearce, an actuarial technical adviser for Friends Life in Basingstoke, has emailed customer relations at South West Trains, asking for a sunscreen to be put up as a “matter of urgency.”

He ordered train tickets online, but needed to use the self-service machines to collect them, and added: “I spoke to a man at the ticket office and he said they had fought hard enough just to get the cover from the weather.

“No matter how you hold your coat to shelter the screen, if the sun is overhead, it makes it impossible to see. I have used the machines before, but anyone who hasn’t might give up.”

Corinne O’Loughlin, group communications manager for Stagecoach Group, said there are plans to erect a canopy to protect passengers from the rain and to improve visibility of the screen, and she admitted that the company had failed to spot the potential visibility problem before the machines were moved outside. She was not able to say when the canopy will be put up.