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