Great Western Coffee Shop

I was just refused the sale of a ticket from Reading to Gatwick using my Gold card at the ticket office at Stroud railway station. Was told by station staff Gold card tickets can only be purchased from stations within a Gold card area. Is that correct? Seems absurd that they can't sell me what seems to be a fairly mainstream ticket for a part of the rail network outside the South West..?

I asked FWG Help via FB Messenger who refused to say whether or not Stroud should be able to sell me this ticket and instead referred me to gwr.com to book my ticket (thanks!).

Sorry if this has been covered before..just had a quick search and couldn't find anything.

I thought that this had always been the case?

Gold Card area was extended northwards to the Birmingham area, but I don't think you can get Gold Cards west of DID?

Could well be. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised!

I know they couldn't issue Gold cards, but was just surprised they couldn't issue a ticket with a Gold card discount. What's the logic? It can't even be a GWR thing given GWR operate some of the stations in the Gold card area..

They should be able to sell you any ticket available on the Network including a Thames Branches Rover.  That's outside their area too.

I suspect they have never done it before and don't know where the right buttons are.

Oh, and gold card tickets are able to be sold outside of the GC area - one's destination just need to be inside the area - they may though not hold the correct ticket blank stock.

Hmmm - I had Network Card discounted tickets refused at stations outside the area covered too.

Gold Card Season Tickets can only be purchased at stations in the Gold Card area. These are issued on special Gold Card ticket stock.

However, normal single and returns eligible for the 1/3 off Gold Card discount should be available at any ticket office. Just a case of the clerk selecting the right discount button after being shown the valid Gold Card. The three letter Railcard code for the Annual Gold Card is NGC. These tickets can be issued on common stock, as all other Railcard discounted tickets are.

Such tickets can be bought online from GWR no matter where in the country you are. There's absolutely no reason, except poor training, why a ticket office clerk can't issue them.

A Gold card query for the knowledgeable but a bit off the above subject!

Scenario.

Son and Girlfriend are flying to Oslo tomorrow and travelling from Witley to Gatwick via Guildford. She has an annual season Witley to Waterloo which covers the Witley to Guildford section of the journey to Gatwick. Can she buy a Gold card return Guildford to Gatwick for her and a Witley to Gatwick Gold card return for my son or do the tickets have to be the same (ie both Witley to Gatwick) I can only find that Gold Card holder must travel with others throughout journey which would be the case. Any advice very welcome.

Providing the gold card holder is travelling with then yes you could buy one ticket from Witley and one from Guildford and that would be fine. I do these kind of journeys regularly without issue.

Hope that helps

Thank you oxviem for such a speedy response. Much appreciated!

For the Witley - Gatwick tickets I believe singles each way would be marginally cheaper; splitting those singles at Dorking Deepdene would also be marginally cheaper still (and using a Weekend Super Off-Peak ticket for the Witley - Dorking leg if valid marginally cheaper still).