Here is the letter that Donald McArthur wrote.

Ticket Machines/Disabled Railcard

As a disabled Railcard user, I purchase my rail tickets from the station ticket office, this is sometimes closed. there is a ticket machine at the station but the sign on the Machine says, DISABLED RAILCARD HOLDERS MUST PURCHASE THEIR TICKETS AT THE STATION TICKET OFFICE. I raised this point last year, I was informed through this site that disabled rail card holders can use the machine, ???? I have been and looked at the machine and it clearly states that Dasabled Rail Card users must go to the ticket office, why is this a problem? because if the office is closed and I try to purchase a ticket on the train, I am charged full fair?? they will not accept my railcard as my station is classed as a maned station.

Whilst I agree that the ticket machine should be designed to allow use of all railcards there is a temporary way around the predicament in which you find yourself. If you are buying by debit or credit card you could purchase with East Midlands telesales on 08457 125678, they can use the Ticket on Departure facility to place tickets on the machine for you to collect using your payment card as ID. This facility can also be used for most tickets that do not appear on the ticket machine provided they print on to the standard ticket stock the machines contain. I have come across this in London where users of Transport for London passes cannot get boundary zone tickets from the machine, but can phone the telesales department for South West Trains 08456 000650 to get the ticket placed on the machine for collection.

But this will need some planning, ok it would work if you know when you plan to travel beforehand, but not when travelling on impulse, but the point I am trying to make is that when you arrive at the station and find the ticket office closed, with only 5 min to spare before train departure, your stuck. with the only option of paying the full fare on the train.

Hi Donald

If you phone on your way to the station they should be able to place the ticket on the machine for you when you arrive. Over the internet it can take 2 hours but by phone they can do it much quicker.

Steve, I understand your reply and thank you for your help, but my complaint is with the manning/unmanning of the station, I use the ticket office to purchase my tickets, the problem arrises when the ticket office is closed/unmanned. If the station is unmanned then I can not ring beforehand to order tickets, I am not being picky, just trying to explain.

Don

Well there is a general conclussion that many stations are going to be closed so what chance do I have?

no change what so ever

Donald,

East Midlands Trains replied on 19th April to say that you can buy tickets from the machine using a Disabled Railcard. Isn't this what you wanted, or is there still a problem?

Best regards,

Paul (FixMyTransport Volunteer)

Donald,

Hopefully you will find the ticket machine sells the tickets which you require.

If you find out any information about a ticket office closure, or reduction in opening times, then it is certainly worth campaigning against this. There were proposals to severely reduce the booking office opening times at my local station but the local people supported by the county councillor campaigned against it and the train operating company compromised with a minor reduction in hours. This subsequently inspired the formation of a local rail user group.

There are about 300 rail user groups in the country although I don’t think there is one covering Alfreton. A list is available from here:
http://www.railfuture.org.uk/tiki-index.php?page=Key+rail+user+groups

Best regards,

Paul

it is a lost cause