Great Western Coffee Shop

Ok, interesting scenario this one.

I'm in the process of booking a return ticket to Brum from nailsea for this weekend.  As I'm out and about (but not in the office for the rest of the week) as mom is here, I won't be going anywhere near BRistol station or reading or anywhere with a self serve machine.  Also, being in a flat block is a PITA as its impossible to get signed for stuff without going to collect it from the post office later.

So, if I have a print out of the confirmation, and say that I'll pick them up when I change trains at Bristol on saturday morning, will that work?

Actually, what I'll likely do is just book bristol to brum and get a walk on fare from nailsea to bristol however it is something of an interesting scenario

I very much doubt a print-out will impress any ticket collector - in fact, I'm sure it states somewhere that a print-out is NOT a ticket....

Are tickets delivered 'Signed-For' - I don't think they asre usually.....

Whenever I've pre-booked tickets from Melksham station (where there is no ticket office or ticket machine whatsoever) and explained that I'll be picking up my tickets for the whole journey when I change onto the main line at either Chippenham or Westbury, the Revenue Protection Customer Facing Consultant Train Managing Officer or whatever they're called these days - "guard", to you and me - has always been perfectly happy to glance at the confirmation email I've waved at them and allowed me to carry on.

You don't have to sign for tickets, simply bog standard First Class post.

Cross country gave me the option of collection or secure signed for

Probably because the journey is in the next 7 (?) days.  They don't trust our wonderful postal service to deliver the tickets any quicker than this by First Class post.

I've witnessed this about four or five times on the SVB line.  Also seen someone get through the gate at BRI with a printout, so I assume it must be fairly common practise in the area.  Not technically permitted so you always run the risk of paying the full fare or a PF (to your interchange station).

FA,

Despite the website's instance, it is possible to collect tickets from the TVMs at Nailsea. I usually request my tickets to Bristol TM but collect them from Nailsea - if there's a problem, it's only a few quid for a single into BRI...

Cheers,
TLM

I agree with TheLastMinute: any pre-paid advance tickets can be collected from either of the two TVMs at NLS.

REgatrdless of which station you arrange to collect your pre-paid tickets from, you can actually get them from any station's TVM....

Provided the TVM supports ticket collection ... there are a few TOCs who haven't yet activated all their machines for ticket collection.

indeed....

See - in Ludlow I never had this problem.

Went to my nice friendly independent ticket office who would book me tickets from anywhere to anywhere, offered splits even if I didnt know about them and also would book any seat you wanted for a specific train regardless of if you already had a ticket or not!

But then there wasnt a TVM at ludlow

Unfortunately Nailsea lost it's "proper" booking office building many many years ago and the current TARDIS-size hut can only facilitate Jacob and his Advantix which obviously can't do seat booking.

You could try Yatton which still has a "proper" booking office. I can't say what there opening hours are or indeed if they are friendly but at least you should be able to book your preferred seat and it's only a 15 minute drive from Nailsea.

Cheers,
TLM

I THINK that all FGW shidt & Bachmann TVM's (the blue ones that are at most ex Wessex stations) now support TOD collection despite that fact that not all of them have this advertised, as a worst case scenario just buy a single to Bristol TM and pick up there, but i'm pretty sure you can pick them up from Nailsea.

Well I booked the tickets from Bristol so will get a walk up from nailsea!

Managed to get a return bristol to brum for ^11

Of course, will weekend first upgrade on board so the seat reservations are pointless

Thanks all

You can't Weekend First upgrade an XC advance....I think!

Hi FA,

ChrisB is right

Taken from crosscountry web site

Weekend upgrade
Travelling at the weekend? Why not upgrade to First Class?

We'll give you the offers you want - to the places you want to go to.
With prices starting from as little as ^10.00 one-way, the Weekend Upgrade ticket offers the benefits of First Class travel to those travelling at the weekend and selected Bank Holidays.

You can purchase the Weekend Upgrade on board the train provided you hold a valid Standard ticket and subject to space being available in First Class. If purchasing your ticket at the station, in advance, it may be possible to purchase the upgrade with certain ticket types and reserve a seat, but we cannot guarantee a seat will be available if you choose to travel on an alternative service.

Please note that Child and Railcard discounts do not apply. Also note it is not possible to purchase an upgrade in conjunction with all types of ticket, customers holding Standard Advance tickets cannot purchase the First Class upgrade. We would suggest that you purchase an Advance First ticket for your journey if you are looking to travel in First Class.

Well I've done it numerous times!

I guess it might be one of those depends on the guard moments

Spot on, it's bad enough trying to get passengers to understand different ticket types without having to go into detail on a weekend first announcement and then to send someone back to their (now occupied by someone else) seat in standard all because they chose to book ahead.

I can sort of understand why XC don't allow weekend first upgrades on Advance tickets because Voyagers don't have much 1st class accomodation, but EMT and SWT don't either yet most of their services have plenty of 1st class seats.