How can I pay for a train ticket for a child who won't have credit card to collect?

Missmouse

Trying to find a way to regularly get my stepson a train ticket that We've paid for in advance. He doesn't have any bank account or bank card so we can't pay money into his account beforehand.

Is there any way he can collect from train staff at kiosk? Or to just type a booking reference into a ticket collection machine? We can't send money or arrange for tickets delivered to his house as his mother has said she will throw them away he is 17 and has done the journey many times ( mother used to buy the tickets when we put £ in her account) but now she's not playing ball.

Could tickets be delivered to his local station under his name? He doesn't have much in way of ID, maybe just a college card.


i did hear mega train don't actually do tickets, just a booking reference you give the guard - is this true and an option? He is travelling from worcester to London

alanrowell

Pick the ticket up yourself at a station that has fasticket machines then post it to him as you don't have to collect the ticket at the station you nominate

Megabus would be an option - but they don't run any services from Worcester

agrinnall

Tell him to open a bank account, he's 17, he needs to know how to manage money at that age.

dzug1

alanrowell wrote: »

Pick the ticket up yourself at a station that has fasticket machines then post it to him as you don't have to collect the ticket at the station you nominate

We can't send money or arrange for tickets delivered to his house as his mother has said she will throw them away

Is there anyone else in Worcester you could send it to who could give it to him?

Or there may be a way you could send it to Worcester Post office to be picked up (not sure if poste restante still exists though)

If it's going to be a regular trip if you can get him to Oxford once then buying a return (valid one month) from Oxford to Worcester each time would do the trick

securityguy

Missmouse wrote: »

We can't send money or arrange for tickets delivered to his house as his mother has said she will throw them away

Next time you see him, give him a pre-pay debit card with an appropriate sum of money on it. Top it up online. Orange Cashcards, for example, don't require any formalities to open: you can get one in your name, and then have a second card in his name or, in practice, just give him the card.

Andy_L

You could send him cash via western union

[Deleted User]

When I have to pick tickets up from a ticket machine at the station it asks that ANY bank card be put into the machine, followed by a booking reference (for that particular purchase). I have done this several times where the tickets were booked with the office credit card (which is NOT allowed out of the office), and collected them with my own. So it need not be the card that the tickets were booked with. So either get him to get his own bank account with card, or as someone mentioned above, get him a pre-paid card, and you can still book the tickets with your card for him to collect with ANY card.

Do check in advance if this system operates the same in your/his local station - I have only ever used it in one station.

HTH,

D9

cookie365

If the tickets haven't been collected you can collect them from the ticket office.

The booking office staff don't actually need a credit card to produce the tickets from their terminals.

Might be worth checking with your own local station staff what sort of ID they'd accept for a child to collect the tickets, and hope his local station have the same approach

wealdroam

cookie365 wrote: »

If the tickets haven't been collected you can collect them from the ticket office.

OP, you really should check that the ticket office concerned are willing to do this before you actually need this service.

It is my understanding that most ticket offices will not do this.

barbaraemmerson

not sure if Caxton cards work over here but we have one with a second card for our daughter in America - we load it on line here in £ and she spends it in America in $. Perfect system and no charges for changing stirling.

poet123

My son ordered tickets online and then lost his card. He phoned trainline and they arranged for him to collect the tickets from the desk. You would have to do this in advance though.