gift vouchers for train journeys?

hannaht

Does anyone know if these are available?

I'd like to get my Uncle something for Christmas as a thank you for his help in looking after my parents - he doesn't have a great deal of money but he does have a daughter down south who he likes to visit occasionally, so I thought maybe vouchers to put towards train tickets, only I've tried googling and not had any luck.

Can anyone advise?

Thanks

p00hsticks

I've never come across them, I'm afraid - if you and he both have bank accounts, couldn't you just send a cheque ?

(I'm in agreement with Dilbert on the idea of gift vouchers....

Alice: A gift certificate is completely different from cash.
Dilbert: No, it's not. They're both pieces of paper you can exchange for goods and services.
Alice: You're missing the point.
Dilbert: Actually, a gift certificate is worse than cash, because you can only use it in one place.
Wally: And it expires.
Alice: At least it shows some thought.
Dilbert: It shows defective thought. You're trading perfectly good money for something that does the same thing, only not as well.

hannaht

I know I know, it's just that a voucher seems a bit more like a present - if I give him a train voucher he HAS to go somewhere on a train, if I give him cash he'll probably buy food or pay the phone bill, not much of a present if you see what I mean

Thanks anyway x

p00hsticks

hannaht wrote: »

if I give him a train voucher he HAS to go somewhere on a train, if I give him cash he'll probably buy food or pay the phone bill, not much of a present if you see what I mean

no, I don't really see what you mean - if he chooses to buy food or pay the phone bill, surely it means that he'd prefer to eat nicer food or spend more time chatting to his friends that to go on a train journey ? So why not allow him to do that ? Giving a voucher means that he has to do what YOU want him to do most, which as you point out is not necessarily what the recipient would actually choose to do if they were given the choice (and the cash).

It's particularly galling whn you end up having to add your own money to a voucher in order to purchase anything that you want as well.

Ifyou gave cash / cheque, you could always put it in with a card with a comment to indicate what you were thinking ('I thought you might use this to treat yourself to a train journey', for example).

hannaht

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one,
thanks for your help. I really didn't want a discussion on the merits of vouchers, just a response to a simple enquiry re availability of train vouchers. Thanks.

Compassrose

I completely agree with you hannaht. :wave:

I'm buying special concert tickets as a present for a friend, but I don't want her to have to pay more in train fares and end up shelling out loads of extra cash in order to enjoy her present.

I was trying to put together a package with travel vouchers, a dinner booking and the tickets, but I can only do the last two. She is a good friend but I couldn't POSSIBLY just hand over cash - she would be terribly embarrassed.

--<-@

gilesb

You can now buy railtravel evouchers from the Scotrail website http://tickets.scotrail.co.uk/sr/en/landing/purchasegiftvoucher they can be redeemed on all rail journeys not just Scotrail

worried_jim

wow- digging up a four year old thread.

huggychair

You can now buy tickets via paypal on the trainline (dot com).

The recipient only needs the reference number and any credit/debit card to collect them. Here:
http://help.thetrainline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4089