Paper tickets from TFL stations

I was recently at Canada Water station, and wanted to buy a 16-25 Railcard off-peak not via London ticket to Upper Halliford.

However, the TFL ticket machine there did not display the not via London fare, and had no way of collecting paper tickets online. In the end I ended up buying the more expensive + any permitted fare.

Was there a way for me to get and use the not via London fare from Canada Water?

Can I get some sort of refund for being forced to buy the more expensive ticket due to the incompetence of the ticket machines there?

What should I do when I'm in a similar situation in the future?

walkingsophie said:

I was recently at Canada Water station, and wanted to buy a 16-25 Railcard off-peak not via London ticket to Upper Halliford.

However, the TFL ticket machine there did not display the not via London fare, and had no way of collecting paper tickets online. In the end I ended up buying the more expensive + any permitted fare.

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Canada Water is managed by LU whose ticket machines aren't connected to the NR ticketing system and therefore can't do Ticket on Departure collections.

walkingsophie said:

Was there a way for me to get and use the not via London fare from Canada Water?

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LU ticket machines generally have a narrower breadth of NR fares options that focus on the biggest flows to/from a particular station, so probably not.

There's no via London option for Canada Water - Upper Halliford specifically so it sounds like you were sold a ticket starting from Zone U12 instead.

walkingsophie said:

Can I get some sort of refund for being forced to buy the more expensive ticket due to the incompetence of the ticket machines there?

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Not as far as I know.

walkingsophie said:

What should I do when I'm in a similar situation in the future?

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The nearest other Windrush line stations (Surrey Quays / Rotherhithe) should offer your preferred fare (same as from Canada Water) and be configured for ToD collections.

Edvid said:

There's no via London option for Canada Water - Upper Halliford specifically so it sounds like you were sold a ticket starting from Zone U12 instead..

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This seems true

I feel like TFL not allowing a national rail product to be sold between two national rail stations causing customers to be overcharged must be breaking some sort of rule/law.

Edvid said:

The nearest other Windrush line stations (Surrey Quays / Rotherhithe) should offer your preferred fare (same as from Canada Water) and be configured for ToD collections.

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That was not an option in this case due to the time-criticalness of my travel.