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Collecting Advance Tickets from Machines

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hiddeneurope

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Seasonal greetings, and I hope some kind soul here can help me out.

I am travelling Berlin - Brussels - ES - London StP Int - London Kings X - York in January. Berlin to London a snip at 49 euros, and Kings X to York another bargain at 9 pounds.

Because I live outside the UK, the East Coast online shop would not post the London to York tickets to me, but gave me only the option to collect the tickets from a machine at a UK station. So I chose St Pancras as that's where I arrive on Eurostar.

I made the online purchase with a German credit card which does not have the modern style chip-and-pin technology that has been standard in Britain for some years. Never crossed my mind when I made the purchase that it could be a problem. Then I pondered for a week or two... and remembered I have had the experience of one or two shops in Britain refusing to accept it (tho' others just accept it using on of those old manual swipe machines and I then sign for the purchase). Does anyone know if the machines at UK stations can 'read' such prehistoric credit cards? Do I need the PIN number to collect the tickets?

Or if there's a problem can I take the booking confimation to an actual ticket office, speak with a real human being and will she or he then be able to give me the pre-purchased tickets?

I thank you all in advance for any useful thoughts on this conundrum.
Nicky
 
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Daniel

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I'm not sure if the machines can read cards without chips, (although when I worked in a ticket office we could read them).

However, I can say that whether or not you can collect them from a machine, a national rail ticket office will be able to print them for you, even if it's not at the station you selected.
 

John @ home

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Hi Nicki,

I'm sure you'll enjoy your visit to York.
Does anyone know if the machines at UK stations can 'read' such prehistoric credit cards?
I think it's very unlikely that all of the modern types of GB train ticket machines outside booking offices are able to read a card's magnetic stripe. Most of the machines I encounter do not swallow the whole ticket; only part of it is inside the machine. I can't think of any way that such a machine would be able to read the whole of a magnetic stripe.

But not all modern ticket machines are like this. A minority take the whole card into the machine for the duration of the transaction. It's technically possible that these machines read the magnetic stripe, but I doubt it.

In either case, it's probably worth trying your card in a machine at St Pancras because later in the process someone may ask you what error message was displayed.
Do I need the PIN number to collect the tickets?
No, you don't need the card's PIN number. The train companies allow tickets to be collected by someone other than the card holder if the collector has the card and the appropriate information. If the card's PIN number were involved, the credit card companies would not allow this.

The crucial piece of information which you need is the 8-digit alphanumeric code which is described on your Booking Confirmation as your Confirmation number. It's best to print your booking confirmation. Then, if your card is accepted by the ticket machine, you key in your Confirmation number to get your tickets. If not, you should show your card and the booking confirmation to a member of staff in the booking office.
if there's a problem can I take the booking confimation to an actual ticket office, speak with a real human being and will she or he then be able to give me the pre-purchased tickets?
Yes. I have known some problems like this to take quite a long time for the railway industry to sort. Now, I tend to allow about an hour to sort an issue like this and I'm usually pleasantly surprised when it takes much less than time this. On this occasion, I don't expect it to be any problem at all. But I'll go into rather more detail than I hope you will need, due to personal experience of particularly poor performance regarding a very similar issue with a train company which used to run London - York trains.

First, go to the East Midlands Trains booking office at St Pancras. I expect they will have encountered the problem several times and they ought to be able to print your tickets. If they can't help, try the First Capital Connect booking office, which is next door to the East Midlands Trains one.

If you can't get your tickets at St Pancras, walk across the road to Kings Cross. The travel centre is operated by East Cost, probably the company whose train you are using with your £9 ticket. They ought to be able to print your ticket at the travel centre, but there are often very long queues here. If it looks as if there may not be time to sort things out before your train leaves, go to the East Coast company offices near the south end of Platform 1 at Kings Cross (follow the signs for First Class Lounge). The receptionist there is in direct radio contact with East Coast's duty station manager at Kings Cross, who ought to be able to sort things out.

Have a really good visit with no travel problems!
John @ home in Yorkshire
 

johnb

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The machines are supposed to be able to read cards with magstripe only. If there are any problems, then the East Midland Trains ticket office at St Pancras will be able to print your tickets for you instead.

(update: crossed with John@home's post. Everything there is correct, although I think he's being somewhat overcautious when he suggests this could take an hour.)
 

ashworth

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Slightly related question

I've just booked some AP tickets using the East Coast Website and accidently asked to collect them from Newark North Gate station on the day of travel when normally I have them posted to me. Will these have to be collected from the machine or can they be got from the booking office.
 

yorkie

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If you ask to collect tickets from a machine and are unable to do so due to the machine being broken, out of action, or if there is no machine where you want to collect them, then you can simply ask at a booking office. They have access to the same database as the machines do. They'll ask for the name on the card, and where the ticket is from/to. I don't think they ask for the first line of your address but they may do. East Coast have always been co-operative in my experience (although that was with GNER mainly but the staff are the same!)
 

Flyboy

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Nicky - as John @ home pointed out you don't need a PIN number when using the ticket machines, however my experience does differ slightly to his in that when I collect Advance tickets from the machines at either Leeds or Doncaster, they ingest the card for a few seconds and then return it and issue the tickets without needing any further input from me. This raises the question as to exactly what the machine is reading - the magnetic strip or the chip, and that I don't know.

If it's the chip, which you say your card doesn't have, then the machine will probably recognise this when you insert it and will advise you to go to a ticket desk. Alternatively, one would think (if the machines read the chip) that the booking/payment system would have recognised from the 16-digit number you used at the point of purchase that your card doesn't have a chip and would have advised you there and then that collection was only possible from a ticket desk.

It may well be that it's the purely the strip which is read in which case you'll be fine. If not then simply use your booking ref at the ticket desk.
 

yorkie

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It's reading the magnetic stripe. If you only have one booking on your card it may issue it without requiring the reference number to be entered. It's best not to rely on that, but if you do forget/lose the number then the booking office can still find the booking on their database.
 

tony_mac

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Earlier this year I had a card that developed a fault on the chip, but the strip still worked (I could sign for my purchases, but not use chip and pin).
It still worked to collect pre-payed tickets, so those machines must only read the strip.
 

DJ737

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G'day there

I use a Australian issued (Bendigo Bank) VISA debit card without a chip and have no problem collecting tickets from machines, so I think the OP would be fine.

Cheers
DJ737

MYKI, our whizzband multimodal ticketing system was launched in Melbourne today........but only on trains, give me a break:roll:
 

Mike395

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Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I have a similar query:

I've ordered some advance tickets for early February (£9 e/w Ramsgate to Stoke, not bad!) and have opted to collect them at a machine. Can I wait til much nearer the time or do I have to collect them within a certain number of days from booking? :)
 

googolplex

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I didn't pick mine up for around 3 months as I ordered them as soon as the booking window opened and then picked them up on departure, and there wasn't an issue when I collected them.
 
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