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A few weeks ago, I needed to book tickets for several different journeys, over a few weeks. It seemed to make life easier to book them all in one go on a single (no fee!) website, so I did. Consequently, when I picked up the tickets, it was a single booking reference which lead to about a dozen tickets and seat reservations being printed out.

I'm now about to do the final journey from this booking, which is an Advanced Purchase ticket. As such, it comes in two parts, one part being the Ticket, the other part being the Mandatory Reservation. It's only valid if you hold both parts, needing both the ticket which says what route, and the reservation saying what train + what seat on that train.

The snag is I discover I now only have one of the two parts. I don't know if one part didn't print properly (I did get about a dozen bits of card in one go, between tickets and seat reservations), or if I lost it (eg it fell out when I was getting a different ticket from my ticket holder), but the upshot is that I don't have both parts.

Is it possible to get the missing part (re)printed at all? Perhaps from a station ticket office, by showing them the part I have and the booking reference? Or by speaking with the website I bought it from?

(Normally I gather they won't reprint flexible tickets, presumably due to worries that you could otherwise give the duplicate to someone else to use, but as this ticket is a mandatory two-part ticket, someone with the missing other half couldn't use it)

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    "someone with the missing other half couldn't use it" that someone can print the other half--if you could print the other half as well, right?
    – Nean Der Thal
    Feb 2, 2015 at 14:59
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    But we'd then be on the same train, trying to sit in the same seat, and only one of us would have the credit card from the booking, and only one of us would have ID matching the name of the booking!
    – Gagravarr
    Feb 2, 2015 at 15:11
  • Didn't know it has a reserved seat, missed that part.. If so then I guess you can print it. Hope so.
    – Nean Der Thal
    Feb 2, 2015 at 15:18

1 Answer 1

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The answer unfortunately is NO

The National Rail Conditions of Carriage states that lost or mislaid tickets will not be replaced nor will refunds be made in respect of them. You will need to book new tickets if unable to find the old ones.

If you are in a position with only half the ticket (seat reservation and no ticket) then you will have to buy a new ticket. From experience the quicker you do this the cheaper it will be as in the UK tickets generally get more expensive for long distance travel the closer to the travel time.

Train companies justify this rule by suggesting that you could have given the ticket away or sold it. Train companies do not accept responsibility for lost or mislaid tickets.

However, if you have misplaced or lost your seat reservation, and are on a flexible (Anytime or Off-Peak, but not Advanced), I have got away with this by sitting in a non reserved seat on the train. No questions asked by the train conductor.

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    The seat reservation bit isn't quite right - if you have an Advanced Purchase ticket like I do, without the seat reservation there's no way to prove what train you are booking onto, so the ticket alone wouldn't be valid!
    – Gagravarr
    Feb 3, 2015 at 9:56
  • An advanced ticket can be used on any valid train for the date printed on it (off peak, super off peak etc). The seat reservation is purely you booking a guaranteed seat for a train.
    – medina
    Feb 3, 2015 at 10:11
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    @Gagravarr That is wrong. I have travelled in day trains, where I have had a seat reservation in a different service but missed it and boarded the next available train without any issues with the person checking my tickets. But not so on the night sleeper ones, where you need to have both.
    – DumbCoder
    Feb 3, 2015 at 11:02
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    If you have an anytime or offpeak or super offpeak ticket, then the seat reservation is optional. Advanced Tickets are only valid on the booked train, see the national rail website for details
    – Gagravarr
    Feb 3, 2015 at 11:06
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    davidb @dumbcoder gagravarr is correct advance purchace tickets are only valid on the train they are booked on, and the ticket is invalid without the reservation portion. You must have both or the train manager can make you purchace a new full fare ticket. If you have been delayed on an earlier section of the journey and missed a connection you can travel on the next available train but the train manager may/will check that the previous train was delayed.
    – Martin Jevon
    Feb 3, 2015 at 21:24

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