A long-serving member of the Tyne and Wear Metro team is to retire after 43 years of service to the network. Steve Griffin started off as part of the train maintenance team at Gosforth Depot but since 1990 he has been looking after the ticket machines across the network.
Steve will be retiring at the end of June after having undertaken thousands of ticket machine repairs and has also had a key role working on Metro’s new ticket and gating system.
He explained: “It’s hard to believe I’ve been fixing the Metro ticket machines for so long, but I’ve enjoyed doing it. People often think it’s just a box of coins, but there’s a bit more to it than that. A lot of work goes into keeping them running. I’m going to miss the job. The team I work with are like a family. What I won’t miss are the 6am starts, and being out there working in all weathers.
“The first generation of ticket machines were made in France and they only accepted coins. Vandalism did become a problem in some areas. We came up with ways to prevent people from getting the money out of the machines. It worked. Some were trying to use fake pound coins that were made from lead, but we managed to put a stop to that with a modification to the coin readers.
“Kids would often try and block the old ticket machines with tissue paper, so they could come back later for all the loose change, but we had another modification done which stopped that little trick too. One of my most vivid memories was going out to repair ticket machines in the aftermath of the riot at Meadow Well in 1991. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
“The old ticket machines had an analogue set up. They were amazing technology at the time, but the game changer was the new generation of ticket machines, which started going into place in 2012, accepting notes and cards. They’ve been great for Metro customers, and we had to almost relearn our jobs so that we could maintain them, and also the new generation of ticket gates you see on some Metro stations.”
Steve has also been lucky enough to be involved in two Royal visits: “I got to meet the Queen in 1981 when she officially opened the Metro. I was in a line-up of staff at Gateshead who were introduced to her. I recall she asked me what my role was. Prince Phillip seemed really interested by the fact that I was an electrician, and he asked me how I found the job. Forty years later I had the huge honour to be chosen as one of the Nexus staff to meet Prince Charles when he visited. He travelled on a Metro train with us, and we had a really interesting chat. He was interested in how we repair all of the equipment ourselves.”
In his retirement Steve plans to devote more time to restoring classic cars and buses. He already owns five London taxis and a 1966 Routemaster bus. He is also a volunteer at Beamish where he is involved in repairing the trams.