Split ticket query

[Farang]

Two of us are are making a return trip from Paddington to Bath Spa tomorrow. i've just bought paper off-peak day returns spltting at Didcot for £88.60 including our railcard discount.
When the tickets are checked, is it best to present only the tickets for the appropriate portion of the journey or the whole journey?
And as this is my first time splitting, are there anything potential hiccups I need to be aware of?

 

[ainsworth74]

Doesn't really matter to be honest! Some staff don't care at all and are only interested in the portion that's relevant to where you are, some will want to see all the tickets. Generally I just present the ticket which is relevant to where I am and say "I've got some others as well as I'm going to x" and then it's 50:50 if they go "Oh yes can I see those as well please" or "No that's fine, show them later on if you're checked again".

Don't over think it

 

[yorkie]

Two of us are are making a return trip from Paddington to Bath Spa tomorrow. i've just bought paper off-peak day returns spltting at Didcot for £88.60 including our railcard discount.
When the tickets are checked, is it best to present only the tickets for the appropriate portion of the journey or the whole journey?
And as this is my first time splitting, are there anything potential hiccups I need to be aware of?

In this case, present all tickets for the journey.

If you bought the tickets as one journey from our ticketing site, we will have automatically identified the split, your itinerary will reflect that, and the PDF document would already have the tickets in the correct order, making it really easy to switch from one ticket to another.

If you are using paper tickets, then it's best to hand over both tickets, in the correct order, to avoid confusion.

 

[Bank Foot AM]

Not an issue with barcode tickets, but when presenting CCST tickets for inspection, I like to hand over the relevant coupon and keep any others (return portions etc.) in view but out of reach. In my experience, it's not unusual for a busy guard to clip/stamp/chew/scribble on the wrong portion, potentially invalidating it for later use.

However, if in doubt, the best advice is certainly to present everything and let the person inspecting the tickets work out which ones are relevant to the journey.

To paraphrase Groucho Marks, “Those are my tickets, and if you don't like them...well, I have others.”

 

[Farang]

Thank you for the replies and guidance.

I had an interesting experience with the seat reservations. I'd booked them online but when I collected them from the TVM it spat out two blank coupons and a third saying 'VOID'. I had to make a trip to Paddington, the nearest staffed station, to sort it out. The person in the ticket office said he had no idea why the system had done that, checked to see that seats were actually reserved but didn't seem to have a way of knowing who'd reserved them, so he made new reservations and printed those out for me.

It was inconvenient, but at least I didn't incur any cost.

 

[Adam Williams]

it spat out two blank coupons and a third saying 'VOID

This is quite curious (and unusual). If you still have them, it'd be interesting to see the coupons (and to know which retailer you purchased from / the machine you collected from)

 

[Farang]

This is quite curious (and unusual). If you still have them, it'd be interesting to see the coupons (and to know which retailer you purchased from / the machine you collected from)

The agent in the Paddington ticket office kept them. I bought them from the GWR website and collected them from the machine at Ealing Broadway. The agent originally suggested that it was a stopping service so the seats were unreservable, but we double checked the timings and it was definitely not a stopping service.

 

[Haywain]

This is quite curious (and unusual). If you still have them, it'd be interesting to see the coupons (and to know which retailer you purchased from / the machine you collected from)

It means the TVM had some sort of printer fault.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Oct 2025 ==

The person in the ticket office said he had no idea why the system had done that, checked to see that seats were actually reserved but didn't seem to have a way of knowing who'd reserved them,

He should have been able to look up the booking and simply given you a written version of the reservations.

 

[MrJeeves]

He should have been able to look up the booking and simply given you a written version of the reservations.

Out of interest, would station TISes be able to reprint just the seat reservations from the collection reference, for example? Or would you just print it on A4 like an itinerary might be?

 

[Haywain]

Out of interest, would station TISes be able to reprint just the seat reservations from the collection reference, for example? Or would you just print it on A4 like an itinerary might be?

When I last did it, at least 3 years ago, it was writing the reservations on a manual reservation coupon!

 

[DeverseSam]

And as this is my first time splitting, are there anything potential hiccups I need to be aware of?

the main thing is to make sure the train calls at Didcot

 

[Farang]

the main thing is to make sure the train calls at Didcot

Thanks for that! I had assumed they all would and on checking some don't.

 

[Bank Foot AM]

Returning to the subject of the seat reservations and at the risk of wandering off-topic, does anyone know for certain that a TVM should be able to print standalone seat reservations without a corresponding travel ticket?

In the past, this could be achieved by a booking office TIS including a nil-value travel ticket in a ToD transaction. This resulted in the nil-value travel ticket being printed by the TVM, which was obviously undesirable. A subsequent TVM update inhibited printing of the nil-value coupons, but this also caused any remaining coupons, including seat reservations, to fail to print. This may have resulted in the symptoms described.

 

[Haywain]

Returning to the subject of the seat reservations and at the risk of wandering off-topic, does anyone know for certain that a TVM should be able to print standalone seat reservations without a corresponding travel ticket?

In the past, this could be achieved by a booking office TIS including a nil-value travel ticket in a ToD transaction. This resulted in the nil-value travel ticket being printed by the TVM, which was obviously undesirable. A subsequent TVM update inhibited printing of the nil-value coupons, but this also caused any remaining coupons, including seat reservations, to fail to print. This may have resulted in the symptoms described.

There is no change to the situation you describe, that I am aware of.

 

[OscarH]

In the past, this could be achieved by a booking office TIS including a nil-value travel ticket in a ToD transaction. This resulted in the nil-value travel ticket being printed by the TVM, which was obviously undesirable. A subsequent TVM update inhibited printing of the nil-value coupons, but this also caused any remaining coupons, including seat reservations, to fail to print. This may have resulted in the symptoms described.

Any TVM that's actually compliant with that change will not print the nil-value coupon but would still print the attached standalone reservations

 

[Bank Foot AM]

Any TVM that's actually compliant with that change will not print the nil-value coupon but would still print the attached standalone reservations

Thanks @OscarH. I've tested that with a Northern TVM and it is indeed possible to print standalone seat reservations. The underlying nil-value travel ticket wasn't printed and subsequent coupons printed correctly. Sounds like that's probably been the case for some time and we hadn't noticed!

 

[OscarH]

Thanks @OscarH. I've tested that with a Northern TVM and it is indeed possible to print standalone seat reservations. The underlying nil-value travel ticket wasn't printed and subsequent coupons printed correctly. Sounds like that's probably been the case for some time and we hadn't noticed!

Thanks for testing, good to know it worked on those TVMs!

 

[Farang]

I posted a while back about how a TVM at Ealing Broadway gave me a blank seat reservation coupon for our GWR tickets. It happened again in December - quite possibly from the same machine - so I sent a complaint using the online form. GWR have replied asking for the time, date and location of the incident. Because I used the online form I don't have a copy of the information I provided but I am confident I gave them plenty of information, including photos of the tickets.

• Why are the asking for "confirmation" (their word) of information I already supplied?
• If they need more information, why can't they find it out themselves?
• More broadly, does anyone have any experience of their complaint being resolved satisfactorily? I am coming round to the view that train companies' complaints processes are a tick box exercise and it's a waste of time engaging with them.

 

[Horizon22]

If it's Ealing Broadway, then this wouldn't be a GWR TVM, but one managed by the Elizabeth Line / TfL.

 

[harz99]

@Farang when you say blank, do you mean just no seat numbers, or do you mean a reservation coupon with no printed journey information at all...as there could be a reason for one of those at least.

 

[Farang]

@Farang when you say blank, do you mean just no seat numbers, or do you mean a reservation coupon with no printed journey information at all...as there could be a reason for one of those at least.

Hi. Here's what I got, and I did make a reservation online. Last time I posted about this, the consensus was that it had been a printer fault.

 

[harz99]

Okay, so you made a seat reservation online, was that before or after you collected your tickets from the TVM, and did that give you carriage and seat number details, confirmed by an email or text?

 

[Farang]

Okay, so you made a seat reservation online, was that before or after you collected your tickets from the TVM, and did that give you carriage and seat number details, confirmed by an email or text?

Before, with all details confirmed by email.

 

[harz99]

In which case I don't understand why you think you need to complain about the seat reservation from the machine being blank...you already have proof of the reservation and the carriage seat number, what more do you want?

 

[MrJeeves]

In which case I don't understand why you think you need to complain about the seat reservation from the machine being blank...you already have proof of the reservation and the carriage seat number, what more do you want?

Because these must be present on an associated reservations coupon when using some tickets. If a machine isn't printing them, it could result in a rather awkward conversation with revenue staff when travelling.

I'm unclear whether OP is using an Advance ticket here or not, but I would guess not. I would expect the seat reservation coupon to state "Mandatory Seat Reservations" if that was the case.

I can confirm that OP's seat reservation does still exist in the industry system, so it's not like that has been inadvertently deleted (though this wouldn't be related to the system used to print tickets, or affect what is shown on the ticket).

There are a large number of factors which could have gone wrong here, from the retailer creating the data used to print tickets poorly, to a ticket machine with buggy handling of that data, to, as OP mentioned was suggested, a broken printer (though I doubt that is the case).

 

[yorkie]

• Where did you buy the tickets? (Not suggesting it was a retailer issue, but would be useful to know)
• Presumably this was for a journey where e-tickets aren't avalilable? If it's possible to avoid paper tickets, that is wise, because printer/TVM faults can be a pain to sort out
• Were the ticket office made aware of this issue, and did they take any steps to resolve it?
• Is this for an Advance ticket? It doesn't appear to be a mandatory reservation, but without knowing more information, it is difficult to comment.

And as this is my first time splitting, are there anything potential hiccups I need to be aware of?

If you are using a ticket splitting site, such as the forum's site, everything is taken care of when you search for the through journey you are making.

If you are booking each ticket separately, then you need to take care that you book the correct trains and that if connections are involved, you leave sufficient interchange time. I would also recommend booking all tickets in one actual transaction, though, even if you add each ticket to the basket separately.

 

[Farang]

Because these must be present on an associated reservations coupon when using some tickets. If a machine isn't printing them, it could result in a rather awkward conversation with revenue staff when travelling.

I'm unclear whether OP is using an Advance ticket here or not, but I would guess not. I would expect the seat reservation coupon to state "Mandatory Seat Reservations" if that was the case.

I can confirm that OP's seat reservation does still exist in the industry system, so it's not like that has been inadvertently deleted (though this wouldn't be related to the system used to print tickets, or affect what is shown on the ticket).

There are a large number of factors which could have gone wrong here, from the retailer creating the data used to print tickets poorly, to a ticket machine with buggy handling of that data, to, as OP mentioned was suggested, a broken printer (though I doubt that is the case).

It was a Super Off-Peak Return.
I hadn't considered the potential for a conversation with revenue staff - I was more concerned about the possibility of someone finding me in 'their' seat or vice versa.

 

[yorkie]

It was a Super Off-Peak Return.
I hadn't considered the potential for a conversation with revenue staff - I was more concerned about the possibility of someone finding me in 'their' seat or vice versa.

If the displays are working, then just point them to that.

Alternatively, if the displays aren't working, then there are no reservations anyway, in which case it's a case of find any available seat.

Technically, showing a coupon has no authority/effect anyway; for all anyone knows, the ticket may have been changed/refunded/excessed, and it is the screens on the train that are the authoritative source.

So the coupon isn't needed.

I would recommend obtaining an e-ticket next time, to avoid potential TVM issues; although in your case, it's not a problem, it would be a problem if you had an Advance ticket, or if an actual ticket wasn't printed, as has happened to various forum members over the years, e.g...

TOD collection problem: return portion not printed

Yesterday a customer attempted to print a return ticket, purchased from the TPE website, at Mount Vernon station. The outward portion printed fine, but the return portion did not. The TVM stated an error had occurred. The Help Point at the station advised the customer to see ticket office staff...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Farang]

Thank you, @yorkie and @Mr. Jeeves.
I generally find it quicker and easier to hand over a paper ticket to my 2Together partner than forward her the email, and easier to feed a paper ticket into a slot at the gateline than scan an eticket. As GWR/TFL haven't been able to sort this problem for 2+ months, I shall reassess that. I'm not holding my breath for them to fix it.

And @yorkie, in answer to your question about where I bought the tickets - the GWR website.

 

[yorkie]

Thank you, @yorkie and @Mr. Jeeves.
I generally find it quicker and easier to hand over a paper ticket to my 2Together partner than forward her the email, and easier to feed a paper ticket into a slot at the gateline than scan an eticket. As GWR/TFL haven't been able to sort this problem for 2+ months, I shall reassess that. I'm not holding my breath for them to fix it.

Old style paper tickets are being phased out soon anyway.

And @yorkie, in answer to your question about where I bought the tickets - the GWR website.

No worries; had it been through us, I would have looked into whether we could contact the TVM provider.