Customers using South Western Railway (SWR) are being encouraged to stop using paper tickets and change to Smart Cards.

The new initiative is part of SWR smart ticketing campaign, which they call 'renew without the queue'.

The benefits of the Smart Card include the ability to cancel the card immediately when lost, the plastic card will remain in good condition and there is no risk of it not working at ticket gates.

Smart ticketing also means that customers of South Western Railway can buy and manage their tickets online rather than queuing at ticket offices while travelling.

SWR Touch Smart Cards can be used with Weekly, Monthly and Annual Season Tickets as well as single and return tickets.

A SWR spokesperson said: “Having one of our Touch Smart Cards means having the convenience of buying and managing tickets online, rather than queuing at the ticket office or ticket machine to buy or replace paper tickets.

"There are many more benefits associated with the Touch Smart Card that don’t come with paper tickets. Switching to a Touch Smart card rather than continuing with paper tickets has to be a no-brainer.”

Seasonal ticket holders who transfer from the traditional paper ticket to the SWR smart ticket Touch will be entered into a prize draw, for a change to win back the price they paid for their tickets.

Three winners will be picked each month until April 30, 2019.

The Smart Cards are free and are available online, for information visit https://www.southwesternrailway.com/train-tickets/smart-ticketing.