What is a "Free Cycle Inward" Supplement?

[ATW Alex 101]

Hi all,

I have looked everywhere for this including past threads and Google search but nothing has come up.

I was issued with a "Free Cycle Inward" Supplement from Eastham Rake yesterday after asking for a cycle and seat reservation. The guy didn't have a clue to start with and made lots of phonecalls and then after about 25 minutes managed to issue me with this "Free Cycle Inward" with "Supplement" along the bottom. With cycle reservations you usually get a passenger copy and a coupon to attach to your cycle, but I was only issued with a seat reservation and this weird ticket.

I queried this and asked if it came with an attach to cycle copy but he was pretty fed up at this point and told me that's all it had printed him and I could tell he wanted me to go away.

So could anybody kindly tell me what this ticket is, what it entitles me to and if it is a valid cycle reservation? Does it still serve as a bike reservation for the service I'm on?

Thanks in advance.

 

[cyclebytrain]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but in my experience (and that of some guards who get lists of bikes booked on their trains) that's what you get when the bike reservation hasn't actually been made.*

*There are exceptions, but the likelihood is you don't have a bike space reserved.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

It's ok, that's Merseyrail staff and their sparse knowledge in their systems for you (!). Thanks for your reply though, I had a feeling it wasn't a reservation and it was just something like a manual input to the system-somebody who works in a ticket office could maybe confirm this? I might make a proper one through telesales or office tomorrow.

 

[cyclebytrain]

I can't tell you exactly what it is (because I've never got to the bottom of it) but I do know that it's more complicated than it being something that's been input manually. Hopefully someone with actual knowledge can explain exactly what it is and how the clerk gets to it.

 

[Harpers Tate]

I can't see how that ticket can possibly represent a cycle reservation, because it bears no reference to a service or time on which the reservation is made. Just a day and start/end points.

 

[Max]

I've been issued one of these before at Brough, I can confirm too that it is not a reservation and you'll need to try again at another station.