Disposing of Used Tickets?

[Chrius56000]

. . .Just a quickie one!

. . .With the attitude that virtually all English and Welsh TOCs take regarding ANY ticket or fare irregularity, is it safe to dispose of a paper ticket (either C.C.S.T. or on "bog–roll" thermal paper!) once you've left your destination station exit door, or is it still advisable to keep your used ticket for a period of time after the day your journey is complete?

 

[trainophile]

Why would you need it once you’ve left the station and completed your journey?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Why would you need it once you’ve left the station and completed your journey?

Delay Repay, perhaps?

 

[Chrius56000]

. . . Apart from Delay Repay proof, theoretically you shouldn't, but I have read a number of "mistaken identity" and "false details" cases on this Forum where TOCs and Courts haven't done enough (or even anything at all!) to verify the accuracy of who's details they might be chasing, and if I was unlucky enough to be on the wrong end of one of these cases, would the old ticket, if kept, provide a complete defence?

 

[TUC]

. . . Apart from Delay Repay proof, theoretically you shouldn't, but I have read a number of "mistaken identity" and "false details" cases on this Forum where TOCs and Courts haven't done enough (or even anything at all!) to verify the accuracy of who's details they might be chasing, and if I was unlucky enough to be on the wrong end of one of these cases, would the old ticket, if kept, provide a complete defence?

I can only see overthinking here.

 

[DelW]

Most exit gatelines swallow expiring CCST tickets anyway, so it would be quite unreasonable for a TOC to expect a passenger to retain or provide evidence of having had a correct ticket once they've arrived at their destination.

 

[Hadders]

. . . Apart from Delay Repay proof, theoretically you shouldn't, but I have read a number of "mistaken identity" and "false details" cases on this Forum where TOCs and Courts haven't done enough (or even anything at all!) to verify the accuracy of who's details they might be chasing, and if I was unlucky enough to be on the wrong end of one of these cases, would the old ticket, if kept, provide a complete defence?

Billions of journeys are made every year without incident. The cases we see on here are a tiny, tiny proportion of journeys made are aren't really representative.

I do think you're over reacting here.

 

[island]

Once you've finished your journey satisfactorily if you have no need of the ticket for DelayRepay or expenses etc., you can dispose of the ticket after leaving your destination station.

(CCSTs should be placed in general waste as apparently the magnetic stripe makes them non-recyclable. I am not sure about PRTs.)

 

[talldave]

. . . Apart from Delay Repay proof, theoretically you shouldn't, but I have read a number of "mistaken identity" and "false details" cases on this Forum where TOCs and Courts haven't done enough (or even anything at all!) to verify the accuracy of who's details they might be chasing, and if I was unlucky enough to be on the wrong end of one of these cases, would the old ticket, if kept, provide a complete defence?

Cases of mistaken identity and false details are going to be about a journey you haven’t made, not one you have.

 

[bleeder4]

I keep mine as a souvenir of the journey, but I acknowledge that that is weird. It's why I haven't yet switched to e-tickets, still use physical ones. I have over 7,000 tickets in a cupboard, for every train journey I have ever made since the mid 1990s (when I became old enough to travel on trains by myself).

But, yeah, unless you're weird like me then I would just chuck them in the bin when you reach your destination.

 

[zero]

Being in possession of a ticket after your travel is concluded does not absolve you from failing to show it when requested during travel, and it doesn't prove that the ticket was used by you to travel. Although it can be proof that you paid a fare to travel.

I scan all my tickets and then put them in a box.

I recently sold my box of about 1000 used tickets for £5 on ebay.

I also sold my collection of non-UK tickets covering 10 years of travel and got £10.

I don't bother keeping e-tickets, I just record those journeys in my diary.

I had a dodgy acquaintance who retrieved used but unmarked tickets from bins at stations and (according to him) successfully used them to travel intercity over many years. The proliferation of e-tickets have put a stop to that.

 

[DarloRich]

don't over think it - just bin your tickets, or like me keep them to use as a handy bookmark!

 

[ivorytoast28]

You don't usually have much choice with the barriers swallowing them. I've specifically asked to keep them before and simply been told no by gate staff

 

[DarloRich]

You don't usually have much choice with the barriers swallowing them. I've specifically asked to keep them before and simply been told no by gate staff

At a former employer we used to have to send in the receipt AND ticket for a successful expenses claim ( I know, I know!) and never once did a gate person refuse. You must have been unlucky!

 

[Western Sunset]

Are used tickets still (technically) the property of the railway?

 

[xotGD]

If I have to claim delay repay, and am exiting at a station with barriers, I take a photo of the ticket while I'm still on the train just in case I am unable to retain my ticket.

Unless I have left my phone at home!

(A tendency to leave my phone at home is one reason why I have stuck with physical tickets.)

 

[Wallsendmag]

The flip side is if you use eTickets you’ll always have a copy of the ticket

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I put my paper tickets in a drawer (and try to avoid the barriers swallowing them, but I have to accept that happening sometimes).
I don't do anything specifically for e-tickets but most of them are going to be in my emails somewhere.

 

[Halwynd]

I keep mine as a souvenir of the journey, but I acknowledge that that is weird.

Not weird at all...

Put them all in a bag and flog 'em on eBay in twenty years time... instant cash.

 

[yorksrob]

I've only kept mine from 2008 onwards and not had any issues so far.

 

[londonbridge]

(CCSTs should be placed in general waste as apparently the magnetic stripe makes them non-recyclable. I am not sure about PRTs.)

Didn’t think about CCST’s being non-recyclable tbh. If one is still in my possession when I get home I generally put it in my paper and card recycling box.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Didn’t think about CCST’s being non-recyclable tbh. If one is still in my possession when I get home I generally put it in my paper and card recycling box.

Definately can't recycle CCST

 

[trainophile]

Definately can't recycle CCST

What would it do, gum up the works at the recycling centre?

 

[D1537]

Used tickets always used to get put in big bags and sent back to ... somewhere ... by train.

If they weren't intercepted before they got there, of course ... *cough* *Derby*

 

[DaventryRabbit]

I keep mine as a souvenir of the journey, but I acknowledge that that is weird. It's why I haven't yet switched to e-tickets, still use physical ones. I have over 7,000 tickets in a cupboard, for every train journey I have ever made since the mid 1990s (when I became old enough to travel on trains by myself).

But, yeah, unless you're weird like me then I would just chuck them in the bin when you reach your destination.

Unneringly similar to myself in most ways!
In a few years when paper tickets really are the exception rather than the rule, they may be worth a few £.

 

[bakerstreet]

Earlier thread may be of interest

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/£quarter-of-a-million-investment-in-orange-ccst-by-rdg.244005/

From Rail magazine (Issue 976)

Orange tickets are now greener

Rail passengers who buy a total of 500 million orange paper tickets every year will not notice the difference, but the solvent used in the black magnetic strip on the reverse has been changed

It is now water-based to reduce its environmental impact by 87%, in a £230,000 investment by the RDG

And this article from 1997 when Japan had either started or had almost developed ways to recycle magnetic paper tickets.

RAILWAY RECYCLING: Used Tickets Target of New Recycling Efforts

Although the magnetic material on the back of the tickets was once viewed as a stumbling block to recycling, recyclers are developing new ways to reuse this magnetic backing in a variety of products, such as wallpaper and outer-wall materials.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Suppose the used tickets could always be incinerated / burnt for "energy recovery". That's recycling, isn't it?

 

[Haywain]

That's recycling, isn't it?

No.

 

[island]

Are used tickets still (technically) the property of the railway?

I think that clause got taken out of the NRCOC/T a few revisions ago.

 

[BazingaTribe]

I keep mine as a souvenir of the journey, but I acknowledge that that is weird. It's why I haven't yet switched to e-tickets, still use physical ones. I have over 7,000 tickets in a cupboard, for every train journey I have ever made since the mid 1990s (when I became old enough to travel on trains by myself).

But, yeah, unless you're weird like me then I would just chuck them in the bin when you reach your destination.

That's impressive. Have you seen the guy who wanted one for each station in the UK and had pinned them up on a wall?

I do the same with my tickets, or my coat pockets see it that way at least. I wrecked at least one wallet by stuffing too many outward tickets in on top of themselves (because I left the railway at an ungated station) and stretching the cardholder pockets to the point where everything was falling out and then I started ripping them up so I wasn't fumbling about pulling twenty different tickets out of my pocket and shuffling through them.

Now I just buy e-tickets.