For the past year or so I have been getting Travel Warrants from work to
exchange for One-Day Travelcards (zones 1-6) for my travel into London
from the suburbs for work matters.

For most of the year I knew the dates I'd be travelling well in advance
so would typically get warrants for all the dates for a whole month
(about seven dates, usually), then take them to my local station and
exchange them all there and then.

All worked well, until today, when I visited my local Southeastern
station and asked a staff member I hadn't seen before to do me a couple
of tickets, one for next week and one for the week after. He insisted
that he couldn't issue One-Day Travelcards more than a week in advance,
so I'd have to come back for the second one next week.

I explained that no-one had ever said this before and I'd been happily
claiming them in advance for a year, and he just responded that he would
report this to the head office in that case so that the staff
responsible would be reprimanded! He was, as you may have gathered, a
charming man.

But was he right? Can all the staff at not just my local station but
also the other couple of stations I used on occasion to claim my tickets
have been wrong for all this time, and this one man right? And if he is
right, why do Southeastern's systems let them issue One-Day Travelcards
more than a *month* in advance? (I claimed 9 December on about
1 November.)

If it's true then it seems a strange rule, anyway, as the tickets
clearly show the date of validity on them, so I'm hardly going to get
away with using it on a different date.

He didn't want to engage in conversation about it though and just
answered whatever I said with the repeated point that it was a "London
Transport" (sic) product so it was nothing to do with him.

Whether he's right or not I rather hope he was only in my station for a
one-day stand-in!

Thanks for any light you can shed,

Paul

On Feb 21, 12:29*am, Paul Speller wrote:
For the past year or so I have been getting Travel Warrants from work to
exchange for One-Day Travelcards (zones 1-6) for my travel into London
from the suburbs for work matters.

For most of the year I knew the dates I'd be travelling well in advance
so would typically get warrants for all the dates for a whole month
(about seven dates, usually), then take them to my local station and
exchange them all there and then.

All worked well, until today, when I visited my local Southeastern
station and asked a staff member I hadn't seen before to do me a couple
of tickets, one for next week and one for the week after. He insisted
that he couldn't issue One-Day Travelcards more than a week in advance,
so I'd have to come back for the second one next week.

I explained that no-one had ever said this before and I'd been happily
claiming them in advance for a year, and he just responded that he would
report this to the head office in that case so that the staff
responsible would be reprimanded! He was, as you may have gathered, a
charming man.

But was he right? Can all the staff at not just my local station but
also the other couple of stations I used on occasion to claim my tickets
have been wrong for all this time, and this one man right? And if he is
right, why do Southeastern's systems let them issue One-Day Travelcards
more than a *month* in advance? (I claimed 9 December on about
1 November.)

If it's true then it seems a strange rule, anyway, as the tickets
clearly show the date of validity on them, so I'm hardly going to get
away with using it on a different date.

He didn't want to engage in conversation about it though and just
answered whatever I said with the repeated point that it was a "London
Transport" (sic) product so it was nothing to do with him.

Whether he's right or not I rather hope he was only in my station for a
one-day stand-in!

Thanks for any light you can shed,

Paul

Can't answer but, just to clarify, was it a Southeastern station
within the zones or a station outside the zones from which you can get
a day return including travelcard?

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:01:00 -0800 (PST), MIG wrote:

Can't answer but, just to clarify, was it a Southeastern station
within the zones or a station outside the zones from which you can get
a day return including travelcard?

Sorry, yes, my post was a bit ambiguous on that front.

It was within Zone 6, as were the other stations I've also used
successfully in the past (one was Zone 5 actually, but you get the
idea.)

Paul

Paul Speller wrote:
For the past year or so I have been getting Travel Warrants from work to
exchange for One-Day Travelcards (zones 1-6) for my travel into London
from the suburbs for work matters.

snip

All worked well, until today, when I visited my local Southeastern
station and asked a staff member I hadn't seen before to do me a couple
of tickets, one for next week and one for the week after. He insisted
that he couldn't issue One-Day Travelcards more than a week in advance,
so I'd have to come back for the second one next week.

snip

But was he right? Can all the staff at not just my local station but
also the other couple of stations I used on occasion to claim my tickets
have been wrong for all this time, and this one man right? And if he is
right, why do Southeastern's systems let them issue One-Day Travelcards
more than a *month* in advance? (I claimed 9 December on about
1 November.)

The rule in question has existed for a number of years (and, if memory
serves, was no more than *three* days in advance at one point).

The wording in "The Manual" is as follows:

-----Start of quoted text-----

*'In-Boundary' - within London Fares Zones 1-6*

The origin station on the ticket must be located within the Fare Zones
that the ticket is being issued for.

Tickets issued to start at a station within the Travelcard area must not
include travel to a station outside the Travelcard area.

Tickets are valid for travel from 0930 Monday to Friday on the date
shown on the ticket, and can only be issued at stations:-

+ on the day of travel – from 0930 Monday to Friday (excluding Public
Holidays), except where trains are timed to depart at or soon after 0930
when they may be issued before 0930. This will normally be after the
departure of the last restricted train, but where the train service
operator allows they may be sold before then.

+ in advance – from 0930 Monday to Friday, any time at weekends, and
Public Holidays, up to 7 days in advance of the day for which the ticket
is dated.

*'Out-Boundary'*

Where available Zones 1-6 Off-Peak Day Travelcards can be issued at
stations as follows:-

+ on the day of travel – after the departure of the last peak time
restricted train. Where Train Companies permit them to be issued
earlier, local instructions will be issued.

+ in advance – from 0930 Monday to Friday, any time at weekends, and
Public Holidays, up to 7 days in advance of the day for which the ticket
is dated.

-----End of quoted text-----

The restrictions on issue for Anytime (formerly Peak) Day Travelcards
are the same, but without the 0930 time restriction.

HTH,

Barry

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:18:44 +0000, Barry Salter wrote:

HTH,

It certainly does! Thanks very much for that comprehensive answer!

Does anyone know what the logic for this restriction is? The date of
validity is clearly shown on the ticket, so where's the harm in having
it a month in advance compared with having it a week in advance?

Paul

In message , at 22:24:59 on
Sat, 21 Feb 2009, Paul Speller remarked:
HTH,

It certainly does! Thanks very much for that comprehensive answer!

Does anyone know what the logic for this restriction is? The date of
validity is clearly shown on the ticket, so where's the harm in having
it a month in advance compared with having it a week in advance?

And does the Trainline (and other) online sales folks refuse to sell
more than a week in advance - or worse, do they pretend it doesn't exist
until a week before the travel date...
--
Roland Perry

Are any of your local newsagent/sweet shop places Ticket Stops?
It's often less inconvenient (and faster) to purchase ODTCs there.

--
Helen Vecht
Edgware