Wrong station chosen to collect tickets

[suzanneparis]

I ordered some tickets online for London to Nottingham one way. But accidentally chose to collect them from Nottingham. I won't be in Nottingham before I travel.

How do I get around this problem? Do I have to buy new tickets??

Thanks for any help.

 

[bb21]

Just collect it in Leicester, or any ticket machine with collection facilities.

 

[NSEFAN]

Once the tickets are purchased you can collect them from any station with collection facilities, provided you have the card with which you purchased them.

That stage of the booking process is to make sure you don't accidentally try to collect tickets from, say, an unstaffed station!

 

[suzanneparis]

Oh!! So are you saying that when you specify the station you will collect them from it is only to check that it is a station with machines?

If so thanks very much.

Though why don't they make that clear to customers? I was worried and had no idea that I could go to another station to collect them.

 

[causton]

Which site did you choose?

Some booking confirmations make it clear you can use any station, some do not. For example East Midlands Trains' one says:

"Tickets will be available to pick-up from a self-service ticket machine at any one of 1000 UK stations 15 minute(s) after booking.

When you go to collect your tickets you will need:

Your collection reference: xxxxxxxx
Any debit or credit card in order to activate the machine. This card will not be charged."

 

[gazthomas]

As everyone says I think in the first instance this to ensure you can pick the tickets up. But you can do so at any station with the facility

 

[suzanneparis]

Many thanks everyone. I booked through NRE which I think then forwards you to another site. I may have been stupid and not realised that naming the station to collect tickets meant I could pick them up anywhere with a machine.

Are there many stations that don't have a machine?

 

[najaB]

Are there many stations that don't have a machine?

Yes. I would think that the majority of unstaffed rural stations don't have ticket vending machines.

 

[telstarbox]

For example if you booked Grindleford to London tickets, you would have to choose another station from the drop down list.

 

[island]

Oh!! So are you saying that when you specify the station you will collect them from it is only to check that it is a station with machines?

If so thanks very much.

Though why don't they make that clear to customers? I was worried and had no idea that I could go to another station to collect them.

I can't be bothered to double check, but the sites I normally use for bookings have wording next to the dropdown list of stations to the effect of "here is a list of stations where you may collect your ticket".

 

[suzanneparis]

Thanks again everyone. Excellent forum!

 

[gray1404]

I've always wondered why it asked you to choose a station when the reality is you can pick them up from any. That does makes sense though that it is to stop you trying to collect tickets from a station that doesn't offer the service.

Liverpool South Parkway is an interesting one. It has one TVM. However, some sites allow you to select it from the list where as others don't. So unless you were in the know, you may think it didn't have a TVM.

As it only has one TVM, if that went out of serivce, would the booking office have to be able to print off the tickets there too?

 

[najaB]

Liverpool South Parkway is an interesting one. It has one TVM. However, some sites allow you to select it from the list where as others don't. So unless you were in the know, you may think it didn't have a TVM.

As it only has one TVM, if that went out of serivce, would the booking office have to be able to print off the tickets there too?

I remember discussion of the TVM there that indicated it isn't possible to collect tickets there as it only sells MR tickets. I don't know if this has changed since.

Edit: It was this thread.

 

[gray1404]

I remember discussion of the TVM there that indicated it isn't possible to collect tickets there as it only sells MR tickets. I don't know if this has changed since.

Edit: It was this thread.

You can collect tickets from Liverpool South Parkway that have been booked online. The TVM in qustion is the only one on the Merseyrail network that allows you to do so. The TVM in question at LPY is actually branded as a Northern TVM though - even though Merseyrail run the station. Maybe this was not the case when it was first installed but I have collected tickets from it recently that I have booked online.

All the other TVMs at other Merseyrail stations do not allow you to collect tickets brought online, sadly.
You can collect tickets from Liverpool South Parkway that have been booked online. The TVM in qustion is the only one on the Merseyrail network that allows you to do so. The TVM in question at LPY is branded as a Northern one though - even though Merseyrail run the station. The discussion you provided the link to was about how other Merseyrail stations have TVMs but, as you say, only see walk up tickets (to travel to any destination, not just those on Merseyrail).

As per the thread you linked to, there is a picture to this TVM and a post explaining it is Northern branded etc. Sadly, many of the websites have caught on to this and some sites still do not offer LPY as an option.

Given there is only one TVM at LPY, would the ticket office (ran by Merseyrail) have to be able to print the tickets if the TVM was out of order or if there were any problems? I wonder how this would pan out in reality...

 

[najaB]

As per the thread you linked to, there is a picture to this TVM and a post explaining it is Northern branded etc. Sadly, many of the websites have caught on to this and some sites still do not offer LPY as an option.

Yeah, rather embarrassingly I didn't read the whole thread.

Given there is only one TVM at LPY, would the ticket office (ran by Merseyrail) have to be able to print the tickets if the TVM was out of order or if there were any problems? I wonder how this would pan out in reality...

Most ticket offices can print TOD, no idea if MR can. Even if they can do it, there's always the reported issues with their staff knowing how to.

 

[Starmill]

Don't Merseyrail still use FasTIS? If so, that probably means they can't issue people's ToDs.

I think the machine at Liverpool South Parkway is just a normal Northern S&B one, all of which allow collection.

 

[gray1404]

Don't Merseyrail still use FasTIS? If so, that probably means they can't issue people's ToDs.

I think the machine at Liverpool South Parkway is just a normal Northern S&B one, all of which allow collection.

That could lead to a problem should a customer encounter a problem, then if the TOD equipment is a Norther S&B, yet the Merseyrail booking office are using FasTIS, which does not allow them to issue ToDs.

I thought it might be a condition of allowing TOD that the booking office is able to print it in the event of any problem with the equipment.

 

[47271]

On the other side of Northernland there's an odd and confusing arrangement at Sunderland.

The ticket office (I'm pretty certain it's run by Northern, maybe it's Nexus and that's the problem) aren't able to print tickets for collection and the TVMs in the main section of the station are Metro only. The only way to print is to use a Northern branded machine located at the opposite end of the site - you have to know exactly where it is to find it. That's bad enough if you're in a hurry but the TVM is of a terrible design that I've never seen anywhere else - every keystroke needs about three jabs for it to accept them, so it takes ages to use, and it prints tickets in an unusual spindly font.

Does anyone know what this horrible contraption is? I generally make sure I collect anything well ahead of getting anywhere near Sunderland.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That could lead to a problem should a customer encounter a problem, then if the TOD equipment is a Norther S&B, yet the Merseyrail booking office are using FasTIS, which does not allow them to issue ToDs.

I thought it might be a condition of allowing TOD that the booking office is able to print it in the event of any problem with the equipment.

No, as TOD is available from unstaffed stations.

 

[gray1404]

No, as TOD is available from unstaffed stations.

I see wht you mean because yes, it is offered at unstaffed stations too. However, in the event that the station in question is staffed and there is a TVM offering TOD are they (at the booking office) expected to be able to print the tickets in the event of a problem?

 

[suzanneparis]

I must say that I would have thought it reasonable for passengers to expect to be able to get their tickets printed at the ticket office if a machine on the station cannot do it.

What a dreadful mess privatisation has led to.

 

[gray1404]

If you cannot print your ticket due to a problem with the TVM and the ticket office cannot do it, are you expected to buy a new ticket? Of course, of the day of travel this would have to be a walk up fare... are you then entitled to a refund of the new fare you've had to buy (and from who)?

 

[najaB]

If the TVM is out of order the guard is supposed to let you travel and collect the ticket at the other end. I've experienced this on a couple of occasions.

 

[47271]

If you cannot print your ticket due to a problem with the TVM and the ticket office cannot do it, are you expected to buy a new ticket? Of course, of the day of travel this would have to be a walk up fare... are you then entitled to a refund of the new fare you've had to buy (and from who)?

Push has never come to shove in this way for me in Sunderland, either I've got the useless machine to work or I've collected ahead of time in York, Newcastle or Edinburgh. Sometimes I could be heading to Scotland and I'd be prepared to pay, and I should say claim from my company, the fare to Newcastle and try again there on a VTEC machine. I've never had to have the row in the travel centre.

If I got on Grand Central without a ticket? I suppose that I'd show them the confirmation email and expect a reasonable response given that they'll know what I know about Sunderland ticketing arrangements. The situation has never arisen, I'm sure that I'll describe it here when it does!

 

[Hadders]

If you cannot print your ticket due to a problem with the TVM and the ticket office cannot do it, are you expected to buy a new ticket? Of course, of the day of travel this would have to be a walk up fare... are you then entitled to a refund of the new fare you've had to buy (and from who)?

During the Olympics in 2012 I was making a business trip from Milton Keynes to Manchester mid-morning, something I'd done plenty of times before. I arrived at the station about 20 minutes before my train and found the queue for the TVM's was out of the door. I'd never seen anything like it before or since.

I joined the queue but with 5 minutes to go I wasn't anywhere near the front of the queue. I asked station staff (London Midland) for advice and they let me through the barrier. I took a picture of the queue on my phone just in case.

I sought out the train manager on boarding the Virgin train and explained the situation. She said she I should buy a new ticket but she'd let me off this time. A few minutes later she came through doing a ticket check and told me that she'd had an email on her Blackberry about the issue at Milton Keynes and to allow passengers to travel without the need to purchase new tickets. I collected my tickets upon arrival at Manchester Piccadilly.

I was in Cambridge earlier today and used the NRE app pn my phone to check my return train time. There was a message saying that the TVM's at the station were out of order. The station seemed its usual chaotic self and I didn't have time to check out what was happening but I do hope passengers needing to collect Advance tickets weren't penalised.

 

[gray1404]

I also never carry a print out of my booking confirmation, just a the reference number wirrten down on a piece of paper. Maybe I should start printing it off and carrying it with me.

 

[Hadders]

I also never carry a print out of my booking confirmation, just a the reference number wirrten down on a piece of paper. Maybe I should start printing it off and carrying it with me.

I keep the confirmation email on my phone. That way I've got the collection reference number to hand without having to carry around pieces of paper.

It's also useful to have confirmation of the tickets and route int he event of problems.

 

[suzanneparis]

Thanks everyone. I have found this discussion absolutely fascinating. This forum is such a wonderful source of information.

All the best

 

[gray1404]

I need to finally get round to getting my printer more ink so I can actualy print stuff off haha