Brighton Area Rail Services (photo inside)

[clapham_gull]

Is it reasonable to turn up 15 minutes at Victoria and expect to be able to buy a ticket and board a train on time ?

Am I missing something beachy ?

There are clearly not enough machines at Victoria. Every Saturday they have to send out the blokes with the portable ticket machines and they readily admit the situation could be a lot better.

Euston station on a Friday evening is beyond belief - not enough machines.

Seems quite straightforward to me.

I always pre book or try to turn up really early, just to have time to buy a paper if nothing else.

But to turn up at the station with 15 minutes to go and be in danger of missing a train quite clearly ain't good enough.

I love train travel by the way, I actually look forward to it.

The ticket collectors/guards whatever, have approved beyong measure in recent years in my opinion.

Always very helpful etc..

Having said that I did see a guard on a GNER train fine an old age pensioner who had got on the wrong train after threatening to throw him off the train at the next stop.

.. and I don't know if anyone remembers Peterborough away a few years ago when a few of us were locked in the catering carriage and were refused to leave to use the toilet.

 

[British Bulldog]

Difficulty in buying tickets seems to be a common complaint judging by the posts on this thread so this is something that quite clearly needs looking at by the train operating company's. I would suggest the best course of action would be to bombard the people running the company's with complaints to try & get them to improve the system. It's not the fault of the conductors, rpo's etc on the trains or the staff in the ticket offices, they're given the system & they have to work to it.

The other complaint of delays to trains is quite simple, they're caused by things that affect the safety of train travel.