Niggle - Ticket Receipts (SWR and maybe others?)

[DerekC]

Despite my (fairly) ancient status I still sometimes travel at somebody else's expense and am expected to produce a receipt or the cancelled ticket showing where I have been and what I paid, so that I can get the money back. Until a few weeks ago buying a ticket at my local SWR station and asking for a receipt resulted in a clearly printed strip showing the type of ticket, the journey made and the ticket number. The latest technology installed by SWR has done away with all that, and the receipt now just says "Travel" and the total amount. That means I will have to make sure I don't put my ticket in the gate on exit, or I will lose the evidence!

A minor problem, I know, but still worth a moan - are other operators doing the same thing? (Yes, I know, I can pay online, but I don't always want to do that).

 

[gray1404]

I have the exact same issue when I buy a ticket from the TVM at my local station. A few ideas/possible workarounds:

Buy the ticket from a booking office (if your station has one) as receipts from booking offices tend to give all the detail you require

Buy you ticket online for collection at the station. That way you will receive a booking confirmation with all the details by email and be able to log into your online account and print off a booking confirmation that way

Take a photograph of your actual ticket using your phone, if this is possible, as soon as you get on the train. The added bonus of this is if you need to claim delay repay and your ticket is retained by the barrier you don't need to worry as you can use the image to claim online

Ask the staff at the ticket barrier (which it sounds like you are doing already) if you can retain the ticket. Note that they are not obliged to do this as the ticket remains the property of the railway. However, I have never been refused. The exception to this is if you require the ticket to claim delay repay. A request to retain a ticket for delay repay purposes should not be refused.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Yup Mtis @station doesn’t break down what’s been purchased currently. We have a change request in to fix that though. SWR ,GTR,SE, WMT,Chiltern and ourselves (LNER) all use this TIS.

 

[sheff1]

Note that they are not obliged to do this as the ticket remains the property of the railway.

That statement was removed when the NRCoC was superseded by the NRCoT in October 2016. Is it still documented elsewhere ?

 

[gray1404]

That statement was removed when the NRCoC was superseded by the NRCoT in October 2016. Is it still documented elsewhere ?

Interesting so does that mean its now the property of the passenger and they are thus entitled to keep it on request regardless of the reason.

 

[Hadders]

If a ticket is the property of the railway and is presented on an electronic device then this could cause problems if an authorised member of railway staff tried to retain it......

Although far fetched I wouldn't put it past someone to try it!

 

[yorkie]

I now use e-tickets, bought online, where possible.

It means I don't have to worry about :

• problems collecting tickets
• potentially losing tickets
  
• tickets being retained by gatelines

Delay Repay claims and expense claims are incredibly easy with e-tickets, especially when using a combination of tickets; the other day I uploaded a combination of fares by simply attaching the single PDF to the Delay Repay form.

An expense claim can simply be made by printing, forwarding or attaching the booking confirmation email; no need for the e-ticket, but it would be trivial to attach the e-ticket PDF to an expense form if an employer or other organisation required the actual e-ticket (I only know of one [non-incorporated] organisation that requires the actual ticket).

Seriously, give e-tickets a try! (Just be careful which retailer you use a small number of retailers are bringing the industry into disrepute by incorrectly branding/advertising awful m-tickets as e-tickets)

If you must stick with paper tickets, take a photo of all relevant coupons before embarking on the journey, in case you lose any of the coupons.