Previous passenger left ticket in machine

[eroded]

Hi,

I noticed I had scooped up a leftover return ticket portion in the machine tray from a previous customer. Have already left the station in question by train.

Do I hand it in to a guard on board? Would this do any good? In theory I suppose they could match up with the outbound ticket number if said passenger claims they 'left the ticket in the machine'?

If not, if the return portion is actually of use to me, would it be fair/legal to use it?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Hi,

I noticed I had scooped up a leftover return ticket portion in the machine tray from a previous customer. Have already left the station in question by train.

Do I hand it in to a guard on board? Would this do any good? In theory I suppose they could match up with the outbound ticket number if said passenger claims they 'left the ticket in the machine'?

Possibly, though more likely they would put it in the bin. I'd certainly give it to staff, though, I wouldn't keep it.

If not, if the return portion is actually of use to me, would it be fair/legal to use it?

It isn't yours so it is certainly not moral to use it. I'd suggest that if you took it with the permanent intention to deprive its owner of it you've committed theft. Though as the railway technically owns it that might not stick. Either way, it's not yours, give it to staff.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi,

I noticed I had scooped up a leftover return ticket portion in the machine tray from a previous customer. Have already left the station in question by train.

Do I hand it in to a guard on board? Would this do any good? In theory I suppose they could match up with the outbound ticket number if said passenger claims they 'left the ticket in the machine'?

If not, if the return portion is actually of use to me, would it be fair/legal to use it?

Give it in - say where you found it (TVM at which station) .

It's too theoretical to imagine it actually happening but imagine situation:

person who bought ticket goes home, gets on train, thinks ticket in purse. Guard asks for it, it can't be found - outbound ticket indicates it was part of a return. Person or even gaurd thinks maybe they left it in machine - guard contacts control etc - 'was a ticket handed in from A to B today?' - oh yes, earlier on a passenger at B said they found this in ticket machine.

All good - so too many chances of the links not being made for this to actually happen, but it's still best to 'do the right thing' when you can.

So it would not be fair for you to use it, and not sure it would be legal would it - aren't tickets still 'Not Transferable' as part of T&Cs?

 

[pdeaves]

If you had left the ticket behind and someone else found it, what would you rather they did? Hand it in, I expect. Do as you wish to be done.

 

[grumblingalong]

Hand it in please, I had a situation just yesterday where a ticket had been left behind, a quick call to the station, they'd had one handed in, permit to travel issued after checking the particulars!

 

[sheff1]

If the tiicket was for a train other than the one I was on I would hand it in at my destination station (assuming it was staffed) rather than to the guard.

 

[BlueFox]

A few weeks ago I picked up a load of tickets from a machine (30+ bits of card), and didn't have the time to check I'd got everything until I got on the train (Carlisle to Newcastle).

When I then checked all the tickets I found the return portion of a first class Carlisle to York return (£168!). I thought there was a chance the owner of the ticket was on the same train, so I took it to the guard and explained what had happened. The ticket had been printed a few minutes before the previous Newcastle train left though, so they were probably on the earlier train.

I didn't notice any tickets in the tray before I collected my own, so I assume it had been stuck in the mechanism and pushed through by my tickets.

I've also found someone else's Leicester to Stevenage ticket in a machine at Leicester, which I handed in at the ticket office. They would have already been on the train by then though.


I've also left a ticket in a machine before, the outward portion of a Nuneaton to Leicester ticket, which I picked up at Preston. I picked up the number of tickets I was expecting, and it was only when the tickets were being checked on the train that I realised that I had a reservation I wasn't expecting, and didn't have the actual ticket. It was a busy train and I moved to the other end and managed to avoid a check. Then I avoided the barriers at Leicester by leaving via the unmanned car park exit.

 

[paddington]

After collecting and buying some tickets at a machine in St Pancras and getting on the train, I noticed I had also picked up a single to Bedford that I didn't buy.

I guess the purchaser took the card receipt and not the ticket by mistake, but I was at the machine for a long time and the purchase time was around 4 minutes before I arrived at the machine. So they should have had enough time to come back...