Using super off peak single a day early

[Stargull]

Hello.

I need some advice about ticket exchange; I hold a super off peak from Hexham to Oxford dated tomorrow. I may want to come back this afternoon, and I think the ticket should be exchangeable for a super off peak for today (for a fee?).

The twist is I won’t decide until after the Hexham ticket office shuts. In such circumstances can I just get on a train and ask a member of staff for an exchange? Especially nervous as it’s Northern first.

Assuming I make it to Newcastle without an opportunity to exchange , must I go to the ticket office, risking a tight connection, or could I jump on the LNER service?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Watershed]

You must have a valid ticket before boarding if there are ticket purchasing facilities available at your starting station. The fact you have a ticket for tomorrow, which you should be able to change to today at any ticket office for free, is unfortunately neither here nor there as far as the rules are concerned. Without a valid ticket for today you could be forced to pay for a new Anytiem Single to the next stop or to your destination, issued with a Penalty Fare, or prosecuted.

If you bought your ticket online, it should be possible to get the retailer to exchange your ticket and issue you with a new e-ticket or ToD reference for today's ticket. If you bought it at a ticket machine or ticket office, I'd suggest contacting the retailer in question to ask them how to exchange it; it's possible they may say you have to buy a new ticket and refund the old one, possibly subject to an admin fee.

The other option, if you have enough cash with you to pay for the £8.50 single fare to Newcastle, is to get a "Promise to Pay Notice" (PtPN) from the ticket machine at Hexham by going through the purchase process as if you were going to buy a ticket to Newcastle. The PtPN allows you to buy a ticket with cash onboard the train; at that point, you could ask the guard whether they'd be willing to excess tomorrow's ticket to make it valid today - if they refuse or say they don't know how to (or can't) do this, you would then at least be able to pay the fare without the risk of any penalty.

I'd definitely suggest using the ticket office at Newcastle to excess your ticket if you haven't managed to get this done on the train from Hexham. If you simply board the LNER train without a valid ticket, you risk again being penalised for being ticketless.

It's a bonkers situation in my view, yet another unintended side effect of LNER's ill-considered abolition of return fares.

 

[Stargull]

Thank you, that’s very clear - and very frustrating. Tickets were booked for me, but I see now the requirement to buy singles has cost me some flexibility. How annoying!

 

[island]

The appropriate course of action when holding a super off peak ticket if you wish to travel a day early would be to simply purchase a new ticket for the desired day and refund the unused one. A £5 admin fee may apply.

 

[MrJeeves]

For what it's worth, the internal knowledgebase says that the correct approach is to excess on board provided there was no opportunity to excess before starting the journey:

Travel on a day a ticket is not valid​

National Rail Conditions of Travel allows customers to travel on a day or service earlier than ticket held is valid, on payment of an Excess fare, providing there is no change to the originating and destination stations shown on the ticket.

Expired tickets will require a new ticket to be purchased regardless of if the original ticket has been used and you should refer to your TOCs agreed retail procedure to check refund eligibility.

When excessing ticket before the date/time of travel the excess should be calculated as follows:

• SINGLE TICKETS - The difference between the price already paid and price of the cheapest Single ticket, available for immediate travel, that allows the customer to travel on their preferred service. In come cases, this may be a £0.00 excess.
• RETURN TICKETS (Change to both directions) - As above, the difference between the price already paid and price of the cheapest Return ticket, available for immediate travel, that allows the customer to travel on the chosen service. In some cases this may be a £0.00 excess.
• RETURN TICKETS (Change to one direction) - For change of travel in one direction only, it may be cheaper to sell a new appropriate Single fare, however if the customer is on the outward leg of the Return ticket, the return leg of the original Return ticket will remain subject to the original restrictions (such as CDR, SVR or FOR etc.)

...but I have no idea where in the NRCoT it allows this like the iKB claims!