passport photos in Cambridge? railway station perhaps?
Toby Douglass
You need a passport photo.
Is there a booth at the railway station?
If not, can anyone recommend somewhere in town?
Merci!
Deryck
>
> Is there a booth at the railway station?
According to the FAQ, yes.
http://cam.misc.org.uk/index.php/Passport%20photos
Cheers,
Deryck
Guy Snape
It's cheaper to do it on your digital camera and get prints from
photobox.co.uk or wherever. This also allows you to make sure your head
appears the right size for the regulations (which are very stringent, at
least for passports).
- guy
--
Remove the obvious to reply.
Toby Douglass
> It's cheaper to do it on your digital camera and get prints from
> photobox.co.uk or wherever. This also allows you to make sure your head
> appears the right size for the regulations (which are very stringent, at
> least for passports).
Nice suggestion - in fact, yesterday along similar lines I improvised my
own photocopier using a scanner and printer - but I need to get the
ticket today.
Toby Douglass
Fantastic! now that's a useful page when you need it :-)
Of course, I now must see if the machine is working.
We need a passportphoto-cam :-)
Deryck
> der...@REMOVElonghope.co.uk wrote:
>> Toby Douglass wrote:
>
>>> Is there a booth at the railway station?
>> According to the FAQ, yes.
>> http://cam.misc.org.uk/index.php/Passport%20photos
>
> Fantastic! now that's a useful page when you need it :-)
Glad to be of help. I look forward to hearing of your railway adventures
in due course :)
Deryck
Nick Wagg
message news:MPG.1f05d7bc1...@news-europe.giganews.com...
>I need to get a season rail ticket.
>
> You need a passport photo.
Why do I need a passport photo?
I thought that it was you who wanted one.
Steve Kimberley
news:RFPmg.13196$OT....@newsfe6-win.ntli.net...
>
> It's cheaper to do it on your digital camera and get prints from
> photobox.co.uk or wherever. This also allows you to make sure your head
> appears the right size for the regulations
Is this some new biometric foolishness dreamt up by the Merkins? "No way,
buster, you ain't comin' in - yo head ain't the right size!" And I thought
iris recognition was going a bit far...!
Steve
Alan Levy
That's pretty much it, although it's not as sophisticated as iris
recognition, it just uses the relative positions of facial features
such as eyes, mouth, nose etc. The scanning system is very sensitive
to the positioning and size of these features within the picture. When
you get a passport application form you also get a little glossy
leaflet, which explains the rules.
You can take the photo yourself, but it's best to get it printed
professionally, since they know what to look for/avoid and their
prints shouldn't have any problems when they come to be scanned. When
I did this recently, the chap at the photo shop noticed a shadow on
the image (another no-no) and fixed it for me before printing the
pictures.
The passport office could probably fix trivial things like that for
themselves when they scan in the images but of course they won't. They
simply reject the application.
--
Alan Levy (alan...@delete-this-first-ntlworld.com)
Delete the spoiler to reply by email!
Rob Foreman
I shouldn't think the regulations are quite so stringent for rail
tickets. One of my rail photos is pretty poor, due to my sitting too
close to the camera and forgetting to remove my glasses. I haven't been
stopped from travelling yet.
I do find it hard to comply with the rules printed on the back of my
season ticket photo though. I'm supposed to show it to an inspector on
every journey, whether requested or not.
Rob
Toby Douglass
So, I cycle over to the station.
The booth curtain occupied, the curtain closed.
I brought a book, so I form my own lil' queue and wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Frankly, I'm starting to wonder...
...and...*yes*. Some complete twat saw fit to leave the curtain closed.
*Fine*.
I hop in.
"No change given."
"This photo service costs £3.40."
I have pound coins, so it costs me four quid
Interestingly, I checked the price being charged for the next set of
photos, to see if it would be £2.80. Very oddly, it was in fact
£3.50...(three fifty).
Jules
> "This photo service costs £3.40."
>
> I have pound coins, so it costs me four quid
>
> Interestingly, I checked the price being charged for the next set of
> photos, to see if it would be £2.80. Very oddly, it was in fact
> £3.50...(three fifty).
So the machine charges what it thinks people are willing to pay on that
day? :-)
Toby Douglass
Clearly it detected the change I had in my pocket!
The Natural Philosopher
me in a couple of minutes for a fiver.
Alan Levy
All of the machines I looked at charge more for passport photos than
for any other format - generally £3.50 for passport photos versus
£2.80 for all other formats. The only thing that changes is the
precise layout of the images on the paper. Presumably they can get
away with this because passport photos are effectively a distress
purchase.
Deryck
> der...@REMOVElonghope.co.uk wrote:
>> Toby Douglass wrote:
>
>>> Fantastic! now that's a useful page when you need it :-)
>
>> Glad to be of help. I look forward to hearing of your railway adventures
>> in due course :)
>
> So, I cycle over to the station.
>
Goodness! I was expecting to wait until at least Monday night before
hearing stories of malpractice and incompetence and the rail network
from you. I shall regard the photobooth account as a tasty appetiser :)
Cheers
Deryck
Rob Foreman
While I don't have trouble with many of the things that seem to tax
Toby, I do find rail travel irritating and filled with incompetence, so
he might have a point with that one.
Rob
Colin Rosenstiel
rw...@cantab.net (Rob Foreman) wrote:
> While I don't have trouble with many of the things that seem to tax
> Toby, I do find rail travel irritating and filled with incompetence,
> so he might have a point with that one.
As a pretty regular rail traveller these days I find the irritations
pretty minor, especially when compared to those involved in driving.
--
Colin Rosenstiel
Toby Douglass
> All of the machines I looked at charge more for passport photos than
> for any other format - generally £3.50 for passport photos versus
> £2.80 for all other formats. The only thing that changes is the
> precise layout of the images on the paper. Presumably they can get
> away with this because passport photos are effectively a distress
> purchase.
Lack of effective competition, too. For the sake for 70p, I'm not going
to cycle into town to another photo booth.
OTOH, if there were two photo boothes next to each other, from different
companies, then they'd compete on price, because you could just step
into the other booth.
Toby Douglass
> Goodness! I was expecting to wait until at least Monday night before
> hearing stories of malpractice and incompetence and the rail network
> from you. I shall regard the photobooth account as a tasty appetiser :)
lol
I didn't realise you were thinking about the rail system!
Actually, the insanity of the current system has already begun to make
itself apparent.
I pay 406.31 pence for my month ticket, regardless of which rail company
I actually travel with.
So if One were able to offer a ticket for say 300 pounds, whereas Great
Wossname were only able to offer a ticket for 400 pounds, well, I don't
notice the difference because I can only buy a general ticket for all
companies at 406.31.
What's the point in having separate rail companies, trying to have
competition, when it seems they all have to charge the same price? the
consumer never gets to see competition reducing his ticket fares, all he
sees is that the efficient companies have stonking profits because
they're forced to overcharge their customers.
In fact, what's happened is that the rail companies now seem to a large
measure to be acting as the their monolithic predecessor, but without
the advantages of centralisation; in other words, State "managed"
capitalism, which is the worst of all worlds.
Contrast this with the budget airline industries - multiple low-end
carriers, a lot of choice, minuscule ticket fares; and, interestingly,
it seems to me they face much the same problem of transport contention,
since landing slots at runways seems essentially identical to railway
lines and train stations.
Toby Douglass
> While I don't have trouble with many of the things that seem to tax
A ho ho ho :-) a subconscious pun? ;-)
Mike
>
> I pay 406.31 pence for my month ticket, regardless of which rail company
> I actually travel with.
>
> So if One were able to offer a ticket for say 300 pounds, whereas Great
> Wossname were only able to offer a ticket for 400 pounds, well, I don't
> notice the difference because I can only buy a general ticket for all
> companies at 406.31.
>
> What's the point in having separate rail companies, trying to have
> competition, when it seems they all have to charge the same price? the
> consumer never gets to see competition reducing his ticket fares, all he
> sees is that the efficient companies have stonking profits because
> they're forced to overcharge their customers.
For off peak travel One are a real competitor to FCC (the GN operator). They
offer cheaper tickets (£13 for a cheap day return and £18 for an off peak
travelcard compared to £17.60 and £22.50) but more usefully in the evening
returning from London they only restrict the cheap day return and for just
one hour. On FCC neither cheap day returns nor off peak travelcards can be
used on trains to Cambridge that leave between 16:30 and 19:00 (giving a 3
hour gap between trains).
Peak travel is distorted due to regulation. Season tickets have been
regulated and are very cheap compared to other tickets. £406 (which is a 1
month travelcard) is £20.30 a day for 20 days travel (assuming you don't use
it at weekends and have a couple of days a month off). A one day peak
travelcard to London is now £32.90. As the peak trains are virtually all
nearly full there's no point in One cutting their price.
Stewart Brodie
Or the two companies could agree furtively to keep the prices artificially
high in both their interests.
--
Stewart Brodie
Toby Douglass
> Toby Douglass <toby.d...@youknowwhattodo.summerblue.net> wrote:
> > OTOH, if there were two photo boothes next to each other, from different
> > companies, then they'd compete on price, because you could just step
> > into the other booth.
> Or the two companies could agree furtively to keep the prices artificially
> high in both their interests.
Yes, but that *is* something I think the State is for, so that's my
answer to that; and the more competition you have, the harder it is for
that to happen, since more and more companies have to collude and it
becomes more and more likely one of them will break the deal for their
own short-term profit, or that a newcomer will be able to enter the
market by pricing competitively.
Jules
> I pay 406.31 pence for my month ticket, regardless of which rail company
> I actually travel with.
A shade over 4 quid for a monthly ticket isn't half bad... ;)
(I wonder if public transport will ever get to the stage where it's that
cheap to travel relative to everyday living?)
Rob Foreman
I will concede that my daily commute (on Southern) is pretty good, to
the extent that I wasn't particularly annoyed when they dropped the 5%
discount. Trains are nearly always on time - delays (and the very
occasional cancellation) are generally for a good reason.
Last night I had to make a train journey, (just) catching the last train
from my departure point and (just) making a connection. It was
certainly cheaper than driving, but quite probably a lot more stressful,
especially carrying $HeavyItems.
Rob
Alan
I think the problem with rail travel, is you have to be a regular to
reduce the irratations to minor. You have to understand the
complicated ticketing system, the subtleties as to which ticket can be
used where and when to keep the cost down, the place to stand in the
platform to get a seat etc etc.
Which is I suppose the same with driving - once you do a bit, and know
an area, it isn't too bad.
--
Alan
SPAM BLOCK IN USE! Replace 'deadspam.com' with 'penguinclub.org.uk' to
reply in email.
Mike
"Deryck" <der...@REMOVElonghope.co.uk> wrote in message
news:4g77h8F...@individual.net...
I assume today is Toby's first day of commuting? King's Cross is closed due
to a nearby fire with no trains at all from Cambridge
http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/ (which says no trains at all on the
Great Northern route, not even to Royston) and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5117264.stm