Buying online

Yes. Child £2 flat fare tickets can be bought online when you also buy an adult off-peak ticket.

Please be aware that:

• Child flat fares are not valid for journeys wholly within London Zones 1-6
• Child flat fares are not currently available with Off-Peak Travelcards and Advance purchase tickets

Train tickets can be used by anyone even though certain tickets will have the name of the traveller or person who booked the tickets printed on them.

When you are making a booking you can ask for the tickets to be sent to a different address.

If you do buy tickets for someone else, please note that the sales receipt will be enclosed with the tickets. The receipt shows the last four digits of the credit card as well as the purchase price.

If you have chosen to have your tickets delivered, tickets purchased by 16.00 will be processed and dispatched within 24 hours of booking using Royal Mail First Class post. Please allow five working days for delivery.

Please note we are unable to guarantee delivery of any unsigned for first class post, and would suggest using a ticket machine at the station as it’s quicker, easier and free of charge.

If your tickets haven't turned up after five working days, you should contact Customer Services. Call: 0345 026 4700.

If you've chosen to collect your tickets at the station, please enter your credit or debit card and booking reference from your confirmation email into a ticket vending machine. Your tickets will then be issued.

Trace your tickets

If you've not received your tickets and you used the Special Delivery option, you can trace your tickets with our fastrailticketing service. Just enter your online eight character booking reference number.

You'll then get a unique Royal Mail Track and Trace number. From there you can go straight to the Royal Mail site (there is no need to re-enter the tracking number) and the status of the delivery will be shown (including electronic proof of delivery where available)

Please note, we can't guarantee next day delivery with Signed For Delivery. If you need to be sure, then we recommend you use the Special Delivery Guaranteed option.

Special Delivery Guaranteed

Order your tickets by 16:00 and we will guarantee delivery the next working day*. It costs £6.00 (inclusive of VAT) and guarantees delivery before 13.00, and gives you insurance up to £500.00.

*Remote areas and Islands of Scotland will take longer to reach. Orders placed on Saturday or Sunday are despatched on Monday and delivered on Tuesday. Orders placed on a Bank Holiday are despatched on Tuesday and delivered on Wednesday.

You can collect your tickets from any National Rail station which has a ticket machine.

If for some reason you cannot retrieve your tickets from the machine, you can collect them from the ticket office.

You must remember to take with you your booking reference number and any credit/debit card in order to collect tickets.

Lost or stolen Season tickets purchased online from the Great Northern, Southern, or Thameslink Website or station

Paper Season tickets

Please report a lost or stolen season ticket valid for one month or longer to a staffed Great Northern, Southern or Thameslink Railway ticket office as soon as possible to arrange for a duplicate season ticket application form to be issued.

This is not currently available to report this online.

A non-refundable administration fee of £20 is payable for each duplicate application. This needs to be paid at the ticket office when the request for a duplicate ticket is made. The ticket office will provide a payment receipt for the administration fee and issue a duplicate application form.

If your photocard has also been lost/stolen this will need replacing prior to submitting a duplicate season ticket request. A passport style photo will be required to enable the ticket office to issue a replacement photocard. Details of the new photocard number should be included in the application.

You will be required to complete the duplicate season ticket application form and send it along with the payment receipt to the ‘FREEPOST’ address on the form within 7 days of receiving the application form.

You should also report any theft to the police.

We will refund (with no administration charge) the cost of tickets purchased that match the journey details of the season ticket being replaced while you were waiting for the duplicate ticket to be issued. A letter confirming the dates you are eligible to receive a refund for will be sent to you along with the duplicate ticket. You should take the letter along with the tickets to a Great Northern, Southern or Thameslink staffed ticket office and arrangements will be made for you to receive your refund.

Please note we do not issue duplicates for weekly season tickets.

Damaged paper tickets
If your paper ticket is faded or damaged, or doesn't work in automatic ticket barriers, you can return it to any Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern or Thameslink ticket office where we'll happily replace it free of charge.

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Key Smartcard Season tickets

The best way to do this is by logging into your account to request this yourself. Log in to your account to cancel and replace your existing Smartcard.

You can also report the loss or theft of a season ticket held on a Key Smartcard by calling our team to arrange a replacement:

• 03451 27 29 20 (for Southern Website issued Smartcards)
• 03450 26 47 00 (for Thameslink or Great Northern Website issued Smartcards)

You can apply for up to two replacement Smartcards free of charge; further requests may incur a fee.

Whilst waiting for your new card to arrive you will need to buy paper tickets to travel. Please keep these tickets as you will be able to claim a refund for them on receipt of your replacement Smartcard.

Refunds will be processed at any Great Northern, Southern or Thameslink ticket office providing the season ticket is active at the time of loss. A £10 admin fee will be applied to all tickets as per our Smartcard refund policy.

When requesting a duplicate season ticket you are agreeing to return the lost season ticket to the Duplicate Office immediately if it is subsequently found.

If the lost/stolen season ticket or Smartcard was not purchased from a Great Northern, Southern or Thameslink website or ticket office you must contact the original retailer.

Please visit our refunds page for information on how to refund your season ticket.

Advance tickets offer great value but are sold subject to availability and carry restrictions in terms of which dates and trains you must travel on.

Advance tickets aren’t available on Thameslink routes, but you can buy them on our website for journeys elsewhere in the UK.

They usually go on sale six to 12 weeks ahead of travel depending on the season. They can sell out quickly so the further ahead you book and the more flexible you can be, the bigger the savings you can make and the less likely you are to be disappointed.

Standard and First Advance tickets are sold only as single fares, allowing you to purchase the best deal on each stage of your journey, for example by buying a Standard Advance for the outward stage of your journey and a First Advance for the return.

There are some restrictions around Advance tickets:

• First Advance tickets don't allow access into First Class Lounges
• You can't buy Advance tickets after 6pm on the night before you travel
• Advance tickets are not refundable