TVM printer error at London Victoria for travel from London Euston

I am travelling later in the week from London Euston (on Virgin to Manchester) and took advantage of passing through London Victoria today to print out tickets (booked online) in advance of travel. The machine only printing a receipt and one ticket. The booking is for a family ticket covering 2 adults and 2 children. The ticket printed has a large C in the top right and says "Fixed Fam Single" top-left; there's only one of the seat reservations listed on that ticket.

After speaking with various members of staff, I was given a letter (headed "Ticket Office, London Victoria Station") with the "Ticket(s) haven't been printed owing to a TVM printer error at London Victoria" box checked (there are other boxes on this letter, not ticked, relating to other potential issues with travel). There is also a handwritten note in the box on the letter stating "Please allow customer to travel..." (and giving the departure/arrival date of travel), at it is signed and stamped.

My main question is, should I expect any difficulties when presenting this letter at the gate (or on the train) for my travel. I will be travelling with two small children and the platform for the London/Manchester train is only announced very close to the departure time. Is there anything I can, or should do, to help mitigate travel issues - beyond travelling with all paperwork that I've got.

Hello and welcome.

I suspect it's the fact that this is a group ticket that's caused this issue, though that's not your problem.

If you get the opportunity, a good idea is to go to any staffed ticket office (doesn't have to be Virgin) and present your collection reference, explaining the issue, and see if they can print off the remaining tickets or all of them again - sometimes this will work. Unless you tried that at Victoria? They should be able to tell you what your reservations should be anyway.

You could also Tweet (va Direct Message) Virgin Trains and they might well be able to sort something out, e.g. give you some new reservations.

So, amongst the various members of staff I spoke to today at Victoria, was a someone at the ticketing desk. The computer there was showing the booking as "ticketed" and the ticket office staff member was unable to print out more tickets. A different member of staff opened up the ticket machine to see if there had been a jam (I guess) or similar. Ultimately, they were unable to print out new tickets but did issue the letter.

(alistairlees - thank you for your prompt answer on the question and the welcome!)

No problem. Where did you buy the tickets from? If you contact them they may also be able to help you - e.g. by refunding this order and issuing new tickets with a new collection reference (though I admit you might have the same problem again - but you could most likely avoid it by collecting from a ticket office).

Ticket's were bought online via the links on the Virgin site (https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/family-offer)

I've generally found that when something has happened out of order and I've been given a booking office stamp on a note, that has always been accepted without question.

That said, I've only ever had it within TOC - I can just see VT's barrier staff (for it is they) saying "but we aren't Southern, they have no right to tell us to accept this" or some similar passenger-unfriendly rubbish.

borrible said:

...I was given a letter (headed "Ticket Office, London Victoria Station") with the "Ticket(s) haven't been printed owing to a TVM printer error at London Victoria" box checked (there are other boxes on this letter, not ticked, relating to other potential issues with travel). There is also a handwritten note in the box on the letter stating "Please allow customer to travel..." (and giving the departure/arrival date of travel), at it is signed and stamped...

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That's great to hear! Unfortunately I have witnessed other ticket offices refusing to assist; we've had some threads about such issues recently.

borrible said:

My main question is, should I expect any difficulties when presenting this letter at the gate (or on the train) for my travel. I will be travelling with two small children and the platform for the London/Manchester train is only announced very close to the departure time. Is there anything I can, or should do, to help mitigate travel issues - beyond travelling with all paperwork that I've got.

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I don't see there is anything more you can do.

I think it says a lot about the current reputation of the rail industry when someone who has been given such a letter is worried about being mistreated. I can't rule it out; I really wish I could. But you have a valid contract, and you have authorisation for travel. If anyone breaches that contract by refusing to accept it I would be surprised and disappointed but I'd suggest gathering evidence of the breach, keep copies of all relevant transactions and conversations, and I'm sure members of this forum would help you recover any losses incurred as a result of any breach.

Bletchleyite said:

I've generally found that when something has happened out of order and I've been given a booking office stamp on a note, that has always been accepted without question.

That said, I've only ever had it within TOC - I can just see VT's barrier staff (for it is they) saying "but we aren't Southern, they have no right to tell us to accept this" or some similar passenger-unfriendly rubbish.

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In case the OP isn't familiar with this issue, members of this forum report that Virgin's staff at the platform gate aren't always the most helpful. In view of that, alastairlees' suggestion of contacting Virgin is wise. This way you have something official from the train operator to show.

Also, sites like http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/ show the departure platform before it is announced at Euston - though as they can get it wrong, with children I'd stay at the top of the ramp not walk down.

Thank you everyone for the feedback so far. Very much appreciated.

yorkie - it's not so much the "reputation of the rail industry" as, having never been in this situation before and travelling with small children - stressful even when everything is going according to plan! - trying to mitigate any potential disasters.

Currently, I'm hoping to get to Euston the morning of the day I'm travelling (I cannot get there any earlier) and see if the Virgin staff might have anything specific that they can do. I'll certainly feed back here with what happens.

Just to give an update, I used the online chat with Virign in advance of travelling and the agent just re-issued the tickets. I.e. I was given a new alphanumeric code with which I was able to get new tickets. I collected new tickets from the Virgin machines at Euston. Seat reservations followed across, and appeared on the new booking code, although when we were on the train the displays above the seats showed a couple of the seats as available.

Glad to hear you got it sorted.

yorkie said:

Glad to hear you got it sorted.

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Indeed

If I have a complicated itinerary, i.e. splits or tickets costing more then about £20, I prefer picking them up at a booking office incase the TVM packs up...

Most are happy to help but some are like, “why can’t you use the machine?”.

Saperstein said:

Indeed

If I have a complicated itinerary, i.e. splits or tickets costing more then about £20, I prefer picking them up at a booking office incase the TVM packs up...

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This costs the retailer a lot more money, compared to the cost of printing at at machine, when this is done. This may result in the retailer making a loss on the sale.

The best thing to do is probably to use the machine, but at a time when the ticket office is open in case there is an issue.

Saperstein said:

Most are happy to help but some are like, “why can’t you use the machine?”.

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Given the way the charging system works, they probably shouldn't print them from the booking office TIS unless there is a compelling reason.

As a booking clerk myself I have no interest in how much a TOD costs to print from my TIS versus a TVM, I like fulfilling TODs at my TIS as then sales amount is added to my shift and it shows on my shift report that I have issued more tickets.

When a TOD is issued through TIS, the value of the tickets populated into the TIS as if I had rung the tickets up myself. The value is then balanced to £0 to pay with a warrant which is automatically added.