Tickets & Railcards: problems with fading ink/magnetic strips (merged topic, ongoing discussion)

[whole diary]

[old original]

The fading is a known problem. Instructions have been issued to ticket office staff stating they should be reissued as a replacement but without the charge being levied. I would suggest getting it done before it gets too bad to save any aggro.

[rogerw]

If you purchase on line you get a nice plastic card.  Mine's still as good as new after 14 months (3 yr SRC)

[devonian]

I have a ticket with a heart stamp through it. Must have been a novelty BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) clipper 

I got the 'seal of approval' on an Ashford-Tonbridge journey recently - dolphin shaped stamp through my ticket - great stuff! 

[readytostart]

I have a ticket with a heart stamp through it. Must have been a novelty BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) clipper 

I got the 'seal of approval' on an Ashford-Tonbridge journey recently - dolphin shaped stamp through my ticket - great stuff! 

Back in my ScotRail days I had a stamp for all seasons, holes, stars, flowers, squares, and a christmas tree one for december. Surprised I didn't get pulled up on that for the fear of offending non-Christians! Though the standard rule at FSR^▸ (First Scot Rail) was a pen sqiggle, hole punches had been out lawed by the management incase a hole was punched on the mag stripe stopping the ticket from working the gates. To me common sense would say just tell everyone not to punch on the stripe!

[Brucey]

Just over a month since I took the image in the original post and my railcard has faded even more.  The Bri in Bristol is completely gone, as is the .00X from the price.  The 2085 at the left now reads 85.  The first few digits of the photocard number are gone as is the Mr on my name.  Date is still visible, probably not for much longer.

Surely the people who choose the supplier for the ticket stock actually check the quality before they sign the cheques?

I haven't travelled on a train for a couple of weeks, so not had a chance to replace it.  I'm passing through Temple Meads tomorrow so will pop to the ticket office (without breaking my journey ) to get a replacement.  If I don't have time, then I'll see if SWT^▸ (South West Trains) can do it at my destination.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

too late now mate but if you order your next railcard online you get a laminated one and it arrives within 2 days

[Brucey]

too late now mate but if you order your next railcard online you get a laminated one and it arrives within 2 days

I had one of these last year.  I forgot to renew it online in time for delivery and needed to make a journey so had to buy one at the station.

The chap wouldn't do it at Temple Meads as he said it takes about 15 minutes and my train was in 9 minutes.  Fair enough.  Popped into the ticket office at Cosham (SWT^▸ (South West Trains) station) today and they were more than happy (didn't have any other customers either).  Simply filled in a damaged/lost/stolen form, stating what the damage was.  He then printed another which has very dark print (much darker than my old railcard and most train tickets - perhaps SWT use a different manufacturer for the railcard ticket stock?)

[Nemesis]

Back in my ScotRail days I had a stamp for all seasons, holes, stars, flowers, squares, and a christmas tree one for december. Surprised I didn't get pulled up on that for the fear of offending non-Christians! Though the standard rule at FSR^▸ (First Scot Rail) was a pen sqiggle, hole punches had been out lawed by the management incase a hole was punched on the mag stripe stopping the ticket from working the gates. To me common sense would say just tell everyone not to punch on the stripe!

I overheard a guard tell a driver that he liked to punch holes through the magnetic strip of tickets proffered by unpleasant, rude or otherwise objectionable travellers.

[TerminalJunkie]

I overheard a guard tell a driver that he liked to punch holes through the magnetic strip of tickets

I hear that the Cornish Penalty Fare Zone is to be further extended next year.

I heard a driver tell a guard that passengers are now to be known as customers.

I heard a guard tell a driver that the lack of intermediate door panels is also an unpopular feature of these trains.

I later heard the driver tell the guard that it was caused by a tramp's sleeping bag being set alight.

I overheard the driver tell the guard that the trespasser was abusive when spoken to and stuck two fingers in the air.

I can't work out whether eavesdropping on other peoples conversations is worse than boasting on here about it...

[JayMac]

Thank you TJ for saying what I was thinking! Did you somehow 'overhear' my thoughts on Nemesis' eavesdropping? 

[devon_metro]

I also picked up on that, however I have my own theory explaining it

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

I also picked up on that, however I have my own theory explaining it

i heard that if im incorrect it wasn't my fault

[John R]

Several of us clearly had the same thoughts (but I was too lazy to find all the related posts, so thank you TJ for doing so).

I'm also surprised at how many trains with incidents Nemesis has been on, especially for someone who has been out of the area for so long. 

[RichieG]

Hellos alls.

This kind of leads on from the 're-issue railcard' thread; I would've put this in there but that particular thread kind of went down a route that I didn't want to disturb (if that makes sence, and pardoning the unintentional pun!).

I bought some tickets on 10 May for this Friday and they've been in my wallet since then in the advance ticket holder thing that they gave me but they've faded somewhat - they're still readable but only just when the light isn't reflecting off them. I expect that I will be okay with it, but just wanted to check for certain! (Having said that, in my experience I can get between Exeter and Paddington and back again without having to produce my ticket... but that's another thread for another time...)

The weird thing is, a set of tickets bought the day afterwards from the same station (TVP for those interested!) have been in my wallet for exactly the same amount of time, yet haven't been faded in the same way, in fact it hasn't been faded at all.

I've actually eaten lunch between starting this post and finishing it so have kind of lost the whole point of it. Something along the lines of making sure my ticket is okay for Friday I think... or something like that

[Brucey]

This year's railcard has suffered from the inevitable even earlier in the year.

This is the image in the first post from March 2010...


Compare to my current railcard...


Which used to look like this...


I was told yesterday by the lady at Temple Meads that the writing was still visible so she wasn't allowed to print another without charging me a fee.  I tried to reason with her by saying my local station is unstaffed and this won't last until October but she wouldn't have any of it - ending our "encounter" abruptly with "are you actually buying a ticket?"

The reason I still buy my railcard at the ticket office still is that I collect my Rail Travel Vouchers from the year (thank you Southern) and use them towards my railcard.  I don't usually visit a ticket window any other time so never have an opportunity to spend them.