Check your return rail tickets!

[ColinJ]

There is a gremlin in the works of the railway station ticket machines round here and I don't believe that the problem is confined to the Calder Valley so this might catch you out too, wherever you are in the UK...

For the second time in 2 weeks, the machine at Todmorden station printed 2 Outward tickets for me rather than an Outward ticket and a Return one. Both times I had to join the queue at the ticket office to get replacement tickets issued.

The man at the office today told me that he has seen it 4 or 5 times so it is some kind of sporadic glitch rather than a permanent fault.

While they are trying to debug the ticketing system, it would be a good idea to check your tickets when buying returns. A conductor on a crowded evening train might not take your word if you told him/her that you had paid for the correct ticket but didn't have it because the ticketing software is faulty!

Has anyone else had this happen?

 

[Levo-Lon]

The wife is off to London Saturday..
If she can't get home I'll have a friggin blinding weekend.

I'll not tell her

 

[classic33]

There is a gremlin in the works of the railway station ticket machines round here and I don't believe that the problem is confined to the Calder Valley so this might catch you out too, wherever you are in the UK...

For the second time in 2 weeks, the machine at Todmorden station printed 2 Outward tickets for me rather than an Outward ticket and a Return one. Both times I had to join the queue at the ticket office to get replacement tickets issued.

The man at the office today told me that he has seen it 4 or 5 times so it is some kind of sporadic glitch rather than a permanent fault.

While they are trying to debug the ticketing system, it would be a good idea to check your tickets when buying returns. A conductor on a crowded evening train might not take your word if you told him/her that you had paid for the correct ticket but didn't have it because the ticketing software is faulty!

Has anyone else had this happen?

Two staff at Halifax in the morning with portable machines selling tickets since the new machines went in. Tod and Bradford have a similar problem with the new machines. Bradford had nine platform staff covering tickets this morning.

 

[Illaveago]

Two staff at Halifax in the morning with portable machines selling tickets since the new machines went in. Tod and Bradford have a similar problem with the new machines. Bradford had nine platform staff covering tickets this morning.

Sounds like progress !

 

[Globalti]

The go-to place for the Manchester crowd is Holmes Mill in Clitheroe; it takes an hour by Northern Fail from Victoria station and if you happen to be at the wrong end of the train the guard will never make it to sell you a ticket because of all the banter and carry-on he's dealing with further down. Just sayin', like.

 

[ColinJ]

The go-to place for the Manchester crowd is Holmes Mill in Clitheroe; it takes an hour by Northern Fail from Victoria station and if you happen to be at the wrong end of the train the guard will never make it to sell you a ticket because of all the banter and carry-on he's dealing with further down. Just sayin', like.

It used to be possible to walk straight on or off the platforms at MCV but they have ticket barriers there now! My missing return ticket was to come back on Saturday evening after my Cheshire forum ride and I didn't fancy trying to explain to staff at those barriers that my ticket hadn't been printed correctly.

I never dodge ticket buying but in the past before the local stations got ticket machines it was sometimes bloody difficult to actually buy one. I got on at Halifax once intending to buy a ticket on the train but the guard never came along. Still no sign of him by Mytholmroyd and I was getting off a couple of minutes down the line at Hebden Bridge so I went to find him. He was at the end of the train gossiping to another railway employee. I told him that I was about to get off at the next station and needed to buy a ticket. He made it clear that he wasn't bothered about selling me a ticket and told me not to worry because the station was unmanned! I told him not to complain a few years down the line when unmanned trains came in because he certainly wasn't earning his pay ...

The new machines have a 'Promise To Pay' option (along with 'Buy Tickets' and 'Collect Tickets' options). If you intend to buy a ticket on the train you must first print a PTP ticket. At first I thought it was nothing more than a reminder that a ticket had to be purchased, but then I realised that it is actually proof of which station you boarded at and therefore which ticket you need to buy from the guard. He/She will know if you got on 6 stops back rather than at the station that the train just left. This is because the new machines do not take cash so card-free travellers need to be able to buy tickets on the train. (It also helps if you arrive at the station just before the train is due to depart. You can get a PTP ticket printed in a few seconds rather than the 2 minutes it would probably take to buy the actual ticket to travel.)

 

[Globalti]

Well that PTP ticket sounds like a half-reasonable solution. But is it any wonder that Northern Fail are so rubbish and have actually lost the franchise? The sooner they rattle off down the line the better.

 

[ColinJ]

Well that PTP ticket sounds like a half-reasonable solution. But is it any wonder that Northern Fail are so rubbish and have actually lost the franchise? The sooner they rattle off down the line the better.

Arriva Trains Wales were not much better last weekend. They seemed to be short of carriages so they were juggling what they had. I was supposed to be travelling on a 4-carriage train but they ran it with only 2, with inevitable overcrowding.

 

[MontyVeda]

The go-to place for the Manchester crowd is Holmes Mill in Clitheroe; it takes an hour by Northern Fail from Victoria station and if you happen to be at the wrong end of the train the guard will never make it to sell you a ticket because of all the banter and carry-on he's dealing with further down. Just sayin', like.

It's similar between Lancaster and Preston... board a long Euston or Glasgow bound train with the intention of buying a ticket and chances are you won't see a guard during that 15 minute journey

 

[classic33]

Well that PTP ticket sounds like a half-reasonable solution. But is it any wonder that Northern Fail are so rubbish and have actually lost the franchise? The sooner they rattle off down the line the better.

It's still Northern that have the franchise.

 

[Globalti]

Unfortunately yes they have it for a couple more years.

 

[ColinJ]

I have just been in touch with @Littgull about tomorrow's forum ride in Cheshire. He has been bitten by the same ticketing bug and now has 2 tickets to get him to Manchester but no ticket to get him back!!

 

[classic33]

I have just been in touch with @Littgull about tomorrow's forum ride in Cheshire. He has been bitten by the same ticketing bug and now has 2 tickets to get him to Manchester but no ticket to get him back!!

Show them both at the barrier, before passing through. I got two returns, no outward on Thursday.

 

[NorthernDave]

The new machines have a 'Promise To Pay' option (along with 'Buy Tickets' and 'Collect Tickets' options). If you intend to buy a ticket on the train you must first print a PTP ticket. At first I thought it was nothing more than a reminder that a ticket had to be purchased, but then I realised that it is actually proof of which station you boarded at and therefore which ticket you need to buy from the guard. He/She will know if you got on 6 stops back rather than at the station that the train just left. This is because the new machines do not take cash so card-free travellers need to be able to buy tickets on the train. (It also helps if you arrive at the station just before the train is due to depart. You can get a PTP ticket printed in a few seconds rather than the 2 minutes it would probably take to buy the actual ticket to travel.)

Allegedly, lots of people were getting on crammed peak hour trains into the city from unstaffed stations like Sowerby Bridge, Ben Rhydding, Hornbeam Park and Micklefield and presenting themselves at the railside ticket office on arrival at Leeds and claiming they'd actually boarded the train at Bramley, Kirkstall Forge, Burley Park and Cross Gates...
If you don't have a PTP or valid ticket on arrival at the barrier it's a penalty fare of the higher of £20 or double the single fare.

Despite the mess they're making of running the trains, the Northern app isn't too bad and does away with all that nonsense.

 

[classic33]

Allegedly, lots of people were getting on crammed peak hour trains into the city from unstaffed stations like Sowerby Bridge, Ben Rhydding, Hornbeam Park and Micklefield and presenting themselves at the railside ticket office on arrival at Leeds and claiming they'd actually boarded the train at Bramley, Kirkstall Forge, Burley Park and Cross Gates...
If you don't have a PTP or valid ticket on arrival at the barrier it's a penalty fare of the higher of £20 or double the single fare.

Despite the mess they're making of running the trains, the Northern app isn't too bad and does away with all that nonsense.

When they cancel them, they ain't running.