Ticket machines - still a problem

I noticed this sign at Slough railway station today, the scratches round the coin slot testimony to users' frustration with a temperamental coin travel. Fortunately the width of the machine (I suspect dictated by the space required for the coin travel) meant there was space for First Great Western to ask customers to be patient and listen to each coin drop before inserting the next. Not new technology. You'd hope it could have been sorted by now.

The touch screen interface is also pretty awful for the first time user, and there were long queues on my outward (rush hour) journey, as people struggled through their transactions. By the time I returned and took this photo, the machine had given up (too full of pesky coins? run out of tickets?) and was 'Not in service'.