Can't Collect Advance Tickets

[F Great Eastern]

Hi,

What happens if you cannot collect advance tickets as the ticket machines are broken? The reason being it happened to a friend at a certain station, and both Ticket Machines were out of action and the ticket office said they could not print them.

My friend got the train 15 minutes before and got off at a barriered station, so they could get tickets from another stations machine and get on their booked train when it arrived at the station they just got off at. They then got almost screamed at and issued a penalty fare at the barriers despite explaining the situation and proving to them he could collect tickets at the machine for the train in question.

I don't want to name too much here because it's currently being dealt with via a complaint and I don't want them to identify me, but I'm just curious of what you guys think.

Cheers

 

[gordonthemoron]

ticket office should be able to issue tickets, i've done so before when the machine was broken

 

[Solent&Wessex]

I've had the situation where people claim to be umable to collect advance tickets a few times, and have sought advice from other sources (control centre / managers etc).

Basically, what I have been told is that the passenger should have collected their ticket first, but if they were unable to then they should present their booking confirmation email, which will show the booking details to the Guard, who should a) endeavour to find out why they were unable to collect the ticket by either phoning the station or control. Control will page it out if it is a known fault and there are likely to be many problems, and then b) allow them to travel using the email. If they are unable to produce the email, then there is generally no way of knowing what train they are booked on in the first place and whether it is valid on the train you are on. The passenger should buy a new ticket, or be issued with an Unpaid Fares Notice if they have insufficient funds, and then take the matter up with customer relations who will investigate it.

 

[glynn80]

What happens if you cannot collect advance tickets as the ticket machines are broken? The reason being it happened to a friend at a certain station, and both Ticket Machines were out of action and the ticket office said they could not print them.

My friend got the train 15 minutes before and got off at a barriered station, so they could get tickets from another stations machine and get on their booked train when it arrived at the station they just got off at. They then got almost screamed at and issued a penalty fare at the barriers despite explaining the situation and proving to them he could collect tickets at the machine for the train in question.

I don't want to name too much here because it's currently being dealt with via a complaint and I don't want them to identify me, but I'm just curious of what you guys think.

There are actually a series of "problem resolution processes" listed in the FRPP that ticket office staff are meant to go through (I won't post them in full here to prevent fraud).

The processes do however include phoning the CTR Help Desk to check if the CTR reference the customer has is valid and filling in a ToD Duplicate Tickets Record Form.

I have read many stories on various forums regarding this issue and it seems the processes listed in the FRPP are rarely carried out correctly.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Basically, what I have been told is that the passenger should have collected their ticket first, but if they were unable to then they should present their booking confirmation email, which will show the booking details to the Guard, who should a) endeavour to find out why they were unable to collect the ticket by either phoning the station or control. Control will page it out if it is a known fault and there are likely to be many problems, and then b) allow them to travel using the email.

Thats very curious. My friend had this but was told as they booked the ticket through a different TOC (FGW in this case), they cannot accept the email as proof, only if it was booked through the TOC that you are travelling with. He got the impression they were trying to punish him for not booking direct, although the reason he didn't book direct was certain advance fares were not showing up on the TOC's website....

 

[caughtonatrain]

From my perspective this highlights everything that's wrong with the fragmented system we have. They (the TOCs) push you into using technology like Fasticket (or whatever the other versions are called) when it seems to me that:

it's unreliable (machines sometimes don't print tickets inexplicably giving you little recourse)
it's inconsistent (sometimes it asks for CTR sometmies it does not)
it's unclear what happens in certain circumstances such as not picking up a ticket
it's confusing (machines are all differently branded and look different)
it's limiting (machines don't issue full range of fares or deal with tickets in advance or departures from another station)

Rail staff really need to get out of this mentality that everybody's on the lam and start treating people with some dignity and service. (Yes, I know that it is not reciprocated by the minority of travellers, which is lamentable, but it's generally not an excuse for poor service).

 

[TEW]

Tickets can generally be printed from any ticket machine or ticket office which is connected to the system. If you can not collect your tickets, it is best to speak to the guard at the earliest possibility and they can arrange for your tickets to be printed for you at a station along the line.

 

[Broken Viking]

I must admit that I would never be able to trust a lot of the self-service machines that Virgin have got, so when I bought my first (And so far my only) Advance ticket a couple of months ago, I made a bee-line for the e-ticket option. 8)

Aside from the fact that the e-ticket is produced within twelve hours of purchase (Thus ye get it relatively quick) it's also sent to ye via e-mail (Accessible literally anywhere if ye use webmail) served as a PDF file (So ye can download and retain a permanent copy locally) and is portable and flexible enough for multiple copies to be carried on one's person (One on a PDA, one on a mobile phone, and one in print for example) meaning that ye are never short of a copy of thy ticket!

Just out of curiosity though: I've seen many people travelling on Advance fares, but I've hardly ever seen anyone present an e-ticket for their fare. Any ideas as to why e-ticketing is still so unpopular, despite it's many advantages and previous success with budget airlines?

 

[gordonthemoron]

despite it's many advantages and previous success with budget airlines?

I always use DB online ticket when available, which it is for 99% of german trains

 

[F Great Eastern]

Just out of curiosity though: I've seen many people travelling on Advance fares, but I've hardly ever seen anyone present an e-ticket for their fare. Any ideas as to why e-ticketing is still so unpopular, despite it's many advantages and previous success with budget airlines?

Whenever I use Luton Airport to London I always use the Print@Home E-Ticketing, I'd use it more often apart from the fact it's is not avaliable on the other routes I use.

 

[Stacey]

To be honest I use fast ticket machines 90% of the time. I hate ticket offices as there are too many untrained people (so it seems) behind the glass and will only use them if I *really* have to. Last two times I used a person was for rovers (obv that's the only place you can get them) - was at Salisbury and the spanner didn't know what a FOSS was, how to issue and then only gave me the 3 in 7 when I asked for the 8 in 15. Then at Newton Abbot, a Devon Ranger? Didn't know how to do one then refused to issue it before 1030. Grr.
I've not had a problem with the machines. I tend to order the tickets and pick them up a long way in advance!! - My advance purchase tickets are always collected at least a day or two before travelling, idea being that if you have a problem it'll be sorted before you need them.

 

[Dewedin]

Just out of curiosity though: I've seen many people travelling on Advance fares, but I've hardly ever seen anyone present an e-ticket for their fare. Any ideas as to why e-ticketing is still so unpopular, despite it's many advantages and previous success with budget airlines?

I've never taken a journey where e-ticketing was available. I don't use any Virgin routes, coincidentally.

If it was available more widely then I would use it.