Elizabeth line: TfL confirms 3 stations have no ticket collection facilities - see which ones

Since opening last May, the Elizabeth line has broken passenger records and vastly improved the travelling experience for many crossing from east to west, or vice versa. Despite its successes, London’s newest service however has not been totally smooth sailing.

One of the issues causing some confusion has been the use of Oyster Cards. While they are accepted at the majority of stations servicing the Elizabeth line, or all of those within zones 1-6 plus Shenfield in the east, they cannot be used at stops beyond West Drayton.

If you are wanting to travel on to Iver, Langley, Slough, Burnham, Taplow, Maidenhead, Twyford or Reading you will need to buy a paper ticket or use contactless.

However, this then potentially poses another problem for passengers; for those wanting to purchase a paper ticket, or who have been provided a code online to print a ticket, do all Elizabeth line stations have the necessary facilities?

Print-less Elizabeth line stations

The short answer to that question is no. A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson told LondonWorld that stations managed by London Underground where Elizabeth line services stop only have ticket machines for the Tube. These do not allow customers to print tickets ordered online.

Stations which are managed by London Underground but also have National Rail services running through them, such as Thameslink at Farringdon and Greater Anglia at Liverpool Street, do however have such facilities, as do all remaining stops on the line.

The spokesperson said TfL has asked companies and third parties to make it clear tickets cannot be printed at certain stations, and amend their systems so customers cannot select those locations for ticket collection.

Which Elizabeth line stations do not allow tickets to be printed?

Along the whole of the Elizabeth line, there are just three stations where tickets cannot be collected.

They are:

• Whitechapel

• Bond Street

• Tottenham Court Road

For any passengers travelling on the Elizabeth line and heading to a station which does not serve Oyster Cards, TfL recommends customers use contactless options such as debit cards or their phone rather than purchase a ticket.

For customers who end up purchasing a ticket they then cannot print, TfL advises they contact the ticket supplier and change location of the collection.

If that is not possible, they are advised to instead use another form of payment, such as contactless, for the journey, and to claim a refund on their original purchase.

Asked about a potential impact on costs, due to the inability to attach railcards to contactless options, TfL had not responded at the time of publication.

According to a recent TfL Board report, the Elizabeth line recorded its most successful day last month, with 783,000 journeys on September 28.

That week also saw the highest total, with 4.5 million journeys made.