diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9d227b83..b1b659f8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ installed
 /composer.phar
 _ide_helper.php
 *.swp
-composer.lock
+
 
 # Do not include backup lang files
 resources/lang/*/[a-zA-Z]*20[0-9][0-9][0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]_[0-2][0-9][0-5][0-9][0-5][0-9].php
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/Models/Attendee.php b/app/Models/Attendee.php
index cb21436b..98f7fed4 100644
--- a/app/Models/Attendee.php
+++ b/app/Models/Attendee.php
@@ -45,8 +45,14 @@ class Attendee extends MyBaseModel
         parent::boot();
 
         static::creating(function ($order) {
-            $order->private_reference_number = \Str::Random(10);
+            do {
+            //generate a random string using Laravel's str_random helper
+            $token = Str::Random(10);
+            } //check if the token already exists and if it does, try again
+            while (Attendee::where('private_reference_number', $token)->first());
+            $order->private_reference_number = $token;
         });
+
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/app/Models/Order.php b/app/Models/Order.php
index ae6924eb..893e1c0b 100644
--- a/app/Models/Order.php
+++ b/app/Models/Order.php
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ namespace App\Models;
 use File;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
 use PDF;
+use Illuminate\Support\Str;
 
 class Order extends MyBaseModel
 {
@@ -175,7 +176,14 @@ class Order extends MyBaseModel
         parent::boot();
 
         static::creating(function ($order) {
-            $order->order_reference = strtoupper(str_random(5)) . date('jn');
-        });
+          do {
+          //generate a random string using Laravel's str_random helper
+          $token = Str::Random(5) . date('jn');
+          } //check if the token already exists and if it does, try again
+          while (Order::where('order_reference', $token)->first());
+          $order->order_reference = $token;
+          });
+
+
     }
 }