A group of American tourists told me recently that there was no TVM to collect their Virgin Trains tickets at the station, and the ticket-office staff suggested they speak to the crew regarding their tickets, yet NRE states: "Collection of pre-purchased tickets: Yes, from either ticket office or self-service ticket machine." Come to think of it, I do vaguely remember seeing a machine a few weeks ago (but I didn't pay much attention to it - it could have just been a cash machine). Thanks!
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ToD possible at Holyhead?
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Gareth Marston
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The Holyhead TVM has a reputation for only doing TOD's and no actual purchases and it features on the TVM's needed repairing lists so I'm fairly certain it exists. The booking office staff could have issued the TOD off their STAR machine anyway so this one is a little perplexing if true or we don't have the whole story/ circumstances here.
Ah, thanks for this. A bit more of the story: I was at Holyhead earlier this week for my return journey, and after 3 weeks cycling in Ireland, I was sitting in an almost zombie-like state within the 'access concourse', waiting for my Super Voyager ride to Crewe from platform 1 (I was very early - the first Virgin Trains departure was from platform 2 and already being prepped). Whilst waiting, a group of Americans were stressing out about something nearby, and they walked back and forth on platform 2 repeatedly. I did think to offer help, but I didn't know what help they needed (if any). Eventually, one of the group approached me, at which point I stood up and listened patiently so that I could help him as best as I could. I gave him the following advice:
- go to the ticket-office and ask them to print the tickets
- or ask the Train Manager for advice before boarding
What puzzles me is that the ticket-office didn't print them whilst he was there (he knew the location of the ticket-office when I gave him directions so he must have already gone there). It's entirely possible that he did get his tickets printed at the ticket-office after I spoke to him, but I don't know what happened afterwards (like I said, I was pretty bushed/wasted). I only checked NRE after returning home, and it's been bothering me ever since (NRE can sometimes contain wrong/outdated info, hence this post).
Perhaps he asked the 'wrong' question - e.g. "Where's the ATM?" (meaning automatic ticket machine) rather than "I've got to collect some tickets, where do I do it?"
Gareth Marston
Established Member
If someone asked me "where's the nearest TVM"? I could say Caersws (6 miles away) and be technically correct - probably not the outcome the persons looking for though!
Still have had TOD collectors try and barge the queue in the office and shout over. They can be a funny lot often behaving as though their more important than other passengers. It's not uncommon for someone to turn up a couple of minutes before Scheduled departure and then the fun starts when they see a queue even a small one. Having a person serving means they think they can try and prioritise themselves whereas a TVM would just interact with the person pressing buttons ahead of them.
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