Collection tickets when no office or machine

[Wallsendmag]

You would think so, but I've seen (and indeed been issued) cases where staff have been issued Travel Warrants (or bought tickets on a Company Card) for Business Travel on their own TOC's services.

That's bonkers and certainly not the case at the TOC I work for , unless someone doesn't have access to their Staff Travel Facilities.

 

[PupCuff]

You would think so, but I've seen (and indeed been issued) cases where staff have been issued Travel Warrants (or bought tickets on a Company Card) for Business Travel on their own TOC's services.

That's very definitely an abnormal application of the rules. Even if the staff member would not ordinarily qualify for travel facilities you would simply issue them with a duty travel pass. I can't for the life of me understand why on earth any TOC would willingly pay their own money (which will then get split out through ORCATS to however many other TOCs) for travel on their own services, to then get a fraction of it back when the ticket money's allocated.

 

[reb0118]

It baffles me that Network Rail are expected to pay train companies to allow their own staff to travel for business purposes over their employer's property.

A good few years ago, when working a train, I popped my head into the first class and noticed my company's managing director with a gaggle of senior network rail officers. I stated to the MD that I was sure he could vouch for his "guests". He responded that it would be well worth my while to check for tickets. He was correct in that I was presented with about six rail warrants for first class return travel.

I commented on the fact that it was crazy to charge fellow rail workers travelling on duty whilst NR charged us for parking at their station. In effect creating artificial & inflated costs for the taxpayer & fare payer. I was told that the politicians were to blame.

 

[Belperpete]

What may not have been made clear, is that you can collect your ticket from any station with ticket-issuing facilities, regardless of what station you selected when buying the ticket. At one time, I think that you may have had to wait a bit longer before you could collect from a different station (I seem to recall EMT's website saying 15 mins from the selected station, or two hours to collect anywhere), but this doesn't seem to apply nowadays.

There are a number of stations where you can collect tickets that don't appear on the list. A station that I use fairly frequently is such a case: it has a booking office, but because it doesn't have any TVMs it doesn't appear on the list. I have been told by the booking staff to "just pick any station on the list".

 

[Belperpete]

Every ticket I have booked online and opted for Collect from Machine format has always, without exception, made it abundantly clear you must collect before travelling and you cannot travel with the email. .... I always fail to see how so many people fail to read or understand or just deliberately ignore this information.

My experience has been exactly the opposite. No ticket vendor that I have ever used has stated, at the time of purchase, that you have to collect the ticket before travel. I always PDF print the booking confirmation screen (most vendors helpfully include a print button), in case the email fails to come through, so never bother opening the email. In only one case has the booking confirmation screen included a message that the ticket had to be collected before travel. So I can well understand why people may not understand the requirement, particularly if they are starting their journey from a station where there is no means of collecting the ticket.

 

[Belperpete]

The corporate travel provider I have used most certainly does not give you this warning. Obviously I know where ToD codes can be used to collect tickets but most folk would not. I imagine that the people who run the service know little about railways in the UK, and certainly wouldn't realise that if you select the ToD option that's not available at every station.

In the company that I worked for, most of the support staff responsible for booking rail and other travel, rarely if ever travelled by train themselves. They were given some basic training on how to use the corporate booking system, and that was it. Asking for something like a ticket to London Zone 1, or with Plusbus, or with a railcard discount - you might as well have asked for a ticket to Mars. When selecting a collection station, they usually just selected the station closest to the office. I am certain that none of the emails I received ever had any warning about collecting the ticket before travel - they usually just gave the most basic information about train times and seat numbers.

 

[Wallsendmag]

What may not have been made clear, is that you can collect your ticket from any station with ticket-issuing facilities, regardless of what station you selected when buying the ticket

With paper tickets yest with ITSO only the station that you specify.