Booking office pay: what is it, and does it reflect the complexity of some requests?

[gray1404]

I have a couple of friends who work in airline reservations and this involves ticketing. That in its self is very complex. It seems that with the railway industry there are tickets that are simple to issue and others that are more complicated too. I am wondering if the pay booking office staff are paid reflects that. I have no idea how much they are paid. I wonder if what they are paid right now though is enough to justify expecting them to be able to retain such knowledge and be able issue more complex things on demand (even if they do not issue them on a regular basis).

It is really nice to hear though that there are some staff on the network are able to issue tickets and help customers. I certainly will publish any positive stories I have. My last SailRail to Douglas, Isle of Man I had no problems booking at Formby station. He also called the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company for me and made my foot passenger reservations for me and gave me my sailing reference number. He said he wanted to make sure there was space for me on the ferry before he told me the ticket, just to be sure.

 

[Andy-mc]

I use to work in a booking office, the job can get complex and I think the pay is satisfactory as are most jobs on the railway, they tend to get more pay than platform staff who need to be safety critical, and compared to other retail jobs it's really good

 

[Greenback]

Traditionally, booking office staff were always clerical grades, and given more money as a result of that, and the responsibility for the money taken.

When I worked in a FGW ticket office, there wasn't a great deal of differential between those who worked in the travel centre, issuing Advance tickets, and making sleeper or ferry reservations, and those who worked on the tickets for today windows. There was a difference in grade though, although this wasn't reflected in a much bigger pay packet!

 

[Stigy]

I know SWT ticket office staff are paid very well. It's a responsible job within the industry, and could quite easily lead customers in hot water if the wrong tickets are issued. There's obviously the cash handling aspect which means they must be tryst worthy. I think SWT Ticket Office staff get around £10 an hour once fully trained, with a lot of overtime on offer at certain locations.

As somebody else has said, rail staff in general get paid very well when you consider the minimum wage is currently £6.50 an hour. I know of no rail staff, certainly in the south, that are on less than £7.50PH.

 

[EM2]

Most of the time, most jobs on the railway are fairly routine, and to an 'outsider' can look to be money for old rope, as it looks very easy to do.
However, it's when it gets tricky that railway staff really earn their money, whether that's a ticket clerk fulfilling a list of tricky requests, station staff sorting out overcrowding, controllers restoring service after an incident and so on.

 

[Andy-mc]

It is a really good job until you get someone wanting to go to the Isle of Man with 2 bikes on services where bikes have to be reserved and it's got about 3 changes and for part of it they want first class

 

[CyrusWuff]

A quick bit of digging suggests the range for base pay is around £18k to £30k amongst the TOCs, depending on location.

 

[pepperpot80]

Speaking for one Home Counties TOC, full time salary (after initial training) is ~£22,000, with additional money available for those working night shifts, and excluding Sundays, which pay 1.5x the hourly rate.

So, you earn your salary, but usually will be rostered for a certain number of Sundays, and that's before getting into overtime, London allowances, and additional payments for working away from home stations. I think most clerks in my part of the world will be earning £25-29k, depending on their station and shift patterns, pro-rated to their contracted hours.

The pay, I think, adequately reflects the responsibility you have for often large quantities of money, security of entire stations, dealing with the public at all hours of the day, and the large body of knowledge that is required to do the job well*.

Besides the pay, though, it's an incredibly satisfying job, good mix of complex enquires with the usual cheap day returns, and good working conditions. Shift work can be a bit rough, but ultimately that's what you're signing up for, and there are quite a few jobs that only work one regular shift.

*Note: That large body of knowledge not always available, depending on how many night shifts done recently, amount of coffee had that morning, and number of colleagues around to discuss finer points of the routeing guide with.

 

[greatkingrat]

I know SWT ticket office staff are paid very well. It's a responsible job within the industry, and could quite easily lead customers in hot water if the wrong tickets are issued. There's obviously the cash handling aspect which means they must be tryst worthy. I think SWT Ticket Office staff get around £10 an hour once fully trained, with a lot of overtime on offer at certain locations.

I wouldn't call £10 an hour being paid "very well". Its only about £20k a year, well below the median UK salary.

 

[RichmondCommu]

I wouldn't call £10 an hour being paid "very well". Its only about £20k a year, well below the median UK salary.

In the South East I would be inclined to agree with you but in terms of anywhere north of Leicester I would suggest that its not too shabby. Certainly better than working in a call centre or a supermarket where you are only likely to be earning around £7.50 per hour.