• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

When is a ticket counted as used?

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JP

Member
Joined
1 Dec 2011
Messages
52
Hello

I travel often on Virgin Trains. Probably twice a month and usually on off peak tickets.

Recently I applied for a refund for an unused ticket. I had passed through the barrier intending to travel before being allowed back through 'landside' after a phonecall saying I wasn't needed at the office that wedk.

The refund was refused because the ticket had been used to pass through the barrier in the first instance as shown on the encoding even though I didn't travel.

Is this correct?

If yes or no, I also returned the return portion of the ticket. Should this at the very least have been refunded? Thanks
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

najaB

najaB

Veteran Member
Joined
28 Aug 2011
Messages
33,601
Location
Scotland
JP said:
The refund was refused because the ticket had been used to pass through the barrier in the first instance as shown on the encoding even though I didn't travel.

Is this correct?
Click to expand...
No. If you didn't travel then the ticket is unused.
 
cf111

cf111

Established Member
Joined
13 Nov 2012
Messages
1,393
If you didn't travel the ticket wasn't used. You could abandon a journey at any point up until the doors are closed and locked.
 
J

JP

Member
Joined
1 Dec 2011
Messages
52
yorkie said:
Did you explain that? I can see why they are suspicious, but the ticket is still unused. Your next step would be Transport Focus.
Click to expand...

I wrote a brief description on the sheet in the ticket office when I took it in but it seems to have been ignored. Is it worth getting back in touch with the TOC first?
 
Y

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
78,250
Location
Yorkshire
Yes, try that first. Is it all the same TOC involved? ie, you purchased from Virgin Trains?
 
H

hairyhandedfool

Established Member
Joined
14 Apr 2008
Messages
8,837
JP said:
Hello

I travel often on Virgin Trains. Probably twice a month and usually on off peak tickets.

Recently I applied for a refund for an unused ticket. I had passed through the barrier intending to travel before being allowed back through 'landside' after a phonecall saying I wasn't needed at the office that wedk.

The refund was refused because the ticket had been used to pass through the barrier in the first instance as shown on the encoding even though I didn't travel.

Is this correct?

If yes or no, I also returned the return portion of the ticket. Should this at the very least have been refunded? Thanks
Click to expand...

When (and where) did you buy the ticket? When were you due to travel and when (and where) did you take the ticket back?
 
J

JP

Member
Joined
1 Dec 2011
Messages
52
hairyhandedfool said:
When (and where) did you buy the ticket? When were you due to travel and when (and where) did you take the ticket back?
Click to expand...

Bought on a Sunday morning from a ticket machine in Manchester Piccadilly with the intention of travelling later that day to Euston. Then I returned it to Euston ticket office two weeks later.
 
FQ

FQ

Established Member
Associate Staff
Quizmaster
Joined
4 Oct 2013
Messages
6,645
Location
-
Man Picc doesn't have barriers or am I missing something?
 
C

Clip

Established Member
Joined
28 Jun 2010
Messages
10,821
fishquinn said:
Man Picc doesn't have barriers or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

I thought that too. And also returning it to Euston 2 weeks later instead of going back to the ticket office there and then at Picc seems very strange indeed.
 
H

hairyhandedfool

Established Member
Joined
14 Apr 2008
Messages
8,837
JP said:
Bought on a Sunday morning from a ticket machine in Manchester Piccadilly with the intention of travelling later that day to Euston. Then I returned it to Euston ticket office two weeks later.
Click to expand...

In that case, there is no way the ticket office was going to give you the refund. Had you gone straight to the ticket office at Piccadilly, you probably would have got it with an admin fee taken off (£10). You might even have got it if the office was closed and you returned the ticket the next day.

I would suggest trying Customer Services, they could well offer a refund for it, but that might simply end up being a "goodwill gesture".
 
S

sheff1

Established Member
Joined
24 Dec 2009
Messages
6,059
Location
Sheffield
hairyhandedfool said:
In that case, there is no way the ticket office was going to give you the refund. Had you gone straight to the ticket office at Piccadilly, you probably would have got it with an admin fee taken off (£10). You might even have got it if the office was closed and you returned the ticket the next day.

I would suggest trying Customer Services, they could well offer a refund for it, but that might simply end up being a "goodwill gesture".
Click to expand...

NRCoC 26(c) states you will get a refund (although not immediately) if you return an unused ticket to a ticket office no later than 28 days after the expiry of the ticket’s validity - nothing to do with "goodwill".

Saying that I, too, wonder how a ticket can be put through a barrier at a station which does not have barriers.
 
Last edited:
H

hairyhandedfool

Established Member
Joined
14 Apr 2008
Messages
8,837
sheff1 said:
NRCoC 26(c) states you will get a refund (although not immediately) if you return an unused ticket to a ticket office no later than 28 days after the expiry of the ticket’s validity - nothing to do with "goodwill".

Saying that I, too, wonder how a ticket can be put through a barrier at a station which does not have barriers.
Click to expand...

I take it mean the ticket has been marked as used by staff at the station (this is quite common at Piccadilly now).

The clerk has to choose between the word of someone, that they don't know and probably don't recall ever seeing before, against a ticket that has been marked as used by railway staff (presumably with no endorsement), and remember this is two weeks after the journey "didn't take place" from a manned station.

As I say, if the op had gone straight to Piccadilly ticket office on the day in question, or the day after if the office was closed, I don't think there would have been a problem doing the refund there and then, two weeks later and 150+ miles away? I don't think there was a chance of it happening.
 
Tetchytyke

Tetchytyke

Veteran Member
Joined
12 Sep 2013
Messages
17,477
Location
Isle of Man
Neither Piccadilly nor Euston have barriers, and the OP specifically referred to the encoding. Very strange.
 
34D

34D

Established Member
Joined
9 Feb 2011
Messages
6,043
Location
Yorkshire
So did the op simply travel and not get the ticket checked on board?
 
P

PermitToTravel

Established Member
Joined
21 Dec 2011
Messages
3,042
Location
Groningen
Does the OP still have the ticket that they used to travel to London (or some form of proof that they travelled there otherwise than by train)?
 
matt

matt

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
30 Jun 2005
Messages
8,836
Location
Rugby
Neil Williams said:
Assuming you mean 1-3, no it doesn't, though they will be fitted soon. Only 8-11 are barriered at present, and these are never used by VT.
Click to expand...

They are fitted already for platforms 1 to 3 although I have not seen them in use yet.
 
221129

221129

Established Member
Joined
21 Mar 2011
Messages
6,515
Location
Sunny Scotland
Neil Williams said:
Assuming you mean 1-3, no it doesn't, though they will be fitted soon. Only 8-11 are barriered at present, and these are never used by VT.
Click to expand...

Slightly off topic but the Virgin Trains services I used the other weeks from Euston were on platforms with barriers. We used platform 3...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top