This ticket machine is nothing to do with us - Chorley

[osborn99]

I've sent Northern rail an email hoping management will call me. Got an email saying they will reply in 20days. Does anyone have contact details of the bosses at northern rail?

 

[pemma]

I now know the machine thought it printed the outward journey.

You should have applied to East Coast

While applying to the company who sold the ticket is the right course of action, in this instance won't East Coast have said something like "Our computer shows you printed the outbound ticket at Chorley" and the passenger does not have an unused printed ticket?

With all the talk of potential ticket office closures and reduction in ticket office hours Northern really need a more reliable method of issuing TODs and dealing with errors.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I've sent Northern rail an email hoping management will call me. Got an email saying they will reply in 20days. Does anyone have contact details of the bosses at northern rail?

The bosses are based at the York head office. (The customer relations team is based in Leeds.)

9 Rougier Street, York, North Yorkshire YO1 6HZ.

The MD is Ian Bevan.

 

[sheff1]

With all the talk of potential ticket office closures and reduction in ticket office hours Northern really need a more reliable method of issuing TODs and dealing with errors.

As there were no ticket offices to start with at many Northern stations, TVMs should be an improvement - but only if they actually work.

I couldn't see anything in the staff instructions posted earlier as to what is supposed to happen if you are unable to print your tickets from a TVM at an unstaffed station - does anyone know ?

 

[142094]

Best course of action would be to email/write to the Customer Relations team, they are normally quite good at getting things sorted. If you don't have any luck there, then I have several contacts at Northern who should be able to find the department that deals with the TVMs.

 

[northernman]

Hi,

I work for Northern Rail and have responsibility for the TVMs. I have sent osborn99 a message and I will resolve the issue with the ticket and refund problems off forum.

To clarify the process:

- All Northern TVMs offer Ticket on Departure, (with the exception of the machine at John Lennon Airport, just in case you find yourself there!);
- If a print fail occurs then we have briefed all of our ticket office teams on the correct process;
- Our desktop system Fastis does not have the facility to recall bookings, unlike other systems, however we do have an alternative process in place and in the case of osborn99's situation this process should have been followed, needless to say that I will be looking into why the process was not followed and ensure the staff are re briefed;
- It is totally right that if our machine fails to print the tickets that it is our responsibility to resolve the problem for the customer, in this instance it did not go according to plan, and I am sorry about that;

I hope that clears things up, thanks for raising this as a thread, it has made me register and get in touch with osborn99 to resolve the problem directly.

regards

Ian Borthwick, Revenue Projects Manager, Northern Rail

 

[yorkie]

northernman - Welcome to the forum, and thank you very much for resolving the matter so quickly and effectively.

 

[sonic2009]

northernman - Welcome to the forum, and thank you very much for resolving the matter so quickly and effectively.

Yes couldn't agree more with Yorkie, welcome to the forum and for lending a helping hand to sort the matter out.

 

[sheff1]

Welcome indeed.

Can you advise what the procedure should be if you are unable to print your ToD tickets from a TVM at an unstaffed station ?

 

[northernman]

Thank you for your welcome, happy to help.

Sheff1, I can only speak for Northern, however our policy is that if a TVM at an unstaffed station has not printed the tickets then the customer should board the train, (lets face it, they will do that anyway). As long as they explain the situation to our conductor they will be allowed to travel at no additional cost, however they should collect their ticket as soon as possible during their journey from another TVM. Our conductors have been briefed to this effect and are able to contact an internal helpline who have access to the industry database if they wish to validate the claim as a security measure.

Whilst we are on the subject of Ticket on Departure (ToD), I hope the following information may be helpful as I note regular questions on the forum on this subject:

There are generally 3 things that can go wrong with a ToD booking:

1. The TVM fails to print all or part of the ticket(s);
2. The customer has not brought the card they used to purchase the tickets online, (unless they are a corporate customer where this rule generally does not apply);
3. The customer has forgotten their 8 digit 'customer transaction reference' number, (or 'CTR' for those of you who like railway jargon )

In the case of number 1 we should always try to ensure that you are provided with tickets for your journey, and experience as little inconvenince as possible, after all the TVM falls within the TOC's responsibility.

In the case of numbers 2 & 3, it is usually quickest to contact the web retailer from which you bought your tickets who will be able to help, however it is really important to remember to bring the same card!

The other commonly asked question is 'why does XXXX station not appear in the drop down list on the website?'

Rail Settlement Plan (a part of ATOC that governs ticketing standards and money settlement through the Lennon and Orcats systems) have another system called 'Retail Control Service' (RCS for you jargon fans of course). Each TOC has access to this and profiles each station as to whether it allows ToD collection or not. Some Webtis take a feed from RCS, (for example the Northern webtis), and it is this that populates the drop down collection point list. Not all Webtis take this feed however so in some cases if a new TVM is installed it is a more manual process of the TOC contacting the Web retailer to request that the TVM appears on the list, I expect all Webtis at some point will take the RCS feed. From my point of view if a TVM is out of action for a prolonged period then I can amend RCS to ensure someone does not choose the location only to turn up and find the TVM is missing or not working.

I hope that helps.

Regards

Ian

 

[sheff1]

Thanks Ian, most helpful. I am always able to use a staffed station but a friend travels from Chapeltown, which is unstaffed, so I will let him know.

 

[osborn99]

Thanks for your help

As soon as I got management attention Northern rail sorted it very quickly. I have my refund. They promised something like this will never happen again which I am happy with.

Shaun

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....They promised something like this will never happen again....

It's not often I see pigs with wings.....

 

[Rover]

Hey you've got to take your hat off to this guy Northernman, he could have kept his head well below the parapet whilst the muck was flying!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Absolutely, and I believe there is genuine will to help, but stopping it from ever happening again......well, I'll believe it when I see it.