Can you buy advanced train tickets at any station?

gmang

I recently got a refund of my ticket price because my train was over 1 hour late. The refund is in the form of rail travel vouchers. Obviously I can't use these to book tickets online. Are all the tickets that are available online (i.e. cheap virgin advanced fares from London to the NW) available at the ticket office as well? And can I buy these from any old ticket office or do I have to go to a "travel centre" at a main line station?

Cheers.

pompeyrich

You should be able to use them at any station booking office. It might be worth you doing your homework and finding the cheapest fare before you go to the station, as the staff may not have the time or inclination to trawl through for the very best option for you.

Having said that, the staff at my local station are very good and go out of their way to search for the best options, probably woudn't start split-ticketing or more advaced money saving though!!

TimothyEBaldwin

That needs some further qualification, British advance tickets can be brought at any British station with a National Rail ticket office. If the station only has a London Underground ticket office you are out of luck, also with international journeys.

Some advance tickets can only be brought online, these are either clearly described or sold from special websites.

Livingthedream

If you can find the Advance ticket on Virgin Train's Website or the Trainline's website then the Station will be able to sell it to you, as they use the same ticket search engine. However, there is some cheap advance single fares on East Coast, Southern or London Midland websites that wont show up on the Railway Station's ticket machine.

So Check before going, I've had this problem before, ended up using my Compo Coupons to purchase a Railcard