Do ticket offices have to issue rangers and rovers?

[antimega]

Hi

Just tried to buy a Thames Branches Day Ranger at Stratford National Rail ticket office (which I think is run by TfL Rail now) - they refused to sell the ticket (or even look it up) as it wasn't covered by their rail company.

Didn't want to argue that actually it does cover TfL Rail (if further west)

Can a national rail office refuse to sell a ranger?

thanks
Chris.

 

[Sleepy]

They've obviously had lessons from London Overground who are determined not to admit being part of National Rail !

 

[gazthomas]

That is rubbish, there are no barriers to them selling the ticket you requested apart from their own ignorance

 

[Dhassell]

Any National Rail Ticket office can basically sell any ticket, all the systems are the same more or less .

 

[Hadders]

They have the capability to sell it but whether the member of staff can be bothered to look it up is a different matter.

 

[RJ]

I tried to buy an Anglia Day Ranger from that ticket office a few weeks ago. As I was getting on a train straight to Norwich I needed it for immediate travel, but they weren't interested. Their advice was to buy a ticket to Liverpool Street and sort it out there. It is advertised on that ticket office the types of ticket they sell and rovers and rangers don't feature on the list.

Just buy a ticket to get you through the gates if needs be and don't bother wasting your time if you don't need the ticket for that leg of the journey - sort it out at the first practicable opportunity in any case. I got the Norwich train without a valid ticket to complete the journey and the guard was happy to sort it out.

 

[ashworth]

Is this the small ticket office with just a couple of windows, outside the main station building, to the right of the main entrance opposite the bus station? About 5 years ago when I last used it, it was run by Greater Anglia?
The main ticket office inside the concourse at Stratford was then run by tfl and they would not sell the full range of National Rail tickets. Back then the main tfl office refused to sell me a Day Return to Southend Stations and sold me a more expensive ticket via West Ham to Southend Central. I’d wanted to travel out to Victoria and back from Central stopping off at Leigh on Sea. The annoying thing was that I didn’t know that there was a small National Rail ticket office tucked away to the right of the main entrance, with no signs to it from the main concourse. The man at the main tfl office did not tell me that it was there and that they could sell me the ticket I needed. It was about a year later on another visit that I found the Greater Anglia ticket office.

 

[RJ]

Is this the small ticket office with just a couple of windows, outside the main station building, to the right of the main entrance opposite the bus station? About 5 years ago when I last used it, it was run by Greater Anglia?

Yes, it's that one. It's run by TfL Rail now but is not required to sell the full range of tickets and is branded as such. You'd think a station of that size would have a proper, impatial National Rail ticket office!

 

[cactustwirly]

Yes, it's that one. It's run by TfL Rail now but is not required to sell the full range of tickets and is branded as such. You'd think a station of that size would have a proper, impatial National Rail ticket office!

I thought TfL rail was part of the TSA?

 

[CyrusWuff]

I thought TfL rail was part of the TSA?

It is, but Stratford is managed by London Underground, so TfL Rail isn't the "Lead Retailer" for the purposes of the Ticketing & Settlement Agreement even though LU have closed their Ticket Offices there!

 

[yorksrob]

What a disgusting and shambolic state of affairs. Will the Department of Transport do anything about it ? No, they're too busy trying to get people to put tickets on their smart phones.

 

[Mag_seven]

It is, but Stratford is managed by London Underground, so TfL Rail isn't the "Lead Retailer" for the purposes of the Ticketing & Settlement Agreement even though LU have closed their Ticket Offices there!

According to NRE, it is managed by TfL Rail:

Stratford (London) (SRA)
Managed by TfL Rail

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/SRA.aspx

 

[RJ]

-----

 

[RJ]

According to NRE, it is managed by TfL Rail:



http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/SRA.aspx

I think the point CyrusWuff may be making is that only the lead retailer is required to sell the full range of tickets. If the station is managed by LU then the TfL Rail ticket office might not have that obligation. It is listed in Schedule 17, on page 27 where it appears Apex and Super Apex ticket types are still in vogue!

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Regardless of the situation - if they will not sell a ticket which should be available then, provided you have evidence of this (e.g. a recording of the refusal) and the ticket machines won't sell it, I would consider it evidence of not having an opportunity to buy at your boarding station - i.e. you could then buy at the next available opportunity.

 

[PeterC]

It is, but Stratford is managed by London Underground, so TfL Rail isn't the "Lead Retailer" for the purposes of the Ticketing & Settlement Agreement even though LU have closed their Ticket Offices there!

I was thinking that I could only remember an Underground ticket office in pre Oyster days when I actually queued up and bought tickets.

Regardless of the situation - if they will not sell a ticket which should be available then, provided you have evidence of this (e.g. a recording of the refusal) and the ticket machines won't sell it, I would consider it evidence of not having an opportunity to buy at your boarding station - i.e. you could then buy at the next available opportunity.

Apart from the fact that the station is fully barriered of course.

Simplisticaly it sounds as if it is still an Underground ticket office regardless of TfL Rail branding.

 

[RJ]

Simplisticaly it sounds as if it is still an Underground ticket office regardless of TfL Rail branding.

No - it's a fully equipped National Rail ticket office, but they're selective about what they sell and brand it as such.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I was thinking that I could only remember an Underground ticket office in pre Oyster days when I actually queued up and bought tickets.


Apart from the fact that the station is fully barriered of course.

Simplisticaly it sounds as if it is still an Underground ticket office regardless of TfL Rail branding.

In which case you could alternatively buy a ticket which covers part of your journey and then later excess it to what you actually want.

 

[Mag_seven]

No - it's a fully equipped National Rail ticket office, but they're selective about what they sell and brand it as such.

Can they do that?

 

[Gareth Marston]

I can sell Thames Valleys Rangers in Mid Wales you press a couple of buttons.......

 

[PeterC]

Can they do that?

What they can do and what the staff are told that they can do aren't necessarily the same.

I know that some people where have an obsession about front line staff "making things up" but from my experience in other customer facing industries is that it is more likely down to incorrect instructions and training by local managers.