TravelMaster boss apologises to Sheffield customers after online sales system "failure"

Commuters across the county were forced to pay more for travel tickets due to an error on the company’s website, which prevented people from being able to buy tickets in advance at a reduced rate.

Matt Smallwood, the director and general manager of the multi-ticket provider, said: “I’d like to apologise to all customers inconvenienced by the failure of our online retail system this weekend.

“This failure will have been frustrating for people returning to work after the Christmas break unable to purchase their ticket before travelling.”

TravelMaster provide transport tickets for travel across South Yorkshire that are accepted on buses, trains and trams by multiple travel operators. According to their website, they sell more than two million ticketing products annually, facilitating over 17 million journeys, with more than 200,000 TravelMaster smart cards in circulation.

Although he said the problem was fully fixed by 9.45am on Monday morning, Mr Smallwood admitted the company’s communication around the failure – and signposting to other points of sale – “could have been better”.

He added: “I am sorry for the invonvenience and frustration this has caused.”

“We have invested heavily in our eCommerce system and I want to assure all our customers that we are doing everything we can to make sure this is a one-off issue.”