Station Ticket Office

Sun 15 Jan 2023, 20:26 (last edited on Sun 15 Jan 2023, 20:28)

GWR are looking into reconnecting the electricity supply so that the ticket machine and the information boards work.  Not sure how easy or quick it will be but at least they are now on the case.  The leak will take longer to resolve.  They had appointed someone as the station manager, but this fell through so they are re-advertising the job 

Sat 14 Jan 2023, 12:55

Easily resolved if there is a desire ! Portacabin 

Sat 14 Jan 2023, 11:49

I travelled to London on Thursday and further to my post regarding whether Charlbury passengers would be penalised if they cannot purchase a ticket at the station, there was no signage explaining that you could buy legally buy a ticket on the train. More worryingly there was no indication that the GWR conductor on the train had been briefed, as there was an on-train tannoy announcement just before we arrived in Paddington that the penalty fine would be increasing to £100 plus the price of a standard ticket. Hardly reassuring for infrequent passengers.

Sat 14 Jan 2023, 11:41

I’d recommend the Trainsplit app. It’s as easy to use as the GWR one; it can save you a lot of money on even medium-distance trips; for short-distance trips it works fine, too; and it sends you a PDF ticket (or you can view the ticket in-app, or in your phone’s Wallet app).

The developers are helpful, too – I emailed them about adding support for the Cotswold Line Railcard, they replied instantly with “no problem, we’ll put that in our next release”, and lo and behold it’s supported now.

Sat 14 Jan 2023, 11:02

Any update on the Station Ticket Office yet, Liz?

Apparently when something similar happened in Maidenhead, it took 3 years to get it fixed -- this from the chap who was making sure that the Gents' toilet can't be used by adding screws to the closed entrance door.

For those struggling to reserve seats on the train, it's worth knowing that Chiltern Rail's excellent app and website issue mobile e-tickets and reservations for the Charlbury route -- a pdf file is sent with their email confirmation of booking. Unlike GWR which makes life SO very complicated.

I have now picked up a GWR smartcard, only to discover (a) that each journey needs to be validated on the non-functioning ticket machine and (b) even worse, that it was explained by the man at the ticket desk at Paddington who helps with the purchase of tickets (remember those useful people!) that the GWR smartcard does not in any case allow people to add super-saver return tickets to the smart card. Why on earth not? Greed perhaps ...

As for GWR's own android app, sometimes it works -- but generally for me it does not. All SO annoying ...

Wed 11 Jan 2023, 11:51

I am meeting with Tom Pierpont, the GWR regional manager, tomorrow, to get an update on the situation.

Wed 11 Jan 2023, 09:49

Yes – if there’s no working ticket machine and ticket office, you’re allowed to buy a ticket on the train or at the destination station.

Wed 11 Jan 2023, 09:31

I assume that whilst the ticket office is closed and the ticket machine remains out of action, penalty fares should not apply to passengers boarding at the station.

Wed 11 Jan 2023, 09:07

In the short-term, shouldn't pressure be put upon GWR to restore power to the site, to allow Cafe de la Gare to trade, the ticket machine to dispense tickets and the information screens to show some information?

Wed 11 Jan 2023, 09:01

Jess, one of the large running-in nameboards, (the one at the north side of the station building) which is still in its original position, is actually included in the official listing on the Historic England website, so its condition may well catch the eye of the historic buildings people when they come to look at the flood damage. The other board was transplanted to its current location when the line was singled in the 1970s and the opposite platform, where it used to be sited, was demolished. 

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1053261?section=official-list-entry

To be fair to GWR, the nameboards at Kingham, which were also getting tatty, have both been restored in recent years. Only the posts there are originals, as the boards used to be huge, listing places you could reach along the long-closed lines to Banbury and Cheltenham by changing at Kingham

Wed 4 Jan 2023, 16:53

I wish I could believe that GWR will accept that the station building "doesn't need personning" (Michael).  Doesn't its insurance require security against vandalism? English Heritage may dictate the restoration terms, but I can see that, once restored, the building might well become a museum of itself, open only in the presence of qualified custodians on certain days of the year, with the water turned off at source and a couple of Portaloos and maybe a plastic shelter in the car park as substitutes for the existing (and now partly inaccessible) facilities.  Otherwise - what? Local volunteers to keep the building open, like the splendid people who cultivate the garden?   Would GWR really see such an arrangement as viable?

Wed 4 Jan 2023, 16:09

Janet wasn't it Freddy Jones who organised the petition?  

Wed 4 Jan 2023, 15:58

I will add to this that the original, larger Charlbury platform signs are in a bad state of disrepair. The last thing I'd want is for them to be taken down. 

Wed 4 Jan 2023, 14:54

Am I the only Charlbury resident to remember the HOOF Campaign in Sir Peter Parker's Day?  HOOF stood for "Hands Off Our Fire" in the station ticket office, when an electric fire was to be substituted for the coal stove.  

Mon 2 Jan 2023, 11:02

Michael, perhaps Charlbury's populace is of such high IQ that it does not need any help to buy its train tickets, but when the ticketing system that has developed since privatisation now runs to 55 million different fares, I would suggest that some people might find a little human assistance helpful on occasion. 

So the Government will be thrilled to hear that the ticket office is no longer needed, as that is its goal, to follow up on such masterstrokes as banning the printing of pocket timetables (everyone apparently has a smartphone these days). Any saving from removing station staff will go straight back to the DfT, not to pay for heating. 

And it is the DfT that will determine the pace of restoration work at the station, not GWR. First Group has to get civil servants to sign off pretty much all expenditure these days, as it is now a contractor, not a franchisee.

RE restoration work at the station, 'what GWR proposes' is neither here nor there, as it will depend on what English Heritage tells it to do. The Grade II listing covers parts of the interior, as well as the main structure of the building. GWR and Network Rail (which owns the freehold but leases the building to GWR) both have surveyors' departments with extensive experience of listed building projects.

Thu 22 Dec 2022, 17:16

Well, here's a conundrum.

On the one hand, the vast majority of railway users in Charlbury have decent internet access and really don't need a ticket office or machines at the station. And it's not beyond the wit of Charlburians to find ways the uninternetted can book tickets. But virtually…

Long post - click to read full text

Thu 22 Dec 2022, 16:54

The 15-hour leak might have been noticed earlier by a member of staff had one been there.

Thu 22 Dec 2022, 16:15

FYI with the ticket office shut and no power there is no ticket machine and the information screens do not work.

".....the ticket office at Charlbury has unfortunately suffered a water leak in the void area between the ceiling and the roof. The leak, which lasted for a minimum of 15 hours, was caused by a frozen water pipe and flooded the ticket office....."

Shame, if they actually opened the ticket office they might have noticed sooner.