sorry, yet another advance ticket query!

[truckman060473]

as i have not actually bought one of these to date, i was just wondering how the procedure works. suppose i'm on the NRE site and there is an advance ticket available the following day to a pointless destination (I enjoy travelling the railways so I would go anyway for a cheap fare). how does this work? obviously for next day travel it's too late for a ticket to arrive by post, so when you've bought your ticket how do you actually retrieve it for the journey? this may sound like a dumb question but i have never bought an advance ticket before and so i know nothing about them.

 

[royaloak]

You can pick it up at a TVM on the day you travel you will need the card you paid for the ticket and the reference number you get when you book it.

 

[truckman060473]

are you saying you pay for the ticket online or just get a reference number and type this into the TVM and pay there? just wondering why the TVM would require me to put my debit card in if it is already paid for online

 

[Mojo]

You put in your debit card to verify that it is you; you are not charged for the transaction.

You are given a reference number, but in most cases you can simply put your card in and the tickets print. Take the reference just in case, or in case there are any problems and you need to collect from a ticket window, or you are asked for it (not unknown).

 

[ChrisTheRef]

As proof of identity!

Or, you could pop down to the station now and purchase them. They'll be handed over to you straight away

 

[royaloak]

You pay when booking them on the web, you need the card when you pick them up as proof of ID.

 

[truckman060473]

good system. that's handy to know. i appreciate that closer to the date of travel there is less likely chance of there being any advance left, but as my day off is Tues, where i could go on a journey somewhere, i can search on say, the Sunday night for any tickets left.

 

[142094]

Plus some TOCs give an extra discount for buying online as well - East Coast usually give 11% for tickets for EC services, then add on the railcard discount as well if you have one.

 

[Deerfold]

Plus some TOCs give an extra discount for buying online as well - East Coast usually give 11% for tickets for EC services, then add on the railcard discount as well if you have one.

And if you have a little more time some such as EC do next day delivery for £5.

 

[truckman060473]

most of my travelling involves Carmarthen to destinations like Cardiff, Newport, Swindon, Bristol TM, and soon to be Weston SM and Taunton plus other south west destinations.

 

[142094]

I'd still check the websites of the TOCs down that way before you buy advance tickets at the station. No point in paying more for a ticket if you can save on a website.

 

[truckman060473]

i travel with Arriva and FGW for pretty much 100% of the time. as an example of a trip, i can get advance to Taunton for £9.50 each way and it allows me to go with Arriva to Newport, then on FGW class 57 hauled down to Taunton