LNER/Virgin EC tickets

I was travelling on an LNER service this evening from York to London and my ticket, an advance single booked via the LNER website and collected from a Northern ticket machine states:

“On specified LNER trains & connections”

Then next to time time of my train it says “Virgin Trains EC”

The train manager said that as it is a Virgin Trains ticket it isn’t valid on LNER, but after looking at it for around 30 seconds said “I’ll let you off just this once”

I’ve just checked some tickets for future journeys purchased from the LNER website and collected from the same ticket machine and they also mention on specified LNER trains and connections and then Virgin Trains EC next to the time of my train.

Would it be wise for me to take them to a ticket office to have them endorsed for travel on LNER services or changed?

I think your Train Manager has a reading comprehension issue! Of course a ticket for Virgin Trains EC is valid it was the same company until it failed and LNER was formed to run the service!

I would say there's no need to get it endorsed (indeed you're likely to hopelessly confuse the poor ticket office staff) as you have a valid ticket! I have used many tickets with Virgin Trains EC on then without issue.

Thanks for your reassurance and was possibly wondering if there had been a grace period since VTEC ending which had now finished

This is due to the data on the Northern ticket machines being out of date.

91103eastcoast said:

"I’ll let you off just this once"

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...was the Train Manager's way of backing down without having to admit he was wrong.

Don't bother getting your remaining tickets endorsed; the rest of LNER's TMs know what they're doing.

I suspect they see a few Virgin Trains tickets leaving Edinburgh and autopilot kicked in.

91103eastcoast said:

I was travelling on an LNER service this evening from York to London and my ticket, an advance single booked via the LNER website and collected from a Northern ticket machine states:

“On specified LNER trains & connections”

Then next to time time of my train it says “Virgin Trains EC”

Click to expand...

There was a thread about this the other day. It's a printing issue at the TVM; see https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...virgin-trains-east-coast.192613/#post-4216740

91103eastcoast said:

The train manager said that as it is a Virgin Trains ticket it isn’t valid on LNER

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They made that up; in any case if you are following the itinerary given it's not your problem. It's an internal rail industry matter

91103eastcoast said:

but after looking at it for around 30 seconds said “I’ll let you off just this once”

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This is what some unknowledgeable staff say when they have made a mistake. It's not the first time and won't be the last.

91103eastcoast said:

I’ve just checked some tickets for future journeys purchased from the LNER website and collected from the same ticket machine and they also mention on specified LNER trains and connections and then Virgin Trains EC next to the time of my train.

Click to expand...

It's an issue with the machine

91103eastcoast said:

Would it be wise for me to take them to a ticket office to have them endorsed for travel on LNER services or changed?

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The tickets are valid; there is no need for them to be endorsed. I wouldn't do this.

If any LNER Guards are unhappy with it, they can take it up internally. They should not be hassling customers over internal rail industry issues. Unfortunately a small number of them behave in an unacceptable manner, but the chances of meeting one of them is low. In any case, if they were to charge you, you can either refuse or you can pay up and then ask the company to provide appropriate compensation for breach of contract, and you would also be able to present evidence of wrongdoing.

I'd write and complain about the behaviour of the Guard anyway, but as they didn't actually charge you, I suspect no action will be taken, as the threatened breach of contract didn't actually occur.

The LNER Train managers have already taken it up internally and the Retail Systems team have fed it back to the affected TOCs.

I had the same 'issue' with tickets for a journey from Arlesey to Sheffield during the summer. They printed exactly like yours, stating the 'On specified LNER services and connections' line while labelling the reserved LNER service as Virgin Trains EC. I posted a message on the LNER Twitter account about it, and they confirmed that the tickets were definitely valid despite incorrectly stating VTEC instead of LNER. I also had no issues using the tickets on the day of travel. If I can find the tweet, I'll post a link here (this was back in May/June, so I'll have to dig through their Twitter account).

In case anyone's interested to know which TOCs could be affected, as alluded to by Wallsendmag's post, I printed my tickets using one of the TVMs at Biggleswade (GTR).

We’ve seen it on both Worldline and S&B machines so anyone who uses those.

91103eastcoast said:

I was travelling on an LNER service this evening from York to London and my ticket, an advance single booked via the LNER website and collected from a Northern ticket machine states:

“On specified LNER trains & connections”

Then next to time time of my train it says “Virgin Trains EC”

The train manager said that as it is a Virgin Trains ticket it isn’t valid on LNER, but after looking at it for around 30 seconds said “I’ll let you off just this once”

I’ve just checked some tickets for future journeys purchased from the LNER website and collected from the same ticket machine and they also mention on specified LNER trains and connections and then Virgin Trains EC next to the time of my train.

Would it be wise for me to take them to a ticket office to have them endorsed for travel on LNER services or changed?

Click to expand...

There aren't any Virgin services from York to London!
I would have asked the guard to tell what train your ticket is valid on tbh