Frequently asked questions

You cannot add station parking to a standard ticket. However, MyTrainTicket does sell Anytime and Off-peak packages that can include your train ticket, parking coupons and catering coupons.

You can use the following Railcards on MyTrainTicket:

• 16-25 Railcard
• Disabled
• Disabled Child
• Family & Friends
• Network Gold Card
• Network Railcard
• New Deal Card
• HM Forces
• Senior

For more information regarding purchase, please see our Get a Railcard section. 

If a train operating company cancels a service you wish to take or on which you have a reservation, you should be able to take the next available service but are advised to contact an appropriate member of staff at the station.

If you have not yet left for the station, please contact the train operating company whose service has been cancelled and ask them to confirm the alternative arrangements that they have made to accommodate you on another train.

If, as a result of the cancellation, you choose not to travel, you will be eligible for a refund (for any type of ticket purchased) through MyTrainTicket and no administration fee will be charged. Please refer to the help and support section for more information.

You cannot travel on your booking confirmation alone; you will need to have your tickets with you at all times. If you board a train with only your booking confirmation, you will be charged for a new set of tickets.

Your booking confirmation is for reference only; there is no requirement to have your booking confirmation with you when you travel.

Train tickets can be used by anyone; however, please remember when booking that, if you have selected free collection from a self-service ticket machine, the person collecting the tickets will need to take with them the card that was used to make the booking.

If you purchase on behalf of someone else, the tickets will have a sales receipt with the last 4 digits of the payment card, as well as the payment price.

If you would like to talk to someone about disruptions to your rail journey, please contact your individual train operating company directly. Please see 'My train was cancelled, what do I do with my unused ticket?' in the General questions section for more information about refunding unused tickets for cancelled services.

The Network Railcard discount only applies if you are travelling within London and the South East. If you are travelling beyond the Network Railcard area, the Network Railcard does not apply to your journey.

Tickets will be available for collection at the station 2 hours after booking.

Children under the age of 5 travel for free on UK trains. However, please note that as they are travelling for free this does not include a reservation. If you would like to make a reservation, please purchase a Child ticket. A child under 5 will be expected to sit on your knee during busy times.

An Open Return ticket allows you greater flexibility in your travel, because you don't have to choose the time and date of your return journey. Typically these tickets are valid for one month after the outward journey. Different types of Open Return ticket include:

• Anytime Return - these tickets are fully flexible and there is no restriction on return travel
• Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak Returns - these tickets are only available on specific Off-Peak services

If a London Travelcard is valid for purchase with your tickets, a section named ' London Day Travelcards' will appear on the 'Travel Options' page. You will then have the choice of Anytime and Off-Peak Travelcards for different zones. Please note, these are only valid for your outward journey date.

Please see ticket types for detailed information about ticket types, including when they are valid for travel and the amount of flexibility they provide.

A Carnet usually consists of 6, 10, 12 or 50 tickets for the same journey, which you can use on any train and whenever you want (they are usually valid for up to six months, but you will need to check the specific terms and conditions as there is some variation). Anyone can use a Carnet ticket - you can give them to friends or colleagues, so they're ideal for keeping in your office and distributing to people when they need to travel. Carnets are not available on every route, and always consist of fully-flexible Anytime tickets ie. Carnets are not available for Advance or Off-Peak tickets.

If you are restricted to a certain train time on your outward journey but know that you can be more flexible on your return, or are unable to specify an exact train for your return journey, you are able to mix and match ticket types and purchase an Off-Peak Single (online only) on Virgin Trains routes for either your outward or return journey leg. This Off-Peak Single (online only) is half the price of an Off-Peak Return ticket, helping you save money on your journey.

Off-Peak Single (online only) tickets are flexible tickets only valid at specific Off-Peak times of day and your journey must be on Off-Peak trains on the date displayed on your ticket.

Please note this ticket can only be purchased online and is not available at the station. This ticket can only be bought as part of a return journey and in conjunction with either an Advance ticket or Anytime ticekts. If two online Off-peak single tickets are bought as part of a return, it will then become an Off-Peak return ticket.

- please log on to our booking engine (above)
- enter the details of the journey you wish to make including your preferred date and time of travel
- our best fare finder will then automatically identify for you the cheapest available ticket for that journey (single or return) plus prompt you to be able to search for cheaper fares at other times/days giving you an improved range of options
- once you have selected the best deal for you, a few simple clicks will allow you to purchase your cheap train ticket ...simple

If your booking has been confirmed, you will see a confirmation page on the website with the title 'Thank you for your order, your booking has been confirmed.' You will also be emailed a confirmation email. If you have not received this within 30 minutes ( please check your junk folder), please contact customer services and quote your booking reference, and our team will re-send the email.

You can purchase multiple journeys in one transaction by clicking the link 'Add Another Journey' shown in your basket on the 'Travel Essentials' page. This will take you back to the journey planner to allow you to add more journeys to your basket.

Whilst we request any seat preferences that you specify from the train operator, seat allocations are subject to availability and we cannot guarantee that your preferences can be met.

When reporting a technical problem, it is really helpful for us to have a screenshot of what is being displayed. When you are looking at the page in question, hold down the CTRL key (usually located bottom left of keyboard) and press PRINT SCRN (usually located above the number keypad). Open a new email (or a blank Word document); hold down the CTRL key and press V; this will paste the screenshot into the email (or the Word document).

Any promotional codes previously available for MyTrainTicket.co.uk will no longer be available from midday on 3rd July 2013.

When you proceed to the payment page in the booking process you will be asked to log in, or register for a new account. If you want to view bookings or change any of your contact details please log into your account here.

It is possible on some journeys to have two or more possible routes (e.g. one avoiding London and one via London). For these journeys you might see two or more tickets with the same name and different prices. The price difference will reflect differences in the journey such as distance and duration.

There is no minimum transaction value on MyTrainTicket.

When you are selecting a journey, there may be more than one service operating between the origin and destination that leaves the origin station at around the same time, but arrives at the destination at a different time.

This is because services can differ by route and by number of stops - for example, Train 1 leaves X Station at 11am and makes 10 stops along the way, arriving at Y Station at 12.20pm. Train 2 leaves X Station at 11.10am but only stop at 2 stations, arriving at Y Station at 12.10pm. In this instance, Train 1 is overtaken by Train 2.

Slower train services tend to be cheaper, so if you're flexible in the time you spend travelling by train, you may be able to save yourself some money on your train tickets!

We will automatically try to reserve a seat free of charge for all tickets booked on our website.  If a seat cannot be reserved at the time of booking, one of the following reasons will apply:

• the train operator does not offer seat reservations (usually shorter routes)
• the train operator has not made seat reservations available
• the seats that are reservable are fully booked

We cannot guarantee seat reservations. Like train operating companies, MyTrainTicket depends upon the National Reservation System for its seat reservations. Even without a seat reservation, your ticket is still valid and you can sit in any vacant unreserved seat for the appropriate class of travel for your journey (The Train Operator will often leave seats available for customers without reservations).

If you have booked more than one ticket, we will always try and make the best seat grouping with the seats and the information that is available to us. The sequence of seat numbers will sometimes suggest that the reservations aren't together when, in fact, they are - for example, seats around a table. At busy times, seat reservations may not be allocated together. If you find that your seats are not together, there is usually a carriage that is non-reservable where you may be able to find a group of seats.

If you book less than 7 working days before your outward journey, you will not be offered the option of Royal Mail First Class Post. If you purchase within 7 days of your outward travel you will be able to collect your train tickets from the self-service ticket machine at the station.

You will only have the option of having your tickets delivered by Royal Mail Special Delivery^TM Next Day if you book your tickets two or more working days before travel.

If your station does not have a self-service ticket collection machine, you can collect your tickets from any other station that has self-service facilities. You do not have to collect tickets from the station you are travelling from or to.

If you have not received your tickets after 7 working days, please contact MyTrainTicket.

We rely on rail industry reference information for details of facilities at stations. If you have reason to believe that our information is incorrect, please contact customer services and we will verify the details with the train operator for the station concerned.

If your payment card has been replaced since you purchased your tickets, and you chose to collect the tickets from a self-service ticket machine, please contact customer services before your journey.

You can collect your tickets from any self-service ticket collection machine - it doesn't have to be a machine in the station you are travelling from or to.

If you have problems collecting your tickets from a self-service ticket machine, please go immediately to the station booking office. On production of your booking confirmation print-out and the same credit/debit card that you used to make your booking, station staff should be able to issue your tickets. If the station is unattended, please call our customer services team on 0871 244 1545*, before your train's departure time.          

*Calls to this number cost 10p per minute from a BT landline. Calls from other operators and from outside the UK may cost more.

Before leaving the self-service ticket machine, check that the correct number of coupons have been dispensed to cover the complete booking - including tickets, supplements and seat reservations. The collection receipt is the last coupon to be printed. Any problems should be raised immediately with local station staff.

We ask you to allow 2 hours after booking online for tickets to be available for collection from self-service ticket machines. Please allow sufficient time to collect your tickets before your journey, especially during peak hours.

Yes - if you have your tickets delivered by First Class or Royal Mail Special Delivery^TM Next Day, a receipt will be enclosed with your tickets. If you choose to collect your tickets from a self-service ticket machine, a receipt will be given with the tickets.

VAT is not charged on train tickets.

If you think you have been charged more than once for the same transaction, please contact our customer services team.

You can make your payment using the following types of payment card:

• Visa Credit, Visa Debit, Visa Electron
• Mastercard Credit
• Mastercard Debit
• Maestro
• American Express

We now accept payment cards with foreign billing addresses. Please select the country and add the billing address the card is registered to on the payment page.

MyTrainTicket now accepts payments from foreign cards.

We charge a £1.50 booking fee for all transactions unless otherwise stated. However, if you book multiple journeys in one transaction you will only be charged the fee once.

We apply a credit/charge card fee of 2%. There is no card fee when paying with debit cards, including Visa Electron and Maestro.

Advance tickets are non refundable.

Advance tickets can be amended however as long as you only want to change the date or time. If you want to travel on a difference route, new tickets will have to be purchased.

If you want to change the date or time of your tickets, you can by logging into ' My Account'. You can find the link within the booking process.

Click "Change date/time" next to the journey you want to change, and follow the steps to select the new time and date.

Changes can be made up to 2 hours before your original departure time. You can change to any ticket of equal or greater value. Please note that in addition to any difference in ticket cost, there is a £10 charge per ticket changed.

You must apply for a refund within 28 days of your ticket expiry date.

If you would like to apply for a refund or see whether your ticket is valid for a refund please log into your 'My Account'; situated within the booking process. For more information on refund validity please click here.

Please click here to see when you might expect your refund.

You cannot apply for a refund if you forget your Railcard and are charged for a new ticket. The Railcard terms and conditions state that you must carry it with you at all times if travelling with a Railcard-discounted ticket. If you do not have the Railcard with you at the time your ticket is inspected, you will be liable to pay for a new ticket for that journey at the full, undiscounted rate. Even if you can provide a copy of the Railcard at a later date, you will not be entitled to a refund for the new tickets.

You will be unable to amend an Advance ticket on the train.

An Off-Peak Single (online only) ticket is only valid as part of a return journey, in conjunction with another single ticket (Advance or Anytime), and both single tickets must have been purchased at the same time.

 If you want to refund or amend the Advance or Anytime single, you must refund the Off-Peak Single (online only) at the same time. The Advance or Anytime single cannot be refunded or amended alone. The refund will incur a £10 administration fee.

If you have already used your Off-Peak Single (online only) ticket, but have not used the Advance or Anytime single that was bought in conjunction with it, then you may apply for a refund for the unused Anytime single, or amend the unused Advance single. We will refund you the face value of the Anytime single, less the difference in price between an Off-Peak Single and the Off-Peak Single (online only), and less an administration fee of £10.

For any ticket enquiries, please contact customer services, or visit our help and support page.

Your booking reference can be found on your confirmation page and confirmation email and is 10 digits long.

Please note that this is not to be confused with the self-service machine collection reference, which is 8 digits long and consists of a combination of numbers and letters.