Ticket vending machines at Folkestone Central station have stopped working, forcing passengers to find other ways to pay for their journeys. Southeastern confirmed the outage on its website and advised travellers to buy tickets online, through its app, or at the station ticket office.
The ticket office at Station Approach opens from 06:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and Saturdays, and from 08:10 to 17:40 on Sundays. Station staff are on hand around the clock to help with purchases and travel queries, but anyone turning up outside those hours without a ticket already bought will need a smartphone and a data connection to pay before boarding.
The station sits on the South Eastern Main Line between Folkestone West and Dover Priory, handling both commuter and leisure traffic to London, Canterbury, and the Kent coast. Southeastern operates a penalty fare scheme, so passengers who board without a valid ticket face extra charges. In December 2015, the sea wall between Dover Priory and Folkestone Central was badly damaged, closing the line until February 2016 and exposing how exposed the route is to coastal weather. Today, some departures to Dover Priory are still being cancelled or delayed because of severe conditions earlier in the day.
The ticket machine failure leaves a gap for spontaneous travellers, tourists, and anyone without a smartphone or bank card. Folkestone Central has 70 parking spaces and 58 cycle racks, drawing a mix of daily commuters and day-trippers. Southeastern has not said when the machines will be fixed, but with round-the-clock staff presence, passengers can at least turn to a person for help during ticket office hours.
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