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"Legal fair dodging"

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    "Legal fair dodging"

    That's what the conductor called it, I've been told that if I get off at Peterborough and not Kings Cross (where my ticket is too) I'll be charged an additional £140.

    I've purchased the London fair because it's £140 cheaper than a return to Peterborough, I'll pass through the station anyway.

    I give up. It's litter wonder I'm the only person in the coach.
    "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

    #2
    My wife travels on Virgin to London a few times a week. It is necessary to have both your ticket AND the separate seat reservation for either to be valid. She says that most mornings she sees someone have to pay despite holding a valid ticket because they don't have the seat reservation part. But that's a different scam.


    Anyway, regarding your problem, which is quite a common one. (By the way, on one of the National Rail Enquiries pages for ticket information, there is a clearly absent link to the "terms and conditions" relating to tickets and a picture of a narrowboat rather than a train. Are they having a laugh?)

    Anyway, sitting on that site is:

    Break of journey

    You may not start, break and resume, or end your journey at any intermediate station except to change to/from connecting trains as shown on the ticket(s) or other valid travel itinerary.
    but your problem is such a common one that the above should be on notices in the stations, not just on a web site. Except it isn't because that wouldn't make them more money, would it?

    Instead, they invent these rules and keep quiet about them, knowing that over time they will catch a couple of million people and hit them with a penalty. And some scumbag actually wrote a business case about that at some point in the past and a change committee approved it.
    My all-time favourite Dilbert cartoon, this is: BTW, a Dumpster is a brand of skip, I think.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by RichardCranium View Post
      Instead, they invent these rules and keep quiet about them, knowing that over time they will catch a couple of million people and hit them with a penalty. And some scumbag actually wrote a business case about that at some point in the past and a change committee approved it.
      Did they take into account the likely future travel decisions of passengers that they treat this way?

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Julius Caesar View Post
        Did they take into account the likely future travel decisions of passengers that they treat this way?
        I got done for a £10 penalty fare on the London Underground in the 1990s when I had a ticket. I appealed and they just passed it to a debt collection agency. That was the last straw for me and after that I travelled by black cab instead each way from Euston to Southwark every day for about 2 or 3 years. I have only used the London Underground a handful of times since then, typically when with someone else.

        I've probably spent about £14,000 in cab fares since that £10 penalty fare (all through my LtdCo, of course). Instead of about £3,000 in underground tickets.

        But given how unpleasant the underground is, and how nice it is being chauffeured from door-to-door, London Underground can **** right off as far as I'm concerned.
        My all-time favourite Dilbert cartoon, this is: BTW, a Dumpster is a brand of skip, I think.

        Comment


          #5
          I suppose it's back to the plane next week...
          "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by RichardCranium View Post
            But given how unpleasant the underground is, and how nice it is being chauffeured from door-to-door, London Underground can **** right off as far as I'm concerned.
            If you know when you're going to want to go, these guys are much more fun than a black cab

            http://www.virgin.com/subsites/virginlimobike/link.html
            ‎"See, you think I give a tulip. Wrong. In fact, while you talk, I'm thinking; How can I give less of a tulip? That's why I look interested."

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by scooterscot View Post
              I suppose it's back to the plane next week...
              You evil global-warming person.

              The likes of you won't be happy until we have submarines able to surface at the north pole.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by RichardCranium View Post
                My wife travels on Virgin to London a few times a week. It is necessary to have both your ticket AND the separate seat reservation for either to be valid. She says that most mornings she sees someone have to pay despite holding a valid ticket because they don't have the seat reservation part. But that's a different scam.


                Anyway, regarding your problem, which is quite a common one. (By the way, on one of the National Rail Enquiries pages for ticket information, there is a clearly absent link to the "terms and conditions" relating to tickets and a picture of a narrowboat rather than a train. Are they having a laugh?)

                Anyway, sitting on that site is:

                but your problem is such a common one that the above should be on notices in the stations, not just on a web site. Except it isn't because that wouldn't make them more money, would it?

                Instead, they invent these rules and keep quiet about them, knowing that over time they will catch a couple of million people and hit them with a penalty. And some scumbag actually wrote a business case about that at some point in the past and a change committee approved it.

                But just to compicate things if you go to the National Rail COnditions of Carriage it says

                C. USE OF TICKETS
                16. Starting, breaking or ending a journey at intermediate stations
                You may start, or break and resume, a journey (in either direction in the case of a return
                ticket) at any intermediate station, as long as the ticket you hold is valid for the trains you
                want to use. You may also end your journey (in either direction in the case of a return
                ticket) before the destination shown on the ticket. However, these rights may not apply to
                some types of tickets for which a break of journey is prohibited, in which case the relevant
                Train Companies will make this clear in their notices and other publications.
                So it's actually fdown to the train operators to publicise whether you can stop at an intermediate station or not.

                And having done a very wuick search on the Virgin Rail site the only reference I can find in their T&C's is to the National Conditions quoted above.
                Last edited by DaveB; 26 January 2010, 09:42.
                "Being nice costs nothing and sometimes gets you extra bacon" - Pondlife.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Doggy Styles View Post
                  You evil global-warming person.

                  The likes of you won't be happy until we have submarines able to surface at the north pole.
                  Well I tried but it cost more to travel by train and even then it's the most complicated system to understand, when it comes to purchasing a ticket.

                  Global warming is a myth, did no one tell you?
                  "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by DaveB View Post
                    So it's actually fdown to the train operators to publicise whether you can stop at an intermediate station or not.
                    National Rail has conditions for 3 ticket types:

                    Anytime - can break journey
                    Off-Peak - can break journey
                    Advance - can't break journey

                    I think all train companies are adopting this ticket structure?
                    ‎"See, you think I give a tulip. Wrong. In fact, while you talk, I'm thinking; How can I give less of a tulip? That's why I look interested."

                    Comment

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