Unable to print my advance tickets

[Not_guilty]

Yesterday I booked advance tickets through Uber for travel today from Bedford to City Thameslink and back.

I was unable to print the tickets at Bedford station. I was told by a member of staff that the system was down and was ushered through the barrier. I asked whether the staff at the other end would know this because I had an issue previously when I was reported for investigation. He said yes they would know and off I went.

When i got off at City Thameslink I explained to barrier staff what had happened. They were suspicious but let me through and told me to print my tickets. I tried to print but received the same message. I called one of the staff from the barriers to show him that it did not work. He said he recommends me not to by tickets through uber. I asked if that was the official line and he said rhat it was his personal opinion. At Bedford the issue seemed to affect other passengers too, not only those that had booked through uber. He said that he was not aware of any problems.

I asked him how I can get home and he said hopefully the machine will be working later.

Can anyone help me? Is there an issue today, when will it be resolved and how do members recommend that I get home? If I buy a ticket will I be able to be reimbursed for the advanced tickets bought through uber? What about the price difference between the advance fare and a ticket bought on the day if I end up buying another ticket.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[ChilliSauce]

Yesterday I booked advance tickets through Uber for travel today from Bedford to City Thameslink and back.

I was unable to print the tickets at Bedford station. I was told by a member of staff that the system was down and was ushered through the barrier. I asked whether the staff at the other end would know this because I had an issue previously when I was reported for investigation. He said yes they would know and off I went.

When i got off at City Thameslink I explained to barrier staff what had happened. They were suspicious but let me through and told me to print my tickets. I tried to print but received the same message. I called one of the staff from the barriers to show him that it did not work. He said he recommends me not to by tickets through uber. I asked if that was the official line and he said rhat it was his personal opinion. At Bedford the issue seemed to affect other passengers too, not only those that had booked through uber. He said that he was not aware of any problems.

I asked him how I can get home and he said hopefully the machine will be working later.

Can anyone help me? Is there an issue today, when will it be resolved and how do members recommend that I get home? If I buy a ticket will I be able to be reimbursed for the advanced tickets bought through uber? What about the price difference between the advance fare and a ticket bought on the day if I end up buying another ticket.

Any advice appreciated.

Good start might have been a photo of the machine refusing to cooperate in issuing of tickets ... Then if stopped you could show you had tried to collect your tickets but had been let down in this by the failure of the Thameslink provided machine .

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Does the issue reported by the OP only affect (advance?) tickets purchased via Uber, or is it also affecting other retailers as well?

 

[MrJeeves]

When there is a general issue with the system that handles ticket collection, LSM, retailers are emailed about this to inform them. No such reports have been sent out yesterday or today.

At Raileasy, we have seen weirdness with some ticket machines before, including where a customer is told by the machine that their tickets have already been printed or partially printed when this isn't the case, or even that "no tickets for your booking [are] printable on this machine". Often errors are transient and encountered by only one particular machine at a station.

It would be helpful to know what the error message was (but even on the same types of machine, it might show different error messages depending on the software version!).

I'd also echo the previous suggestion of taking a photo so that you have some kind of evidence of the issue and that you did try to collect the tickets, because the reality is that staff won't always be aware of an issue as OP found out at City Thameslink.

 

[Not_guilty]

I have now managed to print both tickets on a machine at Liverpool Street without any issues, so at least I will be ok for my journey home.

I think it was the message "no tickets for your booking [are] printable on this machine" from what I can remember. I tried 2 machines at Bedford and 1 machine at City Thameslink and all 3 of them had the same message.

I have also previously encountered the issue where it says my ticket has been used and had to buy a new ticket that day.

It is all very frustrating.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Dec 2025 ==

Further update:

When I returned to Bedford station this evening I asked about the issue from this morning. The lady in the ticket office said it was a TOD network issue and there had been some kind of email about it, which she hadn't fully read.

I asked if it was a nationwide issue and I was told that it was just in Bedford. I said the same message was displayed at City Thameslink and she said that it must have been nationwide then.

I asked about the protocol for what to do in such an event, she said if she is working then to speak with her and she will send an email around. I am still unclear what the correct protocol is. I did ask this morning and was told to get on the train, everyone knows about it. When I got to City Thameslink they knew nothing about it.

I wouldn't mind so much, but have been reported for investigation when something similar happened before (see my other posts on the disputes page). That ended with the case being closed with no further action but it took me 9 months to get confirmation of this.

On 3rd September I had a separate issue where a ticket wouldn't print and I was forced to buy another ticket on the day. I am still trying to sort that issue out.

As a regular commuter, I am tired of these problems and the length of time it takes to resolve them when issues do occur.

 

[saismee]

My local ticket office would either print the tickets or give a stamped + signed piece of paper authorising travel. I'm baffled that this wouldn't be the first idea by ticket office staff.

 

[Not_guilty]

My local ticket office would either print the tickets or give a stamped + signed piece of paper authorising travel. I'm baffled that this wouldn't be the first idea by ticket office staff.

I am not sure if they had the ability to print them or not, it may have also affected their own system, but I don't think they would have had the capacity to start stamping and signing pieces of paper as the station is fairly busy at that time in the morning. There were a number of people experiencing the same issue and there was already a member of staff stood by the ticket machines to direct people to go through the barrier without a ticket.

 

[blimmo]

There were a number of people experiencing the same issue and there was already a member of staff stood by the ticket machines to direct people to go through the barrier without a ticket.

Tbh this is unacceptable since it effectively shifts the liability to the passenger (as you found out!)

My local ticket office would either print the tickets or give a stamped + signed piece of paper authorising travel. I'm baffled that this wouldn't be the first idea by ticket office staff.

Here's an example I was given recently. The ticket office had photocopied the piece of paper so all that was necessary was the stamp and signature and they could be given out relatively efficiently.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Here's an example I was given recently. The ticket office had photocopied the piece of paper so all that was necessary was the stamp and signature and they could be given out relatively efficiently.

I could do with something similar at the Ticket Office I work at for when there are problems issuing TODs.

 

[Not_guilty]

Tbh this is unacceptable since it effectively shifts the liability to the passenger (as you found out!)


Here's an example I was given recently. The ticket office had photocopied the piece of paper so all that was necessary was the stamp and signature and they could be given out relatively efficiently.

Thanks for providing the photo. I will enquire why these are not issued by Thameslink / at Bedford railway station.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Dec 2025 ==

I could do with something similar at the Ticket Office I work at for when there are problems issuing TODs.

What process is followed by your ticket office when these problems arise? Do passengers get pushed through the barriers without anything, or is there something else that happens?

 

[Bungle965]

What process is followed by your ticket office when these problems arise? Do passengers get pushed through the barriers without anything, or is there something else that happens?

Realistically there shouldn’t be any issues with being able to print TODs unless there‘s a nationwide outage.

There’s a diminishing number of TOCs that are still on computer based systems compared to tablet of which there should always be the backup of a SIM card to ensure retailing continues in event of internet issues at the station

 

[voyagerdude220]

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Dec 2025 ==


What process is followed by your ticket office when these problems arise? Do passengers get pushed through the barriers without anything, or is there something else that happens?

We normally just handwrite something on normal plain paper and put our Station stamp on it, although unsurprisingly some Conductors have questioned the authenticity of them at times.

 

[saismee]

We normally just handwrite something on normal plain paper and put our Station stamp on it, although unsurprisingly some Conductors have questioned the authenticity of them at times.

Could possibly do it on blank ticket stock instead.

 

[Not_guilty]

Realistically there shouldn’t be any issues with being able to print TODs unless there‘s a nationwide outage.

There’s a diminishing number of TOCs that are still on computer based systems compared to tablet of which there should always be the backup of a SIM card to ensure retailing continues in event of internet issues at the station

Very interesting. Do you know which TOCs? How about Thameslink?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Dec 2025 ==

We normally just handwrite something on normal plain paper and put our Station stamp on it, although unsurprisingly some Conductors have questioned the authenticity of them at times.

Indeed. Very good to know. How can we solve this problem for passengers and for staff?

 

[Bungle965]

Very interesting. Do you know which TOCs? How about Thameslink?

Thameslink have tablets so theoretically there's no physcial reason why they couldn't have this, it may be a company choice

 

[Hadders]

Many years ago I couldn't get a ToD to print. If I remember correctly it was a new-ish ticket type that hadn't been set up correctly to print to ToD. I eventially managed to print it at a Virgin Trains TVM at Stockport but I'd tried about half a dozen different TVMs around the country before then....

 

[Not_guilty]

Yesterday evening I asked someone stood on the barrier what the process is for when tickets will not print and why they do not issue paper slips like the one shown in the photo on post #8.

I was told that Thameslink do not issue these. I asked how passengers can avoid being given a penalty fare or reported for investigation in such circumstances. I didn't get a straight answer, other than the staff should know when there is a problem. As this week has shown and having been reported previously, this is not the case.

Does anyone agree that this is not an acceptable position for Thameslink to be taking?

 

[Bungle965]

Yesterday evening I asked someone stood on the barrier what the process is for when tickets will not print and why they do not issue paper slips like the one shown in the photo on post #8.

I was told that Thameslink do not issue these. I asked how passengers can avoid being given a penalty fare or reported for investigation in such circumstances. I didn't get a straight answer, other than the staff should know when there is a problem. As this week has shown and having been reported previously, this is not the case.

Does anyone agree that this is not an acceptable position for Thameslink to be taking?

Yes, however I don't imagine you'll get a proper response unless you really push the issue and get the Ombudsman involved.

 

[js517]

Rather than simply display an error message, a reasonable solution might be for TVMs to be required to print a coupon clearly stating:
Date / Time
CTR
Error message shown to customer
Machine Location / ID

 

[blimmo]

Give each ticket office a book of raffle tickets. If a customer needs to be let through without a ticket for any reason give them one and stamp it. If staff doubt the authenticity of one they can contact the ticket office that stamped it who can compare it to their book to see if it was given out.

 

[125Spotter]

As I have mentioned before, I have made an audio recording on my phone of the authorised person giving me authority to travel in similar circumstances so I have some evidence should I be stopped and questioned. I used to travel through some stations that had far too few ticket machines for the number of passengers requiring use of them at peak times, and it seemed to be routine for staff to authorise travel "on the ToD reference" with ticket collection at destination when there was chaos unfolding on the concourse. I assume this was a company policy at the time though as it wasn't localised to a single individual; everyone was giving the same message.

I consider that when I am making such a recording, I am in a public place (so there is no reasonable expectation of privacy), and I delete the recording as soon as the journey is over. It is my 'get out of jail' card in the event I should meet someone else in a position of authority who decides to disbelieve my story, which unlike the OP here, has fortunately never happened to me.

 

[talldave]

Does anyone agree that this is not an acceptable position for Thameslink to be taking?

It's totally unacceptable, but I doubt you even know Thameslink's position since everyone you've spoken to is just making answers up.

Submit a complaint and see what comes back. I doubt anyone cares and if they do it's unlikely you'll ever find them.

The depressing thing is that under Great British Railways there will be even more people who will jointly care even less - but we can blame the chauffeur driven politicians for that.

 

[Not_guilty]

I took previous advice and submitted a complaint. I received the following response today:


Dear

Thank you for getting back to us.

A ticket on departure (TOD) network issue would prevent station devices from accessing the ticket details. The ticket machines and ticket office would have been similarly affected by such an issue, which is likely to be why ticket office collection was not suggested in this case.

Any reports of ticket purchase or ticket collection issues are communicated as soon as possible to Revenue Protection staff across our network. If a customer reports a problem to a Revenue Protection Officer that they're not aware of, the staff member is able to check the report before issuing a penalty.

We are aware some train companies use paper slips in such situations. We have no current plans to introduce such a scheme, although policies are regularly reviewed and customer feedback is taken into account.

Our complaints procedure can be found here:
Complaints handling procedure | Southern

If there is anything else we can assist with, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

Customer Relations Advisor

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Jan 2026 ==

Would welcome your thoughts...