A TRAIN company operating on the East Coast main line is refusing to post tickets to passengers if the journey is within five days - because they might not get delivered on time.

GNER, which also runs many stations on the line, only now issues tickets by post if the passenger intends to travel more than five working days ahead.

The company said it has increased the cut-off from the previous three-day limit following late deliveries leaving passengers without tickets on the day of their intended journey.

But GNER has brought in new ticket collection arrangements at the stations it operates. These include a new "Ticket on Departure" system, featuring Fast Ticket machines.

GNER spokesman John Gelson said: "We had a situation where we would post tickets if it was three working days to the journey, but we increased it to five because of problems where people were not receiving them on time.

"By the time it went through ticketing and it was issued, which for operational reasons is usually the following day from the booking, there were occasions when tickets arrived late.

"If it's less than five working days we advise people to use Ticket on Departure.

"It means passengers can collect the ticket at a travel centre from the station they are leaving from, or go to any GNER-operated station where there are Fast Ticket machines."

The red and blue machines print out tickets on-the-spot, providing the passenger keys in a code given when making a phone booking.

Mr Gelson said: "We've had the Fast Ticket machines on stations for some time, but we've now expanded it across more stations.

"More and more of our customers are now using the service."

He added: "We're not saying the Royal Mail is unreliable, but the reality is the post can be a less than predictable animal."

A Royal Mail spokesman defended the postal service, saying: "The target set by the regulator, PostCom, is next-day delivery, and 92.5 per cent is the current target.

"We'll never deliver 100 per cent, but we acknowledge this year we have rarely hit that target.

"Generally speaking, nine out of ten items are delivered the next day, but it's not guaranteed."

He added that should someone book online or over the phone it may depend how long afterwards GNER post the tickets.