Charityline Update 21st July 2010

The current policy of allowing charities to travel during the peak with Off-Peak tickets is being phased out. The last date charities will be able to purchase tickets under the current scheme will be 20 August 2010. We are aware that some charities will have purchased tickets for travel beyond this date and we will continue to honour such tickets without penalty.
The phone line, 0845 305 0350, will remain open until 18 September to help with account refunds or change of journey. From 13 August you will need to book all tickets through thetrainline.com website.

Under the new scheme tickets can be bought up to 23.59 the day before travel and collected from a FastTicket machine at the station – removing the seven days notice previously required

Similar to today, the amended scheme will require the traveller to be in possession of a valid charity photo ID card or dated letter of authority on charity headed paper with discounted charity tickets.

The discount is available to registered charities that are able to prove a minimum 10% voluntary funding level. This can be validated by a letter from your Finance Director, or similar, stating your 10% minimum voluntary funding; or for charities with an income over £500,000, a link to the page on the Charity Commission website (OSCR in Scotland) that shows your charity’s funding status.

To register at thetrainline.com

- Click on the Business Account tab and then ‘Create a business account for my company.’
- Fill in your company details. Remember to select ‘Charity’ as the Business Type from the drop down menu.
- After you complete your registration, you will be provided with a business ID number.
- Once registered, please email the Charity team (charitydiscount@thetrainline.com) with the following information:
- The ID number of your business account
- Your registered charity number
- Confirmation of your eligibility
- Please put the name of your organisation in the subject line.

if you email by Friday 30 July your discount will be activated by Friday 13 August. Otherwise, activation will be completed within 15 working days of receiving a valid request.

charityline update

Changes are being made to Virgin Trains’ existing CharityLine scheme later this month - as a result, Virgin Trains are currently not accepting any new account applications. The changes to the scheme are currently being finalised, and we hope to be in a position to confirm and publish the details later next week.

Existing CharityLine customers are advised that although the current scheme will be changing, the existing scheme will remain in place until at least the middle of August, and that any tickets already booked, or purchased between now and then, will be honoured. A letter confirming the details of the changes will be sent to all existing users within the next week or so. This page will be updated in the coming days when more details about the new scheme become available.

NRS upgrade and impact on reservations

National Reservation Service Upgrade
From 00:01 hrs on Saturday 29 May 2010 until 11:00 on Sunday 30 May 2010, upgrade work will be carried out on the National Reservations Service (NRS). This period has been chosen as, whilst it is a busy period for travelling, it is one of the quietest times of the year for booking tickets.
NRS is the central reservations system managed by ATOC on behalf of Britain's train companies. Each year NRS processes 1.5 billion booking enquiries from station ticket offices, ticket sales websites, call centres and travel agents. These searches result in over 60 million reservations every year made on National Rail train services in Great Britain. It also supports the sale of over half a million great value Advance fares every week.
The upgrade will double the capacity of NRS, allowing it to support further increases in the already fast growing number of Advance tickets sold every week as well as the anticipated further growth in seat reservations. It will also support new forms of customer-friendly ticketing such as print-at-home tickets.
During the upgrade it will not be possible to view the availability of, or to sell, Advance tickets because they require mandatory reservations; neither will it be possible for customers to make reservations for other types of ticket. Off-Peak and Anytime fares without seat reservations will continue to be available from all usual retail channels. Timetable information will not be affected.
Please can you ensure all team members and any self-booking clients are aware of this short period where Advance tickets, and seat reservations will not be available.