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High Speed Train Advice Please

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cestlavie

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Hi

New to this so hope I'm in the right place. My son is a Met police officer and lives in London but visits his old mum in Rochester from time to time! He is allowed to use his warrant card for train travel both on and off duty and I have been trying, for hours, to find out if this is allowed on high speed trains.

On his last visit he enquired at Rochester, and was told that he could, however, the ticket inspector on the train told him he couldn't, and charged him an additional £1.50 (which seemed an odd amount!)

I have spoken to National Rail today, who say that warrant travel is valid from Rochester to Strood, but not from Gravesend to London and a supplementary ticket would be required. I asked how much a supplementary ticket would be and was told £14.80 single.

Checked the NR website and £14.80 is the complete cost of a ticket, rather than a supplement, so phoned them back again, and was told that they are unable to tell me the cost of a supplementary ticket - only the station can tell me that. Asked for the number of the station and was told they cant give me that.

It would seem that the warrant is treated as a "normal" non hs ticket - so does anybody know the cost of a supplementary ticket from Kent to London please?

Having read a lot of posts on here it seems that you are all far more knowledgeable than their help line so any advice appreciated!

Many thanks
 
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OwlMan

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it is valid as in the panel below

Area of validity

Approx. 60 - 70 mile radius of London depending upon line of route – see below for details and limitations:
Valid on TOC services as detailed below:-

  • Chiltern Railways – Not valid north of Banbury.
  • CrossCountry - Valid between Cambridge and Stansted Airport and at intermediate stations and Banbury to Reading/ Guildford / Southampton Central and at intermediate stations.
  • c2c - Valid on all services.
  • East Coast - Valid between London and Stevenage only.
  • East Midlands Trains - Valid between London and Bedford and at intermediate stations.
  • First Capital Connect - Not valid north of Huntingdon or Cambridge.
  • First Great Western - Valid London to Banbury, Basingstoke (via Reading), Bedwyn, Henley on Thames, Marlow, and Windsor Central, Also valid between Reading and Redhill / Gatwick Airport and between Salisbury and Portsmouth / Brighton (via Southampton).
  • Greater Anglia - Not valid north of Cambridge or Ipswich.
  • Heathrow Connect - Valid between London and Hayes & Harlington and at intermediate stations.
  • London MidlandNot valid north of Northampton.
  • London Overground - Valid on all services.
  • Southern (inc. Gatwick Express) - Valid on all services.
  • Southeastern -Valid on all services except High speed services between St Pancras and Ashford International/ Gravesend
  • South West Trains - Not valid west of Salisbury, between Redbridge and Lymington / Weymouth or between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin.
  • Virgin Trains - Valid London - Milton Keynes and intermediately at Watford Junction
Also valid on all London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and London Tramlink services.
As the warrant is not valid on HS1 between St Pancras & Gravesend I would presume that he would need to pay the fare for that journey.
 
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MarkyMarkD

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£1.50 is certainly an odd amount. A single HS upgrade from Rochester to London is £3.30.

The best way to confirm his entitlement would be for him to ask his employer (the Met police). Their own website's recruitment pages say:
Travel

All our police officers currently benefit from free travel on London Underground and buses. This is available seven days a week, whether you are on or off duty.

If you travel a longer distance by train, you are entitled to join The Rail Travel Concession. The Rail Travel Concession allows regular serving police officers travel on National Rail services within an agreed area for a small monthly cost. This is a taxable benefit that the MPS negotiates and pays for.

There are maps on the ATOC website and the most relevant is this one: http://www.atoc.org/clientfiles/File/Map-Met_Police_SouthEast.pdf which shows that the High Speed service is not covered by the Met Police travel entitlement. The High Speed service is taken to mean the part of the route which is not also served by normal (non-High Speed) trains, i.e. the part from Gravesend to St Pancras.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
As the warrant is not valid on HS2 between St Pancras & Gravesend I would presume that he would need to pay the fare for that journey.
HS1, please!
 

MikeWh

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I think that is shocking. I hope Southeastern never have to call for assistance on one of their shiny new trains. I mean how much does it actually cost them to keep a few police officers happy? And why don't the Heathrow services allow them to the airport either? It just strikes me as being incredibly narrow minded and penny pinching.
 

hairyhandedfool

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Heathrow Connect is a joint operation. Between Paddington and Hayes and Harlington is a First Great Western service, from there to the Airport it is a Heathrow Express service.
 

button_boxer

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The Rail Travel Concession allows regular serving police officers travel on National Rail services within an agreed area for a small monthly cost. This is a taxable benefit that the MPS negotiates and pays for.

The key phrase being National Rail services. Airport Junction to Heathrow and the HS1 track are not part of the National Rail network, being owned by BAA and HS1 Ltd. respectively.
 

MikeWh

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The key phrase being National Rail services. Airport Junction to Heathrow and the HS1 track are not part of the National Rail network, being owned by BAA and HS1 Ltd. respectively.

Well if you're going to go down that route then isn't New Cross/New Cross Gate to Dalston Junction owned by TfL? And how come when it suits them do Southeastern allow all passengers to use HS1 without additional charge, ie when there is disruption elsewhere?
 

Southern

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Maybe because they have actually paid for a ticket. If there is disruption, they should be able to use the alternative routes available as specified by the TOC.
 

button_boxer

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Well if you're going to go down that route then isn't New Cross/New Cross Gate to Dalston Junction owned by TfL?

Yes, but the services that operate over those lines are London Overground and come under the TfL concession (along with buses and tubes), not the NR one.
 

HowMuch?

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Does anyone know if police officers are taxed on the cash value of free off-duty (ie home to work, or leisure) train travel?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The cash-value used for tax purposes would depend on the area and services covered, so there shouldn't be a dispute about where the OP's son can travel free.
 
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