Great Western Coffee Shop

Morning all and happy new year.

I ordered my Monday morning tickets via Train line this morning and then went to collect them from Thatcham TVM. The process was fine and the TVM duly spat out my tickets as expected.

What surprised me was that when I went to retrieve them from the TVM they were stuck together. I know they are printed individually but - as I say - when I picked them up there were stuck together by way of what appeared to be adhesive on the back of the tickets. Something I have never seen before.

Given these tickets were for travel from Reading is this likely to cause a problem with the gateline barriers if they have this glue on the back of them?

FYI I have to catch a bus to Reading in order to catch the train I need

Regards

Dave

I have encountered this before and think moisture/wet may be the cause. Usually they separate fairly easily, sometimes some of the print gets transferred, but I have not encountered problems with the barriers.

By the way, the trainline charges a booking fee. GWR/other TOC websites do not.

...and you get Nectar points from many TOC websites

Why anyone uses Trainline really beats me, especially when most complain that fares are too high

In my case I don't find the engine behind the likes or the GWR one particular clear . The last time I used a TOC one I had trouble retrieving tickets from the TVM despite leaving it 4 hours after ticket purchase before attempting to collect them.

So in my case it cost me a booking fee but I have the tickets in my hands and (apart from the glue issue!) I am ok to travel tomorrow

If you like the trainline interface then may I suggest buying your tickets from South West Trains online. The same interface (bar some cosmetic differences) but no booking fees.

I must admit that it surprises me that someone would happily pay additional fees when there are so many ways to avoid them. With some of those ways offering additional incentives like Nectar.

That is a good call BNM and thanks for that. Despite the fact I had to pay a booking fee this time (the first time I had used the train line) it was still cheaper than buying two sets of tickets and having to pay an admin fee to get a refund on one of them which I couldn't collect.

Mass marketing and top of the search engine tree. I agree with you though when TOCs don't charge fees and many offer and Nectar points.

Just to bring this back to my OP the return portion of the ticket - which was stuck to the seat reservation in front of it such that the destination station (Reading in this case) is not visible as it has been peeled away by the adhesive on the rear of the seat reservation.

I may seek the advice of the ticket office at Hereford before attempting the returning journey (time will not be on my side on the outbound segment).

Just to reiterate the tickets were stuck together before I removed them from the TVM