Rules, rules, rules, ....

[JamesAC]

A university professor was fined £155 for not traveling far enough on the train.

He had a first-class Advance Purchase ticket from London to Durham. But it suited him better to alight at Darlington, a few miles short of Durham.

However, the rules for Advance Purchase tickets forbid joining or leaving the train between the "From" and "To" stations.

So, he was charged a single first-class fare of £155 for the shorter journey from London to Darlington.

On the other hand, if he'd booked to Darlington, and over-stayed his journey and carried on to Durham, he would have been fined £4.80.

How utterly crazy is that?

 

[661-Pete]

We had this discussion a little while ago. Crazy, perverse, call it what you will, but apparently within their rules. Be careful!

 

[Davidc]

The wonders of privatisation.

 

[byegad]

Given so many trains are full, especially morning and evening, its merely the Railway companies milking their victims, sorry passengers.

 

[davefb]

he should goto court, that surely is an unfair term and condition, doesnt matter if it's in some lunatic small print..

this cropped up with some ferry deals,, it was cheaper to get returns rather than singles... so people were 'not coming back' on trips.

but apparently that breaks the rules as well..


with the OP , it wasnt as if he'd done this for a trick to get a cheap fair to york or something, he just got off one stop earlier, maybe his circumstance had changed , maybe the dammned thing was running late

 

[mr_cellophane]

The wonders of privatisation.

Fairly sure that this has nothing to do with privatisation and was also the case before.

 

[davefb]

hmm

interesting comment on here about this, seems railways can get away with a lot of this, coz they run via by-laws not contract laws..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...g-OFF-train-stop-early.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

(its a few in)..

compare with the ryanair guy and his unhappiness that whilst if you're delayed on a plane, ryanair has to fork out for hotels and stuff, but failure to a ferry or train, and the most you can get is the price of the ticket...... ie, if this train had failed, the most would have been the reduced fare, but he can be fined the full fare!

it isnt fair/fare/funfare though!

 

[redjedi]

I suppose it depends on what train operator you use.
I've regularly been sold tickets from Brighton to Vauxhall even though I asked for Clapham Junc., and was told it is cheaper, just get off early.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

There is no moral or practical justification for this. I hope he does challenge it in court, because it will give a judge the opportunity to declare these kinds of conditions illegal too.

 

[marzjennings]

Having not been on a train for a while I'm a bit confused here. How did they know he got off early?

 

[Dayvo]

Having not been on a train for a while I'm a bit confused here. How did they know he got off early?

At his early destination when he presented his ticket, either to some jobsworth, or the machine, which didn't accept it and let him through. At a guess!

 

[slugonabike]

I read this yesterday, I think it was the machine that failed to recognise his ticket.

 

[dellzeqq]

I suppose it depends on what train operator you use.
I've regularly been sold tickets from Brighton to Vauxhall even though I asked for Clapham Junc., and was told it is cheaper, just get off early.

me too - and from Chichester. I wonder what would happen if the Clapham Junction staff looked at the tickets (an absurd suggestion!)

 

[Over The Hill]

he should goto court,

....or just take his car. Certainly would get change out of £155

 

[661-Pete]

I suppose it depends on what train operator you use.
I've regularly been sold tickets from Brighton to Vauxhall even though I asked for Clapham Junc., and was told it is cheaper, just get off early.

me too - and from Chichester. I wonder what would happen if the Clapham Junction staff looked at the tickets (an absurd suggestion!)

Difference being, these were (presumably) not advance tickets, therefore break of journey was allowed.

Moreover getting to Vauxhall from either Brighton or Chichester is more difficult, involving a change, that may be why it was cheaper.

I've bought tickets to Victoria on the day (i.e. not advance), at a discount, then got off at Clapham Junction - and had the ticket scrutinised at the barrier. No problem.

Browsing through the discount advance tickets, I've been amazed at how cheap some of them are. Recently I bought an advance ticket, Leicester to London, for what I thought was reasonable (about £20). I now find you can get them for as little as £1! At that price, obviously a massive loss leader, I think it's reasonable that you should have to accept stringent T&C's. The important thing is to know what they are. But it appears, the provider has no obligation to put them in large print etc. etc... Caveat emptor...