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Wolverhampton ticket office

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paddington

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According to NRE, it's open 24 hours a day! Is this actually the case?

I need a West Mids Day Ranger at 0620 on Saturday morning as I'm going to take the parliamentary Walsall service.

I could buy the ticket the day before, but I intend to buy a 26-30 railcard on Saturday too - unless I can convince a ticket office to sell me the ticket without seeing the railcard.

Obviously I could buy the railcard on Friday, but as I will be turning 31 soon which means I can't buy another railcard next year, if possible I don't want to "waste" a railcard day (as I might just be taking a very expensive train exactly 365 days later).
 
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furlong

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That's what they appear to have signed up to when they took on the franchise. Last time I was there, it was closed at a time it was required to be open.

When you turn up and find it closed, you could report a breach of the franchise agreement to the DfT and see what happens.
 

MidnightFlyer

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It was once upon a time, but I am certain it isn't any more, and is advertised locally as such; despite what the most recent version of Schedule 17 says. Could be wrong mind but I am certain it no longer is.

Edit - Ignore me, it's no longer 24 hours on Sundays. If it is of any help, when I was there this time last year doing the move (back when it ran via Soho), the booking office was open at c. 0600 on Saturday. I still remember the argument with the booking clerk when I was issued with the route: Birmingham ticket!
 

paddington

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If the ticket office is not open and the ticket is not available from the TVM, buy it on board or at your destination.

You know, I completely forgot you could do this, having just been on another trip around the European mainland where you can't.
 

Merseysider

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Virgin TVMs normally offer (a limited selection of) Rover & Ranger tickets. The machine will not need to see your railcard.
 

martinsh

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Virgin TVMs normally offer (a limited selection of) Rover & Ranger tickets. The machine will not need to see your railcard.
Unfortunately the TVMs are not Virgin any longer, but West Midlands Trains. From memory I don't think they offer any Ranger tickets. I'll be there this evening so I'll check and get bacck.
 

ForTheLoveOf

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Unfortunately the TVMs are not Virgin any longer, but West Midlands Trains. From memory I don't think they offer any Ranger tickets. I'll be there this evening so I'll check and get bacck.
Ah yes, when I was last there I believe WMT had installed a custom version of Virgin's usual FastTicket software, which removed one of the features (it was "tickets from another station" I think).
 
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I've been able to request a date for my Two Together railcard to start from when purchasing one. This was actually at Wolverhampton station too so I can't see any issues?
 

paddington

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I guess the reason I started this thread was because I found it hard to believe that it would be open 24/6 (as mentioned, it's not open on Sunday early mornings) when there are no trains between 0200-0500 - if it is indeed open at those times there must be a very bored person sitting or perhaps sleeping there 6 days a week.

That's what they appear to have signed up to when they took on the franchise. Last time I was there, it was closed at a time it was required to be open.

But why would the DfT want it to be open all day?

The ticket office was open at 0620 this morning and it was rather busy too.

Regarding the railcard, in the end I bought my ticket at New St. When buying the railcard online I didn't see any option to specify a different start date.

New St issues tickets on paper rolls. The first guard to check tickets looked confused when I got out my phone - so I read the ticket more closely and noticed there was no mention of it being railcard-discounted.
 

LowLevel

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It's a historical anomaly and has been like it for many years. I have absolutely no idea why it is the case that Wolverhampton has a 24 hour booking office.
 

martinsh

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Unfortunately the TVMs are not Virgin any longer, but West Midlands Trains. From memory I don't think they offer any Ranger tickets. I'll be there this evening so I'll check and get bacck.

Checked this out - no the front screen quite clearly lists Day Ranger and Rover tickets under "not available from this machine"

Ah yes, when I was last there I believe WMT had installed a custom version of Virgin's usual FastTicket software, which removed one of the features (it was "tickets from another station" I think).

No "tickets from another station" are still available - it's just one of the options that have been hidden away underneath a new front screen which just lists a few common fares (about 6 !)
 
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