Off Peak fares in the South East - don't let them scam you!
It's worth bearing in mind that Off Peak tickets for journeys wholly in the South East area are generally restricted until after 0930 (with some exceptions), but journeys between stations inside the South East to/from stations outside the South East, via London, are completely unrestricted between the South East station and London! But passengers have reported that some staff in the South East area are unaware of this and incorrectly attempt to issue excess fares.
For example, a ticket from Rugby or Peterborough to somewhere like Colchester, is unrestricted on London Liverpool Street to Colchester trains, whatever any announcements say. Guards on these trains regularly announce that Off Peak tickets are not valid, but such sweeping statements are not strictly true. While National Express East Anglia (NXEA) has the right to state that all their Off peak tickets from London to Colchester are not valid at certain times, they have to abide by the restrictions on other tickets and cannot refuse to accept these tickets.
If you are asked to pay an excess in these circumstances, refuse. Ask the staff member to check the restriction code. Even better, prepare yourself by asking for the restriction code when you buy the ticket and bring it along when you travel. Ask the person who is trying to excess you for their name, and then write to the TOC concerned suggesting that the person is given training in this area. It's not the staff on the ground's fault; it's the fault of managers who do not provide sufficient training for their staff.
Virgin Trains off peak policy changes
You may recall my article in the November edition of Railtalk Magazine about a leaflet titled "Is your Off Peak ticket valid?", it proudly boasted that Virgin do not have any peak restrictions for journeys north of Milton Keynes, however Virgin quietly introduced draconian restrictions on Off Peak tickets in the January fares change, causing massive increases in fares at peak times.
For a journey such as Crewe to Preston, the first off peak service is the 10:09 arriving 10:51 and to travel earlier the fare increases from £21 to £35 - a massive increase by stealth. In this particular case, passengers can buy Crewe to Wigan Anytime Day (£12.70) and Wigan to Preston Anytime Day (£6.20) making a total of £18.90. Virgin are effectively trying to scam passengers into paying an extra £16.10 for this journey. My advice is not to let Virgin get away with this scam, do your research and split the tickets and pay a fair fare.
It is worth noting that Virgin still allow railcard holders to use any train on an Off Peak ticket (as mentioned in detail in the January article) so the increases only apply to non-railcard holders.
FCC evening peak restrictions
A passenger who frequently requires a single from London to Luton on First Capital Connect (FCC) during the evening peak informed us that she was told by some ticket clerks that Off Peak single tickets are “not valid” for travel at this time and she should “purchase an Anytime single”.
In fact, it is only the return portion of Off Peak Day returns that are not valid out of London in the evening peak. Outward portions of Off Peak Day returns, and Off Peak singles are valid departing London throughout the evening peak.
Instead of looking up the restrictions, some ticket clerks are making (incorrect) assumptions that singles and outward portions of returns have the same validity of the more familiar return portions. It is likely that many people have been charged incorrectly, and many of those people won’t have questioned it.
It is worth pointing out that NXEC, who do not allow the outward portion of Off Peak Day, or Off Peak single tickets to be used in the evening peak out of London on the flows that they set, have to accept such tickets on their 18:20 service from London to Stevenage as these fares are set by FCC, not NXEC. Meanwhile, unlike FCC, NXEC do allow return portions of Off Peak returns to be used in the evening peak. Confused? Here’s a table that lists validity at peak time* from King’s Cross:
Code: Select all
Ticket validities King's Cross - Stevenage & Peterborough (PM Peak)
[b]Destination: Stevenage Route: Any Permitted[/b]
Off Peak Day (Out/Sgl) Valid
Off Peak Day (Rtn) Not Valid
Off Peak (Out/Sgl) Not Valid
Off Peak (Rtn) Not Valid
[b]Destination: Peterborough Route: Any Permitted[/b]
Off Peak Day (Out/Sgl) Not Valid
Off Peak Day (Rtn) Not Valid
Off Peak (Out/Sgl) Not Valid
Off Peak (Rtn) Valid
[b]Destination: Peterborough Route: FCC Only[/b]
Off Peak Day (Out/Sgl) Valid
Off Peak Day (Rtn) Not Valid
Off Peak (Out/Sgl) Valid
Off Peak (Rtn) Not Valid
Do the conductors actually know all these restrictions? I doubt it. But I’m pretty sure that, on the 18:20 with a well loaded train and such complicated restrictions to check in 19 minutes from London to Stevenage (including time to make the announcements), they won’t have time to issue too many excess fares anyway.
Breaking Off Peak outward journeys
Before “simplification” an absurd condition of Saver tickets prevented passengers breaking their journey on the outward portion. We were initially promised that simplification would do away with this rule and we would be able to break our journey on either portion, however this was broken as it became a case of “Break of journey is permitted on both outward and return portions of Off-Peak tickets unless otherwise indicated by a restriction shown against he ticket's validity code.” Simple, eh?
Initially NXEC were the only company to impose this pointlessly draconian – and virtually impossible to enforce anyway – rule, however since the most recent fares change in January, Virgin have also decided to restrict break of journey.
This means that tickets such as London to Carlisle were valid for break of journey on the outward portion for just a few months.
It is worth noting that break of journey is only prohibited on tickets where Virgin and NXEC set the flow (I’m not aware of any other operator imposing such a restriction), however it appears that some flows have been omitted, for example an East Croydon to Gretna Green ticket allows break of journey (except from King’s Cross). At £90.20, this is cheaper than a London to Carlisle ticket (£92.30) which does not allow a break of journey! The East Croydon to Gretna ticket gives the added bonus of a cross-London transfer in each direction!
It’s also well worth remembering that using station facilities does not constitute a break of journey, so barrier staff are not within their rights to refuse you through the barrier to use station facilities, including shops, toilets, the ticket office, and any other facility. You only break your journey when you leave station premises (except to walk between stations, such as Moor Street to New Street in Birmingham). So unless the barrier staff stalk you, they really can’t tell if you are breaking your journey or not.
