The Anonymous Widower

Buying British Rail Tickets From Outside The UK

I just bought a ticket on Southern Railway.  As ever, I will pick up the ticket from an automatic machine, before I travel.

I noticed that it said on the site that the method I chose was the preferred one for UK and Overseas customers.

If this is true and I’ve no reason to doubt it isn’t, then say an Australian booking a ticket in the UK, should do the following.

1. Ascertain the train company, who handle the route he wants to travel. The National Rail Enquiries web site, tells you this, when you check train times.

2. Go to that company’s web site and book your ticket, paying for it with a debit/credit card. Note that the actual company seems to always give the best price and often, you’ll find a special deal. Using an intermediate company is inevitably more expensive and they all seem to be  generators of unwanted e-mails to your Inbox.

3. When booking, elect to pick up the ticket, any time before you start your journey. you need to chose a station, but it’s not important as tickets can be picked up at any station with a machine.

4. Make certain, you note the 8-character booking reference, the card you used and the journey you booked.

5. As you can pick up the tickets two hours after booking, probably by the time you arrive in the UK, that limit will have expired, so perhaps it’s a good idea to go and get all your tickets at a quiet time soon after arriving. Even if the company you specifically want doesn’t accept foreign credit cards, it certainly looks that some do.

May 14, 2013 - Posted by AnonW | Computing, Transport/Travel | Internet, Ticketing, Trains