Ticket failure

We've always had problems with the magnetic strip failing on our tickets, but in the last year to eighteen months the problem seems to have got a lot worse.  Last year I probably renewed my ticket 5-6 times and when I renewed for 2011 the new one lasted less than 24 hours.  The railway could be right when they say that the problem is with mobile phones, but nothing else I carry seems to be affected by them!

It does look like London Midland may be doing something about this.  According to their own website (London Midland to hold its first Smartcard trials in Worcestershire). 

This innovation is only a trial at four Midland stations so there's no guarantee that we'll ever see the introduction of "The Key... a credit card sized piece of technology that will easily fit inside a wallet or purse" at our end of the line, but we just have to hope that these smartcards are a success as it would be great to put an end to having to either:

1. Go to the inconvenience of routinely queuing up and filling out the forms to get the current paper season ticket renewed, or
2. Have to go through the regular gate at Bletchley and London Euston (it seems a terrible waste of someone's time at Bletchley to have to man the gate early in the morning/evening and at Euston it's a real 'bun fight' with people trying to get through the gate both ways)

Come on London Midland - We pay £3,300 plus for an annual season ticket and deserve something a bit better than a piece of thin card with a magentic card which loses its stored data when it comes within a centimetre or two of an active mobile phone!