....Suppose we are travelling from A to B (which are both routeing points), and LONDON is the only permitted route. (You can assume if you wish that via a London terminal would be the shortest route, but that's not important.)
1. I look up the permitted routes from A to London Group (let's say they are maps AB and AC).
2. I look up the permitted routes from London Group to B (let's say they are AD and AE).
3. I combine any route in (1) with any route in (2), giving me AB+AD, AB+AE, AC+AD, and AC+AE.
This is a way of working out the maps to use.
I then apply any route restrictions on the ticket. If the route restriction is NOT VIA LONDON, I must not use a London terminal station.
The appearance of LONDON in the right-hand columns of the yellow pages does not mandate travelling via a London terminal. It represents a shorthand rather than spelling out all the map combinations implied. You said "you pick a route to London and a route from London", but in fact the correct way of stating this would be "you pick a map from A to London and a map from London to B".....
The Routeing Guide, as you have kindly re-quoted, states you find
"the permitted routes" to London, not the permitted map(s). It follows this with stating that you find
"the permitted routes" from London, not the map(s). So you must find a route that goes to and from London, in other words, via London. What was the ticket routeing?....
....And before you dismiss this as theoretical, posts 6, 9, and 12 contain concrete examples with named stations. If you disagree with my logic, please specify the permitted routes for the journeys named in those posts. Would the railway offer tickets which can't possibly be used?....
The job of a ticket office clerk is to offer the cheapest ticket for the journey being made, not to offer the cheapest ticket between origin and destination. If a passenger wishes to go via London, the 'Not Via London' should not be offered as the cheapest fare, unless by some bizarre quirk of fate, the fare via London is the same price.
Post 6 > Where do you get to London, as required by the Routeing Guide Instructions (and Routeing Guide in Detail) for using the 'London' option? Is Stratford in London? Given the routeing of the ticket, and that you may have just said Stratford is London, how do you avoid going via London at the same time?
Post 9 > The post confirms that there are routes avoiding London that a 'Not Via London' fare could be valid on (though not as a mapped route). One of these may be the shortest route, I cannot check without a copy of the NRT. If one is the shortest route there is a valid route that does not go via London.
Post 12 > I have already stated how this may be a valid by a route other than via London on page two of this thread, I'm not sure what else I can add to that without a copy of the NRT.
....You have not repeatedly dodged any one question, but you have dodged the following two once each:...
The first question was answered, admittedly the answer was not immediate and it was not a concrete answer as I could not verify the mileages. I then asked a question of Yorkie which he did not answer initially. He responded with the second question you highlight, it was only after this (and a prompt from me) that he answered my question (perhaps I should claim he has not answered questions repeatedly?). Granted I have not yet returned to this, but one question is not "repeatedly" dodging questions, infact I could debate the use of 'repeatedly' when you can only give two examples.
....You are ruling out more than a route via London; you are ruling out entire maps....
I have ruled out any route via London because the route restriction is 'not via London'. This has been done using the instructions provided in the Routeing Guide.
....This is a discussion forum. Users are welcome to discuss posts, whether or not they are addressed to them....
I am merely saying that if I ask Yorkie a question I should expect Yorkie to answer it. Of course people can have their say on a topic, but just as I would not want "words put in my mouth", I would want an answer from Yorkie if the question was directed at him, particularly when only Yorkie is in a position to answer categorically. If my post came across 'heavy handed' I can only apologise, but it was to reinforce that I wanted Yorkie to answer, not to find out what someone else
thinks Yorkie meant.
....I'm not sure which post you're referring to, but I am intending to discuss your posts and posting style and I'm sorry if you've taken that as an attack.
The post below was from page two, from Yorkie, you can check the context for yourself if you wish, no-one challenged it (except me of course).
The shortest route should not involve a walk or other mode of transport, though London Terminals does appear to be an exception to that rule (understandably) where the mileage is considered zero between termini. But you can't use that argument with avoiding London. You are just looking for excuses to claim the ticket is valid by other methods.
I had not mentioned walking, I'm still not clear what is meant by "other modes of transport", and I wasn't looking for excuses for anything (what have I got to find excuses for?). I raised these points, but I don't believe there was a response to the points made.
So, he can say all that and no-one says anything, yet I just have to breathe and I have to justify it? Maybe you weren't trying to attack me with your post, only you could know that really, but I'm sure you can understand how it comes across given the previous posts, whether you saw them at the time or not.