I booked train tickets for the same train (23:30) on 4 successive Fridays and opted to pick up my tickets at Kings Cross station. On the first Friday I forgot my ticket reference and was suprised to find the ticket office shut and I later discovered Kings X shuts all ticket offices at 22:00 but there is an excess ticket window that doubles up as an out of hours ticket office. On that occasion I boarded the train without my tickets and the inspector agreed to look at my online booking (I don't have internet enabled phone but train has wifi and I had my laptop). I turned up at the station on the 4th and final Friday to pick up my tickets for the 23:30, and got an "unable to issue tickets at this time" message. I went to the excess ticket window expecting to give my credit card and get my tickets. Instead the officer asked for my booking reference, I gave it to him. He correctly quoted my destination and told me that my tickets had been printed in the machine. I thought this meant that he had just printed them. I went back and searched all the ticket machines - no ticket. It was now almost departure time and it was the last train so I hurried and got on. The ticket inspector asks for my ticket I explain that I don't have it. She says she will accept an online booking reference. No problem says I and log on with wifi on my laptop and then to my horror I find that the 4th of the 4 journeys had been booked on an earlier train more expensive train (and I dispute it was my error but it is moot anyway). I hadn't noticed because I was sent 4 different confirmations and had just checked the dates. They were all supposed to be for the 23:30. The long and short of it is I was issued an unpaid fare notice which I will dispute but I am prepared to file in small claims for. The reason is because I entered into a contract to pick up my tickets at Kings X and by reason of the ticket office being shut and the failure of out of hours window clerk to issue tickets I was not able to do so. Had I done so I would have realised the booking mistake before boarding and not gotten on the train and simply gone by coach the next day. The fare for the 23:30 was 13:30. The 4th ticket that was for an earlier train was 29.00 and the unpaid fare notice was 96.80. So I would be taking out a small claim for the recovery of at least the 96.80. I'm interested in the legal aspect and the likelihood that the train company will show up to defend the small claim anyway. I have told this story before elsewhere and would like to mention that I am not a fare dodger or a threat to the train company's revenue. An honest error was made somewhere possibly by me although I would dispute that but it is not one that warrants punishing a fare paying customer in that way.