Ticket machine will not issue ticket. How to get refund?

[sharpener]

As I had done on previous occasions, on 1 Sept I booked through my GWR account a Senior Railcard Advance ticket to travel from Totnes to Cambridge on 7 Sept @£42-95 and received the expected email ack. with booking ref and ticket collection ref.

The following day I needed to change the date of travel to 8 Sept which I did online for a ticket uplift of £3 and admin fee of £10, and got an email ack. with the same booking ref. At the time I did not notice that it said there would be another email with amended ticket details, which I never received.

Early on 7 Sept I got a further email titled "Get ready for tomorrow's trip" with the same booking ref. It said my departure time was 1839 that day, which was the original time I should have caught the Eliz. line from Paddington to Farringdon(!). I posted on here about this with the subject line "Bizarre reminder from GWR" but it has been moved or taken down since.

When on 8 Sept I went to collect the ticket from the machine at TOT using the only ticket ref I had been sent it responded "Your ticket has already been issued or part issued. Contact the Ticket Office. The clerk in the ticket office said he could not issue the ticket as it had already been claimed at "Window 42" on the day I booked it Sept 1. He could not tell me where this was or identify the details of the revised booking from the ref. no., and wanted the amended ticket collection no. which I have never been sent. He made me purchase a completely new ticket @ #45-95 (which is same as the revised price I had previously paid). There was no seat reservation but it was not working on the 1142 departure 1A82 anyway. And he gave me a Delay Repay form which does not really cover the situation.

The subsequent journey was disrupted by the fatality nr Royston but I arrived at CBG via Liverpool St at 1649 instead of the planned 1613 via KGX so 36 mins late.

How do I claim a refund for the ticket which was not available for collection on the day?

 

[AlterEgo]

You need to complain to GWR, who retailed the ticket.

Complaint | Great Western Railway

www.railhelp.co.uk

 

[Watershed]

I would contact GWR and ask them to refund the amended ticket. They will be able to see the collection attempt if they look it up in the industry ToD system (LSM).

 

[sharpener]

I would contact GWR and ask them to refund the amended ticket. They will be able to see the collection attempt if they look it up in the industry ToD system (LSM).

Thanks both. I have sent GWR a claim based on my OP with the relevant numbers inserted, hopefully they will be able to identify the transactions from that. The missing email with the revised ticket collection # is at the root of it, it would be too easy to include that on the amendment acknowledgement I suppose.

 

[Belperpete]

I suspect that the ticket collection that the booking clerk found on the system was the original ticket being claimed back by the support agent who issued the new ticket. I presume this would have to be done before the new ticket could be issued, otherwise you could potentially collect both tickets if you were quick enough.

I suppose it would be possible to hold back acknowledgement of your revised purchase until the new ticket collection details were available. However, some people might worry about not receiving an immediate acknowledgement, perhaps thinking that the purchase hadn't gone through for some reason. And it would add an extra layer of complexity that could go wrong.

I would have thought it self-evident that you would need a new ticket collection reference for a different ticket. I suppose the motto is to actually read the emails. I take it that you have checked your spam box for the missing email?

 

[sharpener]

I suspect that the ticket collection that the booking clerk found on the system was the original ticket being claimed back by the support agent who issued the new ticket. I presume this would have to be done before the new ticket could be issued, otherwise you could potentially collect both tickets if you were quick enough.

I assume your "support agent" is in the online software bc issuing the amendment email was instantaneous. It doesn't explain why only part of the ticket seems to have been claimed back, as the reminder I subsequently got (see upthread) was for the onward leg(s) from PAD on the original date so presumably that part of the booking remained valid for whatever reason.

As the booking reference number remained the same I don't see why the booking clerk is not able to see the complete transaction chain including the new ticket from that.

I suppose it would be possible to hold back acknowledgement of your revised purchase until the new ticket collection details were available. However, some people might worry about not receiving an immediate acknowledgement, perhaps thinking that the purchase hadn't gone through for some reason. And it would add an extra layer of complexity that could go wrong.

As issuing the tickets is near-instantaneous I don't see why it needs two separate emails at all.

I would have thought it self-evident that you would need a new ticket collection reference for a different ticket. I suppose the motto is to actually read the emails. I take it that you have checked your spam box for the missing email?

Not necessarily bc after all the booking reference remains the same, unlike you I am not an expert on the booking system and have not previously had to amend a booking so had no reason to expect more than one. The statement about the second email is not very prominent.

It has not gone into my spam box, but as the original ticket went to my Inbox I had no reason to look there prior to travel. Once at the station I could not in any case access the spam box from my phone as it is not configured to do that - and uses POP3 not IMAP so it may not even be possible.

I think it reasonable to hope the booking clerk would be able to sort it out and fortunately I had allowed extra time in case it proved necessary.

 

[Adam Williams]

As the booking reference number remained the same I don't see why the booking clerk is not able to see the complete transaction chain including the new ticket from that.

There's nothing in the system that would tie the two bookings together, unfortunately.

 

[sharpener]

There's nothing in the system that would tie the two bookings together, unfortunately.

To the lay person's mind the thing that ties them together is that they have the same number!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Sep 2026 ==

I would contact GWR and ask them to refund the amended ticket. They will be able to see the collection attempt if they look it up in the industry ToD system (LSM).

How long would you expect this to take? I had a routine acknowledgement immediately but there has been no further progress in a week now.

 

[Watershed]

How long would you expect this to take? I had a routine acknowledgement immediately but there has been no further progress in a week now.

TOCs often take weeks to answer correspondence so unfortunately I can't say I'm surprised you haven't heard back yet.

 

[sharpener]

TOCs often take weeks to answer correspondence so unfortunately I can't say I'm surprised you haven't heard back yet.

GWR got back to me today so 19 days so far, now wanting a copy of the replacement ticket. Sent it and they have replied with "I have now raised a refund request and forwarded it over to the relevant department. Please bear in mind that this process can take up to 28 days."

Also they will not deal with Delay Repay claim for KGX - CBG leg so that has now gone in to GN, at least that was not out of time. On the last occasion GWR paid up.

 

[Haywain]

Also they will not deal with Delay Repay claim for KGX - CBG leg so that has now gone in to GN, at least that was not out of time. On the last occasion GWR paid up.

The claim should be for your whole journey from Totnes but should be claimed from the company that delayed you, which is GTR.

 

[sharpener]

The claim should be for your whole journey from Totnes but should be claimed from the company that delayed you, which is GTR.

i was hanging fire until I knew whether GWR would refund the original tickets which the machine could not deliver, or the replacement. Now I know it will be the former I have claimed DR from GN.

Remains to be seen if I will get a refund of the change of booking fee, but if not the DR will more than cover it so am not actually out of pocket.

Would have liked an explanation for the missing email with details of altered journey, or instructions as to what I should have done if I had spotted its absence. The purported explanation of partial issue/collection of the tickets does not seem very likely, nor the e-reminder for only part of the journey starting at PAD.