I loved using ScotRail's new Tap&Pay app - but got a shock when I made an error

Commuters won’t need to bother with buying fares every time they travel as they’re likely to have season tickets or Flexipasses on their phones.

But if you make a range of journeys like me, taking the hassle out of buying a ticket for each trip is a big potential plus.

Despite ScotRail encouraging passengers to purchase digital tickets, I’d always found it easier to tap a few buttons on a station ticket machine to buy a paper ticket. I timed the process as taking little more than ten seconds.

However, the new Tap&Pay app makes it even simpler - and I leapt at the chance in August last year to be among some of the first passengers to try it out.

Although Tap&Pay is similar to the ScotRail app in storing your card details for payment, the new app means you don’t need to enter the journey details, like times and destinations.

Instead, when I arrive at a station and open the app, it already knows where I am and I simply have to confirm the location.

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That generates a barcode, which gets me through ticket gates at stations and is scanned in ticket checks.

On arrival at my destination, the app prompts me to confirm the station, and I just need to remember to confirm that for my fare to be automatically debited.

However, I’ve found that last stage can be easy to forget, especially if I’ve mentally checked out of the station by using the barcode to exit the ticket gates.

But I encountered a more significant problem when travelling from Glasgow to Alloa.

I’d wrongly thought the app encompassed the entire Central Belt - or would warn you if you left the coverage area.

But it wasn’t until the app didn’t recognise my location when I reached Alloa that I realised I’d gone wrong - and I was surprised to be automatically fined £25 for my error on what was a £11.20 fare.

That was refunded as part of the trial. But don’t make the same mistake, to ensure what’s supposed to simplify travel doesn’t make it a lot more expensive.