Permit To Travel machines

[bionic]

These were everywhere in the 90s around London. The amount of places you could go to for 5p was staggering. They came in (from what I can recall) around the time BR was gearing up to privatisation and most stations in SE London were totally unstaffed for most, or all of the day and revenue checks were almost never. Every station seemed to have one, although some were quite well hidden. When did they start to disappear? And are there any left?

 

[pdeaves]

There is still one on Oxford station platform 3; others still exist elsewhere but I cannot recall where at the moment.

 

[PeterC]

The only time that I tried to use one when a ticket office was closed it was switched off. I then discovered that this was because there was a working ticket machine available - hidden behind a pillar.

 

[Highlandspring]

There is/was a website dedicated exclusively to photos of them, which was fascinating if only for the single minded focus on a very esoteric subject.

 

[hexagon789]

There is/was a website dedicated exclusively to photos of them, which was fascinating if only for the single minded focus on a very esoteric subject.

I'm guessing the PERT.IS CENTRAL website which lists all the machines? Not sure how recently it's been updated:
https://pert.is

 

[Peter C]

There is still one on Oxford station platform 3; others still exist elsewhere but I cannot recall where at the moment.

Does the one on Oxford P3 work? If so, a visit there is definitely required!

-Peter

 

[pdeaves]

Does the one on Oxford P3 work? If so, a visit there is definitely required!

-Peter

It did the last time I used it, but that was a long time ago. It will require a late evening visit when the ticket office is shut.

 

[Peter C]

It did the last time I used it, but that was a long time ago. It will require a late evening visit when the ticket office is shut.

OK. Thanks very much.

-Peter

 

[Mag_seven]

And are there any left?

I saw one today at Northolt Park.

 

[CarltonA]

The machine may still be in place at Denham Golf Club. That ticket office would have made a Spartan workplace, though it is actually a replacement for the original which was burned down. Image courtesy of the wiki article on said station.

 

[pdeaves]

Oh yes, Monks Risborough has one, I think. No idea how workable though. As the station is unstaffed there are no time restrictions.

 

[Aictos]

Grange Park, Watton-At-Stone had them up to 2014 I think? I know the former def had them until Oyster arrived.

Hertford North had one in the booking hall until the Gateline got installed then it was removed.

 

[BasildonBob]

I remember seeing several that had been converted to 'Permit to rave' machines with a bit of judicious vandalism....very topical in the mid-90s
https://www.flickr.com/photos/craigboney/4579282606/in/photostream/

 

[Rockhopper]

Worksop Station on the Robin Hood line has one.

 

[matt]

Still one at Lapworth

 

[GarethW]

I haven’t seen the one at Beaulieu Road say anything apart from “out of service” since early 2016.



This is what it says these days.

 

[WesternLancer]

These were everywhere in the 90s around London. The amount of places you could go to for 5p was staggering. They came in (from what I can recall) around the time BR was gearing up to privatisation and most stations in SE London were totally unstaffed for most, or all of the day and revenue checks were almost never. Every station seemed to have one, although some were quite well hidden. When did they start to disappear? And are there any left?

Network Southeast installed one at my local station at the time (in sussex) by late 1980s. Before privatisation was on the active agenda really.

The station had part time ticket office hours, but no other ticket machine (busier NSE stations did have an early era version of a ticket machine with buttons for popular local destinations IIRC*). I think they came in with the advent of penalty fare scheme but for stations that would not have been open to allow you to buy a ticket, to show that you were not intending to travel without a ticket (of course).

I would use it regularly, then go to find the guard on the train to avoid a quene at the excess fares window on arrival at the terminus.

I recall the machine was removed around the time the TOC installed a sophisticated TVM that would sell a fairly wide range of tickets.

On one occasion the 'permit' it printed out was blank - machine run out of ink I assume, so I got 2. I thought it might be handy to keep one as a fall back if I was ever in a situation where I'd not got a ticket and didn't want to encounter a prosecution happy inspector! Such a situation never arose, as I'm pretty sure that 25+ years later I still have the blank permit to travel!

* yes, the Ascom8050 by the looks of it - this says from 1989
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascom_B8050_Quickfare
so I'm guessing the permit to travel machine would have been installed at the same sort of time the ticket machine went in or before, in case the Ascom TVM did not have your ticket on the button list, or the station did not have the Ascom m/c installed at all.

 

[dazzler]

There was definitely a NSE Permit To Travel machine at Pitsea on the London, Tilbury and Southend route before May 1989, as I used it several times on my way back to Ilford after band practice. I moved back to York in May 1989 and have never been near the place since.

 

[WesternLancer]

There was definitely a NSE Permit To Travel machine at Pitsea on the London, Tilbury and Southend route before May 1989, as I used it several times on my way back to Ilford after band practice. I moved back to York in May 1989 and have never been near the place since.

Yes, and I moved away from Sussex in 1988 (but still often went / go back to visit) so I think the machine I recall could have been installed in '87 at least or even '86 possibly.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Network Southeast installed one at my local station at the time (in sussex) by late 1980s. Before privatisation was on the active agenda really.

The station had part time ticket office hours, but no other ticket machine (busier NSE stations did have an early era version of a ticket machine with buttons for popular local destinations IIRC*). I think they came in with the advent of penalty fare scheme but for stations that would not have been open to allow you to buy a ticket, to show that you were not intending to travel without a ticket (of course).
...

That's correct - the introduction of Permit to Travel machines was nothing to do with privatisation, and all down to the introduction of penalty fares in 1989.