Asking for a Ticket Wallet

[route101]

Last week while waiting for connection at Manchester Picc i asked at the ticket office for a Virgin Trains Ticket wallet for my railcard and was refused as they only give them out with Seasons / Railcards . Stingy:-x . Everytime when i have asked nicely at Glasgow Central , Glasgow Queen St or Edinburgh Waverley they dont hesitate to give you one . Anyone else been refused?

 

[ainsworth74]

I've asked for one at Scarborough before and they quite happily gave me one. Didn't even buy a ticket!

 

[Lampshade]

I asked for a Southeastern one at London Bridge and they happily issued one, same at Staines with SWT. The only problem I had was at Euston as they said they only issued the VT ones with new railcards, but I managed to get one by telling them Virgin was my favourite TOC and I didn't want the boring National Rail one

 

[Tom B]

I picked one up at Waverley no bother recently, as I'd forgotten my normal one (which was knackered anyway) and was uplifting some tickets. They were a bit hesitant without seeing a railcard, but after a lecture about how I needed to take the railcard with me to make the tickets valid I got one.

 

[route101]

Is there an East Coast ticket wallet?

 

[radamfi]

Do people collect ticket wallets from each TOC?

 

[Jonfun]

Aye, Manchester Piccadilly don't seem to like giving out ticket/railcard wallets. The excuse I got was that they were "too expensive to make to keep giving out". Surely the sales commission VT get more than covers the cost of making a wallet? The lass also seemed to have had a sense of humour bypass when I jokingly suggested they'd probably oblige if someone asked for a 14 day, first class ALR... Words to the effect of that you can buy what you want, unless it's a railcard, no wallet. :roll:

Preston, on the other hand, were incredibly friendly, didn't moan in the slightest and were happy to oblige in giving a ticket wallet and other bits of information I was after despite not purchasing the day's travel tickets from them. In fact, I've yet to come across anywhere else that's refused a wallet.

Cheers,

Jon

 

[ess]

wagn used to have a quality purple hardback version. since then i've only seen the blue national rail ones.

 

[island]

You'll cheerfully get an Ikea one at a TFL window.

 

[northwichcat]

Northern were happy to hand them out when they had huge supplies of left over ones branded with previous operators names on them but now only seem to give you one with your first railcard or season ticket and then it's a cheap clear plastic one with no branding.

 

[Mojo]

You'll cheerfully get an Ikea one at a TFL window.

Not supposed to any more. It's MasterCard now. Staff are instructed to only give out MasterCard unless they run out in which case you can use any old stock until your next delivery.

 

[Clip]

wagn used to have a quality purple hardback version. since then i've only seen the blue national rail ones.

They were the ones that were made to protect your ticket from having the magnetic stripe from being wiped IIRC..

 

[WestCoast]

In my experience, other Virgin stations will give you one with no questions asked. Try Lancaster, Preston or Wigan North Western.

They even give you the red Virgin one with the train on it!

 

[bb21]

Does anyone know how many TOCs now still do their own wallets? I know SWT does, Virgin obviously do, EMT used to do but not any more. FGW never seems to have done.

 

[scotsman]

ScotRail does - they're quite tight though, I found my Young Scot card came away on it - so I swapped to a blue National Rail one, much better!

 

[323235]

Does anyone know how many TOCs now still do their own wallets? I know SWT does, Virgin obviously do, EMT used to do but not any more. FGW never seems to have done.

FGW do a season ticket one which if you ask nicely you maybe able to get vice a National Rail one when not buying a season ticket.

 

[Ivo]

In August last year I went to Ebbsfleet Int'l and bought a ticket to Gravesend which I knew I wouldn't use, just so that I could get up to the platform and watch some 395s go by (given the negligible cost it seemed easier than asking to go through). They then issued me my Gravesend single, and placed it into a handy three-window ticket wallet branded for SET HS1! It has become home to my bus pass, my Railcard and my student card...

N.B.: It's silver, in case anyone wondered.

 

[route101]

In my experience, other Virgin stations will give you one with no questions asked. Try Lancaster, Preston or Wigan North Western.

They even give you the red Virgin one with the train on it!

Ive seen plenty of people with VT ones so i must ask at Glasgow Central

 

[Bedpan]

I bought a 3 year railcard on line this week - no sign of a wallet when it arrived though.

 

[me123]

ScotRail does - they're quite tight though, I found my Young Scot card came away on it - so I swapped to a blue National Rail one, much better!

They're really designed for Season tickets, so they fit them perfectly (although the ink does start to transfer after only a few days...) My railcard was a nightmare because, unlike some people who had a National Rail Enquiries wallet, I couldn't store my ticket with the railcard. Best thing about having my railcard in that wallet was all the ticket examiners who saw the wallet and assumed it was a season ticket

BTW, the SPT subway gives out great wallets; they're much bigger and they have three flaps (like the National Rail Enquiries ones), so they're quite a bit better than Scotrail's ones. I've actually got a Homecoming 2009 one with Rabbie Burns on the front, but it's starting to fall apart.

 

[W-on-Sea]

c2c were certainly doing their own (white and pink) wallets last year.

Certainly not current, but I still have a yellow three-pocket "Think...THAMESLINK" one around too...

My most recent TfL/Oyster wallet is black and unbranded (other than the ref to Oyster)

 

[Southern]

Aye, Manchester Piccadilly don't seem to like giving out ticket/railcard wallets. The excuse I got was that they were "too expensive to make to keep giving out". Surely the sales commission VT get more than covers the cost of making a wallet? The lass also seemed to have had a sense of humour bypass when I jokingly suggested they'd probably oblige if someone asked for a 14 day, first class ALR... Words to the effect of that you can buy what you want, unless it's a railcard, no wallet. :roll:

Preston, on the other hand, were incredibly friendly, didn't moan in the slightest and were happy to oblige in giving a ticket wallet and other bits of information I was after despite not purchasing the day's travel tickets from them. In fact, I've yet to come across anywhere else that's refused a wallet.

Cheers,

Jon

Got the same answer when asking at my local Southeastern station. Then, recently on my way into Victoria, I asked if I could buy one. I got out my tattered old Ikea holder, explained how it was falling apart and the guy just gave me a national rail one for free.

 

[reb0118]

I was refused at Ayr because I wasn't buying a ticket.

 

[JKJimar53]

I cant see why anyone should refuse to give out a ticket wallet if requested, one its a cheap bit of plastic and two their free.

 

[MikeWh]

I cant see why anyone should refuse to give out a ticket wallet if requested, one its a cheap bit of plastic and two their free.

They may be free to the customer, but the TOC will have to pay the mnufacturer of the wallets.

 

[yorkie]

I cant see why anyone should refuse to give out a ticket wallet if requested, one its a cheap bit of plastic and two their free.

You'd be surprised how much they cost! We looked at the cost of RailUKforums branded ones and it wasn't cheap.

... I asked if I could buy one. ....

How much would people be prepared to pay for wallets if required to pay for them, I wonder?

 

[me123]

You'd be surprised how much they cost! We looked at the cost of RailUKforums branded ones and it wasn't cheap.

But, of course, RailUKforums is merely a large internet forum with only a few hundred members at most wanting one (and I would suggest that that's optimistic). On the other hand, Scotrail and FCC and Northern and so on all have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of customers who buy season tickets and who would need the wallet for that. They'll also need replacements, and may even use them for railcards etc. So they'll place much larger orders and, perhaps, get a better price in return.

If you're struggling to get one, just say that you need a replacement for your season ticket but don't have it with you. Worst they can say is no.

 

[Fred26]

How much would people be prepared to pay for wallets if required to pay for them, I wonder?

We used to joke in the ticket office that we should charge 50p per wallet! I gave them out with season tickets, railcards and advance purchase tickets (putting them in a wallet keeps all tickets/reservations together).

I have four ticket wallets tucked into my wallet, holding my passes. One is an FCC Thameslink 'rainbow' wallet, the second is wallet from Oyster advertising The Times, the third is an Oyster wallet advertising Ikea and the fourth a see-through wallet. All are two ticket types.

 

[transportphoto]

Slightly Off-topic I did note sometime last year - the Evening Standard was giving away wallets with the paper - we ended up with about twenty papers and thirty wallets, I have my supply

They were sponsored by SPECSAVERS and [1]have a design of TfL travel methods etc...

 

[button_boxer]

How much would people be prepared to pay for wallets if required to pay for them, I wonder?

I just saw a notice in Sheffield bus station saying that they now charge 25p for their (presumably Travel South Yorkshire branded) wallets that were previously given out free with travel passes.