Ticket Office Staff (Star)

[headshot119]

Can anyone who works with "Star" please advise me on this?

Let us say I've purchased some tickets with a 16-25 railcard and I am picking them up in advance from the booking office (station TVM is locked away most of the time) if the clerk has typed in the booking reference, and pressed issue, then says "can I see your railcard" what happens if I don't have it? Can they set it so I can recollect the tickets another time, or is the only choice to give me the tickets?

 

[ainsworth74]

So in this example the tickets have been printed but not actually handed to you yet?

 

[PermitToTravel]

Take your details for prosecution for travelling without a railcard, according to a recent thread in D&P

 

[Andrew1395]

It's a good question. If tickets are for immediate travel that day excess them. If not hand them over and say they are not valid for travel if a valid railcard can not be produced

 

[bb21]

I don't think an excess is the official procedure when the Railcard cannot be produced. It is a new ticket and the original submitted for a refund.

If travel is not immediate, there is no reason for the ticket office to retain the tickets and refuse to hand them over.

 

[plymothian]

I don't think an excess is the official procedure when the Railcard cannot be produced. It is a new ticket ... <snip>

This is the official rule, as laid out in the T&Cs of a railcard.

 

[najaB]

...if the clerk has typed in the booking reference, and pressed issue, then says "can I see your railcard"...

Surely this is the problem - they should ask for the railcard before pressing issue. Having pressed it they have no choice but to hand over the tickets? (Assuming it's not Northern who make up their own rules.)

 

[headshot119]

So in this example the tickets have been printed but not actually handed to you yet?

Indeed.

Take your details for prosecution for travelling without a railcard, according to a recent thread in D&P

I've read that thread, and I'm interested to see the outcome if we ever get to know.

Surely this is the problem - they should ask for the railcard before pressing issue. Having pressed it they have no choice but to hand over the tickets? (Assuming it's not Northern who make up their own rules.)

This is about the 5th time this clerk has done this, none of the other regulars at the station ever do it. I made the comment in passing (as they're for travel in advance) and what do you do now they're printed if I haven't got my railcard you'll have to give them to me anyway.

They reckoned they could none issue them for later collection, and that I didn't have a right to be given the tickets I've rightly purchased. Speaking to another clerk they reckon that's total rubbish. It'd be like preventing a parent collecting a set of tickets which included a child because they happened to pick the tickets up whilst the child was in school.

We then got into a debate over why I always pick them up the day before or a few days before I travel instead of when I come to get the train. "You're company is incapable of making sure this office is open in order for me to collect my tickets when I travel, and have advised me to collect in advance." Was my response.

That didn't seem to go down too well.

Frankly I'm getting a bit tired of the antics with the staff at this station. I'm reluctant to name it at the moment as I'm in communication with ATW over an incident nearly 9 months ago that I've yet to get a satisfactory resolution to.

 

[PermitToTravel]

If it's a regular collection it sounds like you could simplify the matter a bit by bringing your railcard with you, as right or wrong they're going to be obstinate about it otherwise.

It would be interesting to hear if the tickets could actually be set as not-collected - I rather doubt it given the fraud risk

 

[yorkie]

Frankly I'm getting a bit tired of the antics with the staff at this station. I'm reluctant to name it at the moment as I'm in communication with ATW over an incident nearly 9 months ago that I've yet to get a satisfactory resolution to.

9 months? That's long overdue escalating to http://www.transportfocus.org.uk/contact/complaint

Is it a breach of the Code of Practice? If so a report can also go to the ORR who should really be doing some enforcement.

As for the recent issue, if ATW are still not prepared to hand the tickets over, that also needs to go to Transport Focus and again you should consider reporting a breach of consumer law to the ORR.

This sort of nonsense continues because hardly anyone escalates matters and the ORR are not going to do any sort of checks to ensure their code of practice is being adhered to, so unless matters are referred to the relevant bodies nothing will ever change.
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If it's a regular collection it sounds like you could simplify the matter a bit by bringing your railcard with you, as right or wrong they're going to be obstinate about it otherwise.

I book tickets on behalf of various people, I do not hold their railcards and I have the right to collect the tickets I've purchased, and I will defend that right to the maximum extent necessary

 

[PermitToTravel]

Sure, but getting into an argument with an idiot behind a desk will not change things and is not a way of defending that right

 

[talldave]

Doesn't the NRCOC only state that you need the railcard "to travel"? Nothing about purchasing/collecting tickets?

 

[headshot119]

9 months? That's long overdue escalating to http://www.transportfocus.org.uk/contact/complaint

Is it a breach of the Code of Practice? If so a report can also go to the ORR who should really be doing some enforcement.

As for the recent issue, if ATW are still not prepared to hand the tickets over, that also needs to go to Transport Focus and again you should consider reporting a breach of consumer law to the ORR.

This sort of nonsense continues because hardly anyone escalates matters and the ORR are not going to do any sort of checks to ensure their code of practice is being adhered to, so unless matters are referred to the relevant bodies nothing will ever change.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I book tickets on behalf of various people, I do not hold their railcards and I have the right to collect the tickets I've purchased, and I will defend that right to the maximum extent necessary

ATW haven't been unresponsive in dealing with the matter which has kept me from escalating it. And over the 9 months (well 8 after they first acknowledged the complaint) there's been a fairly constant flow of correspondence on both sides.

They have been warned if a satisfactory outcome isn't reached it will be escalated.

I'll PM you some further details.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

If it's a regular collection it sounds like you could simplify the matter a bit by bringing your railcard with you, as right or wrong they're going to be obstinate about it otherwise.

It would be interesting to hear if the tickets could actually be set as not-collected - I rather doubt it given the fraud risk

I usually collect on my way home from work, which is close to the station in question. My company have a fairly strict policy on staff searches, I try and carry as little as possible into work with me because of this. (It speeds up getting into the building if I don't have a load of things to take out of my wallet.)

I'm sure it would resolve the problem if I carried it, but it isn't really practical to do so.

 

[yorkie]

Sure, but getting into an argument with an idiot behind a desk will not change things and is not a way of defending that right

The matter would end up being escalated. The fact is I am going to continue booking tickets on behalf of others and I am not going to allow anyone to prevent me collecting those tickets without the matter being escalated as appropriate.

 

[PermitToTravel]

ATW haven't been unresponsive in dealing with the matter which has kept me from escalating it. And over the 9 months (well 8 after they first acknowledged the complaint) there's been a fairly constant flow of correspondence on both sides.

They have been warned if a satisfactory outcome isn't reached it will be escalated.

I'll PM you some further details.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


I usually collect on my way home from work, which is close to the station in question. My company have a fairly strict policy on staff searches, I try and carry as little as possible into work with me because of this. (It speeds up getting into the building if I don't have a load of things to take out of my wallet.)

I'm sure it would resolve the problem if I carried it, but it isn't really practical to do so.

Fair enough, that's absolutely your right. I wish you the best of luck in getting the matter resolved!

 

[suzanneparis]

I have an over 60 railcard.

If I order tickets online to collect at the machine at the railway station I DON'T have to produce my railcard to collect the tickets.

IF I buy the tickets from the ticket office I DO have to produce my railcard.

This all seems bonkers to me.

Surely, all that matters is that when you TRAVEL you must have your railcard.

 

[najaB]

Surely, all that matters is that when you TRAVEL you must have your railcard.

Indeed that is what matters. Ticket office staff are doing the right thing by asking to see the railcard at time of collection. As I understand it they should initially refuse to issue the tickets, but if the customer insists then they issue the tickets and endorse them with 'restrictions advised' or similar on the back.

There is no excuse for issuing and then refusing to hand them over to the customer. Who would be liable if they went missing between issue and the customer returning to collect them?

 

[trainophile]

What if someone is buying a ticket on behalf of an elderly relative, who possesses a senior railcard and lives elsewhere? They may be getting a lift to stay with you, or have already arranged their outbound tickets, but going home by train. This could easily happen, say an elderly parent comes for a holiday but doesn't know exactly when they will want to go home.

My local ATW station insists on seeing our railcards even when we are buying tickets at the counter for the next day. Yet I can (and have done) sit in the booking hall in full view of the same staff member, buy my tickets online, and pick them up from the TOD machine almost immediately, if I've booked via a WebTis site.

(Doesn't work on ATW's site, have to come back an hour later to collect them.)