FIRST ScotRail is to overhaul its online ticketing system after a series of glitches and complaints.
The system whereby passengers can buy and book tickets on the internet and then collect them at the railway station has been plagued by problems with customers finding that the tickets are not available when they turn up to collect them.
The prob
lems, according to First ScotRail, is that even when tickets are reserved and paid for online, each purchase has to be processed manually by a member of staff.
That means that if the ticket is bought outside normal working hours, during a rush in demand or close to the time of travel, it may not have been processed by the time the customer arrives at the station to pick up their documents.
In such cases, the traveller has to pay full-price for the tickets and claim back a refund for the unused online ticket.
By buying tickets over the counter at the time of travel, the passenger loses out on the special discounts for tickets purchased days in advance.
A spokeswoman for First ScotRail said: "The online booking system is being completely overhauled. There have been a number of problems with the system, such as tickets not being available at every station. The overhaul will streamline it and make it more reliable."
Just last month, four disgruntled passengers travelling from Aberdeen booked online but found that their tickets were not there when they went to pick them up. Staff in Aberdeen admitted that the problems were all too frequent.
The news come just a week after it emerged that First ScotRail was fined nearly £145,000 in a month for failing a series of tough new quality standards.
The penalties came despite the company announcing an extensive station cleaning programme when it took over train routes in Scotland last October.
First ScotRail did get high marks for the quality of train heating and ventilation, and lost luggage and station lifts.
Mary Dickson, First ScotRail's high-profile managing director, said that the company was making progress and that feedback from travellers was positive.
The full article contains 386 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
