TVM not recognising card

beeza1 · 17 Aug 2019

Bit of a "what if" question,
Last weekend, not wanting the use the "updated" Northern TVM at my local station I purchased my tickets on the TPE website, (never again), when it came to "select station to pick up tickets" my local station was not listed even though there has been a TVM there for around a year, so I selected the nearest station to me even though I wouldn't be travelling from there.
When I tried to get my tickets I kept getting an error message "card not recognised" and then "contact a member of staff", a bit difficult as the station is unmanned, the card did eventually work and I was able to collect my tickets.
My question is what should I have done had I being unable to collect my tickets, and would the fact I selected a different station have been a problem?

RailUK Forums

alistairlees · 17 Aug 2019

This isn’t anything to do with the station you selected to collect the tickets from. Tickets are collectible from any station that has ticket on departure collection facilities - it doesn’t matter what you select. All machines send the ticket collection reference (“CTR”) to the ToD database (“LSM”) to fetch the ticket details to be printed. You could have selected Penzance or Inverness as the stations from which to collect your ticket and it would all have been the same.

Wallsendmag · 17 Aug 2019

But if the station wasn’t listed has the machine been given LSM credentials and set up for ToD?

trentvalley · 17 Aug 2019

If you try and use a pre paid card (pre paid Mastercard or cards like the online banks use such as Tide etc), the TVM system has recently had an update meaning it does not accept them. Even if you pay with them online it will say card not recognised / accepted and ask for a different card.

beeza1 · 17 Aug 2019

alistairlees said:
This isn’t anything to do with the station you selected to collect the tickets from. Tickets are collectible from any station that has ticket on departure collection facilities - it doesn’t matter what you select. All machines send the ticket collection reference (“CTR”) to the ToD database (“LSM”) to fetch the ticket details to be printed. You could have selected Penzance or Inverness as the stations from which to collect your ticket and it would all have been the same.

Yes, I was aware I can collect from any station with a TVM, What I wanted to know what to do in the situation I described.

beeza1 · 17 Aug 2019

Wallsendmag said:
But if the station wasn’t listed has the machine been given LSM credentials and set up for ToD?

I have used the TVM to collect tickets before, using the same card, but this is the first time I have used it since the upgrade which has made the machines far less user friendly, which is the reason I decided to book online on this occasion.
I did contact Northern several months ago to inform them the machine was not on the database, they informed me my local station doesn't have a TVM, even though the line is now a penalty fare area! Yet another example of Northern's incompetence.

Clip · 17 Aug 2019

beeza1 said:
Yes, I was aware I can collect from any station with a TVM, What I wanted to know what to do in the situation I described.

Its a tough one really because how could you prove it wasnt a problem with your card and not the machine?

DelW · 17 Aug 2019

I had a similar problem at an SWR station a couple of weeks ago, collecting TOD tickets bought on the GWR website. As per instructions, I tried using the credit card which I'd used to pay for the tickets, but it wasn't read successfully on three tries. After that, I tried a different (debit, not credit) card, which was read straight away, and the tickets printed. Had I not had the alternative card, I'm not sure how I'd have got my tickets.

Because of past problems with TOD, I've usually opted for tickets to be posted, but most if not all booking sites now charge extra for that.

Last week I booked tickets between Berlin and Dresden from Deutsche Bahn, who simply email you a PDF ticket which you can print or save as you prefer. I presume our primitive mag stripe barriers prevent that simple solution working here.

Wallsendmag · 18 Aug 2019

DelW said:
I had a similar problem at an SWR station a couple of weeks ago, collecting TOD tickets bought on the GWR website. As per instructions, I tried using the credit card which I'd used to pay for the tickets, but it wasn't read successfully on three tries. After that, I tried a different (debit, not credit) card, which was read straight away, and the tickets printed. Had I not had the alternative card, I'm not sure how I'd have got my tickets.

Because of past problems with TOD, I've usually opted for tickets to be posted, but most if not all booking sites now charge extra for that.

Last week I booked tickets between Berlin and Dresden from Deutsche Bahn, who simply email you a PDF ticket which you can print or save as you prefer. I presume our primitive mag stripe barriers prevent that simple solution working here.

No that's available here and now, has been for some time.

sheff1 · 18 Aug 2019

DelW said:
I had a similar problem at an SWR station a couple of weeks ago, collecting TOD tickets bought on the GWR website. As per instructions, I tried using the credit card which I'd used to pay for the tickets, but it wasn't read successfully on three tries. After that, I tried a different (debit, not credit) card, which was read straight away, and the tickets printed.

I had the same. Two different machines would not recognise the card I had booked with. I tried another card (which I never use for online purchases) and the tickets printed without problem. No idea what was going on, but certainly goes against what is often said on here - that you must use the card you purchased with.

To answer the OP, if I was boarding at an unmanned station and the TVM(s) would not print the the tickets, I would board the train and explain to the guard (if there was one). What would have happen then ..... who knows.

DelW · 19 Aug 2019

Wallsendmag said:
No that's available here and now, has been for some time.

I will have to look further next time, all I saw offered was TOD or post. Can all station barriers read home printed tickets? I don't think I've seen anyone use one at a station other than Eurostar check in.

alistairlees · 19 Aug 2019

DelW said:
I will have to look further next time, all I saw offered was TOD or post. Can all station barriers read home printed tickets? I don't think I've seen anyone use one at a station other than Eurostar check in.

You can get barcode tickets on all services and for all the main ticket types (Advance, Off-Peak, Anytime) for every National Rail journey in GB except:
- cross-London journeys that involve the tube (so not for Travelcards either). Journeys to / from London Terminals are fine
- journeys entirely within London Zones 1-6
- Journeys on or that involve c2c, Southeastern or Merseyrail
- journeys that are only on ScotRail and where there is no alternative (such as XC)

There's probably something I have missed off, but the point is it's in most places now.

Almost all gatelines in areas where there are barcode tickets now have at least one gate aisle that is equipped with a barcode scanner. The remaining gatelines in the barcode ticketing areas will do so very soon.

DelW · 19 Aug 2019

Thanks for that, I'll look out for the gateline readers and consider doing tickets that way next time I'm buying online rather than in person. Previously I've only used home print tickets on Deutsche Bahn, plus an Amtrak system where the ticket machine scanned the printed barcode and issued a conventional ticket.

gsnedders · 19 Aug 2019

sheff1 said:
No idea what was going on, but certainly goes against what is often said on here - that you must use the card you purchased with.

It's a flag on the booking in the ToD database: either it will accept any card or it will only accept the card used to pay for the booking.

Haywain · 19 Aug 2019

gsnedders said:
It's a flag on the booking in the ToD database: either it will accept any card or it will only accept the card used to pay for the booking.

And in most cases depends on who the retailer is.

jtuk · 19 Aug 2019

Haywain said:
And in most cases depends on who the retailer is.

Does it also depend on the machine used to collect? Bought tickets from Virgin online last month, Northern machine claimed not to recognise the number yesterday, Virgin machine printed it fine quarter of an hour later. Same card used.

alistairlees · 19 Aug 2019

jtuk said:
Does it also depend on the machine used to collect? Bought tickets from Virgin online last month, Northern machine claimed not to recognise the number yesterday, Virgin machine printed it fine quarter of an hour later. Same card used.

The machines are dumb. They all have access to the same central database for ticket collection. The central database contains the “same card collection” / “any card collection” flag. What you experienced was just coincidence.

DC2001 · 19 Aug 2019

alistairlees said:
The machines are dumb. They all have access to the same central database for ticket collection. The central database contains the “same card collection” / “any card collection” flag. What you experienced was just coincidence.

Does the same card restriction apply based on the machine used to collect the tickets or the retailer from who the tickets are purchased from?

alistairlees · 19 Aug 2019

DC2001 said:
Does the same card restriction apply based on the machine used to collect the tickets or the retailer from who the tickets are purchased from?

The retailer.

DC2001 · 19 Aug 2019

alistairlees said:
The retailer.

That's annoying was planning to collect tickets purchased from TPE at a Virgin machine tomorrow but don't have the card on me- never mind the journey is a few weeks away.

TVM not recognising card

Member

RailUK Forums

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Member

Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Veteran Member

Member

Established Member

Member

Established Member

Member