Buying a discounted ticket early.

[PeterY]

I know this topic was covered in an earlier thread.

I have a Network South East Card. Today I asked the clerk in the ticket office at Watford Jct if next week, I could buy an All zones travel card about 9.30 and then walk around to Watford Metropolitan station for a 10am start. Her answer was No. Was she right in respect that I can't buy an early ticket or not allowed to walk to the Met station with an all zones ticket purchased at Watford Jct.

 

[najaB]

I know this topic was covered in an earlier thread.

I have a Network South East Card. Today I asked the clerk in the ticket office at Watford Jct if next week, I could buy an All zones travel card about 9.30 and then walk around to Watford Metropolitan station for a 10am start. Her answer was No. Was she right in respect that I can't buy an early ticket or not allowed to walk to the Met station with an all zones ticket purchased at Watford Jct.

I don't know the specifics of the Network South East card, but AFAIK one of the main benefits of a staffed ticket office is that you can buy tickets for later travel.

 

[Merseysider]

The appropriate action for the clerk to take when a time-restricted product is requested, is to write R/A or similar and issue it.

I can't be too sure about the specifics here, but refusal to sell may be a TSA 6.14 breach.

 

[blakey1152]

I must admit, I have never had any trouble buying a one day Travelcard in advance from Slade Green station using a railcard (I have a family railcard)

However,
I do notice that the ticket has an "A" after the date so if I had bought one for Monday it would say 02 FEB 15A.

I assume that the A means bought in Advance so that its easy for any revenue inspector to know that it was bought ahead of time

Blakey

 

[cf111]

I've not bought this specific product, but I've never had an issue buying others with similar restrictions before they would become valid.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I wonder if there is a misunderstanding here somewhere (on the clerk's part), Inboundary Off-Peak Day Travelcards can't be purchased before 0930 on the day of use (except weekends and bank holidays), but I don't know of a time restriction on buying Railcard discounted tickets, only on their use.

 

[Deerfold]

I know this topic was covered in an earlier thread.

I have a Network South East Card. Today I asked the clerk in the ticket office at Watford Jct if next week, I could buy an All zones travel card about 9.30 and then walk around to Watford Metropolitan station for a 10am start. Her answer was No. Was she right in respect that I can't buy an early ticket or not allowed to walk to the Met station with an all zones ticket purchased at Watford Jct.

Just for clarification, what do you mean by an "All Zones" Travelcard? The phrase is commonly used to refer to a Z1-6 Travelcard. I'm guessing you've used the phrase to mean a Z1-9 Travelcard. There's also a Z1-9+W card which would be valid at Watford Junction.

 

[Starmill]

I wonder if there is a misunderstanding here somewhere (on the clerk's part), Inboundary Off-Peak Day Travelcards can't be purchased before 0930 on the day of use (except weekends and bank holidays), but I don't know of a time restriction on buying Railcard discounted tickets, only on their use.

What about Inboundary Off-Peak Day Travelcards that are valid before 0930?

 

[Bletchleyite]

The appropriate action for the clerk to take when a time-restricted product is requested, is to write R/A or similar and issue it.

I can't be too sure about the specifics here, but refusal to sell may be a TSA 6.14 breach.

WFJ (certain specific staff) do historically have a bit of a reputation for being awkward over ticket issuing, though I don't know the rights and wrongs of this case in terms of the rules.

Neil

 

[Muzer]

I must admit, I have never had any trouble buying a one day Travelcard in advance from Slade Green station using a railcard (I have a family railcard)

However,
I do notice that the ticket has an "A" after the date so if I had bought one for Monday it would say 02 FEB 15A.

I assume that the A means bought in Advance so that its easy for any revenue inspector to know that it was bought ahead of time

Blakey

Yep, they usually also print the date in reverse type (black background with white text), again to make it stand out. Ironically on some TVMs (I think ToDlers have/had this issue) this actually makes it much harder to read


I think at one point they had restricitons on how far in advance you could buy season tickets, for the same reason. Do those still exist? Correct me if I'm misremembering.

 

[TEW]

Yep, they usually also print the date in reverse type (black background with white text), again to make it stand out. Ironically on some TVMs (I think ToDlers have/had this issue) this actually makes it much harder to read

I'm not sure about other TVMs but SWT TVMs seem to have moved away from printing in reverse type. Things which used to be printed in reverse type (Child status, advance date) are now printed in bold instead.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

What about Inboundary Off-Peak Day Travelcards that are valid before 0930?

Inboundary Off-Peak Day Travelcards before 0930? You'd have to ask TfL about that, they set the rule.

 

[Merseysider]

WFJ (certain specific staff) do historically have a bit of a reputation for being awkward over ticket issuing, though I don't know the rights and wrongs of this case in terms of the rules.

Neil

It's been said before, but some staff really do seem keen to do themselves out of a job. Leave the revenue protection to revenue protection staff.

Obviously if someone's doing the same thing day after day and it's obvious they're up to something then take action but most tickets can be bought online now, so "awkward" staff really aren't doing themselves any favours.

 

[talldave]

It's been said before, but some staff really do seem keen to do themselves out of a job. Leave the revenue protection to revenue protection staff.

Indeed, what better attitude to promote the use of TVMs and bring on the demise of ticket offices.

However, I've found the opposite at Gatwick, where the ticket office are happy to sell me whatever I ask for when the TVMs are sulking or imposing Southern's obscure definition of "tomorrow"...

 

[yorkie]

WFJ (certain specific staff) do historically have a bit of a reputation for being awkward over ticket issuing...

At least one of them is really good though!

The trick is to learn who is good at your local station, and if they're on duty make sure they serve you (e.g by pretending to get a phone call at the moment an alternative window becomes available).

(That said, it can be better to experience the poor service and write in, so that the company can make the necessary improvements)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I know this topic was covered in an earlier thread.

I have a Network South East Card. Today I asked the clerk in the ticket office at Watford Jct if next week, I could buy an All zones travel card about 9.30 and then walk around to Watford Metropolitan station for a 10am start. Her answer was No. Was she right in respect that I can't buy an early ticket or not allowed to walk to the Met station with an all zones ticket purchased at Watford Jct.

Write to LM informing them of what happened, and ask them if they comply with this:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46548.aspx

Buy anytime, travel off peak....

You can buy Off-Peak tickets any time before you travel...

Let us know their response.

You could also try asking for a date by which all staff will be adequately trained.

 

[Be3G]

Based on my experience some years ago it's not uncommon to have difficulty buying railcard-discounted travelcards in advance, as barely a single Southeastern ticket clerk would allow me to do so, with the exception of one at New Cross who didn't mind. I never did understand why there was such a problem with it seeing as, as already pointed out, I could have just bought one online! (I didn't do so though as at the time TVMs wired up for collection were more of a rarity.)

 

[Merseysider]

I've checked the latest version of Schedule 17 just to be certain there were no exceptions to ticket selling; the only exception is that reservation-compulsory tickets are not to be sold before 10am. I would definitely write in.

 

[PeterY]

At least one of them is really good though!

The trick is to learn who is good at your local station, and if they're on duty make sure they serve you (e.g by pretending to get a phone call at the moment an alternative window becomes available).

(That said, it can be better to experience the poor service and write in, so that the company can make the necessary improvements)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Write to LM informing them of what happened, and ask them if they comply with this:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46548.aspx
Let us know their response.

You could also try asking for a date by which all staff will be adequately trained.

Thanks for all the guidance . All being well this Friday coming, I'll be at Watford Jct about 9.30, get my ticket and then a 20 minute walk for a 10.00 start at Watford Met station.

 

[PermitToTravel]

I think at one point they had restricitons on how far in advance you could buy season tickets, for the same reason. Do those still exist? Correct me if I'm misremembering.

It was because season tickets only had an end date encoded (not a start date) so they'd start to operate the barriers from the time of sale. This has since been fixed, and was never an issue for any day tickets (including travelcards and the like) or period returns.