• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Excess fares policy

Status
Not open for further replies.

nw1

Established Member
Joined
9 Aug 2013
Messages
6,865
Hi,

Over the weekend I travelled from Southampton Airport Parkway to Windermere on a via London return (supersaver I think).

Due to coming back late I decided to excess my ticket to St Denys at Waterloo as I arrived in time for the 2305 which called at St Denys but not Parkway due to the diversion via Havant.

However the Waterloo ticket office wouldn't do the excess, but instead sold a Parkway to St Denys single stating that excessing a ticket can only be done before the start of the whole journey.

That surprised me, I assumed that the excess could be done any time before the original ticket went out of validity (i.e. up to Woking, presumably, given the diversion of the train) or before the start of the leg of the journey where the excess applies (i.e. the SWT service out of Waterloo). Is this correct? Not saying it isn't but will be useful to know in future - not fussed about having to pay an extra £2 odd in this case but obviously for other journeys it could end up being a bigger deal.

Thanks,
Nick
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

hairyhandedfool

Established Member
Joined
14 Apr 2008
Messages
8,837
Different Excess Fares have different rules. For 'travelling beyond the destination' (Over-Riding) it must be done before you board a train, unless there are no facilities to do so (you'd be expected to do so at the first opportunity).

Strictly speaking the new single should be from the last station the train stops at during the validity of the ticket held (NRCoC Condition 19b), rather than the destination (though these may be the same in some cases).
 
Last edited:

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,533
Location
Redcar
For 'travelling beyond the destination' (Over-Riding) it must be done before you board a train, unless there are no facilities to do so (you'd be expected to do so at the first opportunity).

I thought for overdistance excesses it was before you reached the destination on the ticket?
 

miami

Established Member
Joined
3 Oct 2015
Messages
3,164
Location
UK
I didn't think those tickets could be excesses once the journey outbound had commenced?
 

John @ home

Established Member
Joined
1 Mar 2008
Messages
5,148
I travelled from Southampton Airport Parkway to Windermere on a via London return ...

I decided to excess my ticket to St Denys at Waterloo as I arrived in time for the 2305 which called at St Denys but not Parkway due to the diversion via Havant.
Different Excess Fares have different rules. For 'travelling beyond the destination' (Over-Riding) it must be done before you board a train, unless there are no facilities to do so (you'd be expected to do so at the first opportunity).
Did nickw1 actually travel beyond the destination on the ticket?

On Monday 28 March, the 2305 Waterloo - Poole train did not pass through Southampton Airport Parkway. In the circumstances of the diversion, what routeing variations did the train company make for Waterloo - Southampton Airport Parkway passengers? The process is described in the National Routeing Guide.
National Routeing Guide said:
ENGINEERING WORK, DIVERSIONS AND SERVICE DISRUPTION

The Routeing Guide has been produced using the published rail timetable and fares data. It therefore takes into account all route variations allowed that have been notified, (normally these will result in a dated positive easement being published in Section E). On occasions due to short notice engineering work and disruption, services may be diverted from their normal routes or customers asked to use alternative routes. In these circumstances operators will make special provision to allow extra permitted routes. They will advise other operators and retailers of the extra provisions made to convey customers by routes other than those which are normally permitted. This provision will also apply to connecting services which are not directly affected. Any through train diverted from its usual route will count as a permitted route between the stations it is normally scheduled to call at. This does not apply to additional stops on the diversionary route, unless specially advised or they are on the permitted route for the journey being made.
The train made an additional stop at St Denys. Was this additional stop added for the benefit of passengers travelling to and from Southampton Airport Parkway? Was Waterloo - Havant - St Denys - Southampton Airport Parkway a permitted route on Monday 28 March? If so, no excess fare was appropriate and nickw1's ticket was valid for the Waterloo - St Denys journey.
 

bb21

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
24,151
Airport passengers did not need accommodating as there were direct services from Waterloo yesterday.

To be fair, I doubt you would have been charged had you simply asked the guard.
 

bb21

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
24,151
That's right. I didn't notice he was travelling at 2300.

In any case, London Group to Southampton Group should be permitted via the Portsmouth Direct Line iirc. I haven't looked at the Routeing Guide for a while. I think map PD or something similar it was. So in the OP's case, it should simply be a matter of stopping short at St Denys as Airport is still part of Southampton Group, but I doubt any guard would have made a fuss over this, in any case.
 

455driver

Veteran Member
Joined
10 May 2010
Messages
11,332
That's right. I didn't notice he was travelling at 2300.

In any case, London Group to Southampton Group should be permitted via the Portsmouth Direct Line iirc. I haven't looked at the Routeing Guide for a while. I think map PD or something similar it was. So in the OP's case, it should simply be a matter of stopping short at St Denys as Airport is still part of Southampton Group, but I doubt any guard would have made a fuss over this, in any case.

I would say that any guard asked to excess the ticket would refuse to on the grounds you have stated.
 
Last edited:

nw1

Established Member
Joined
9 Aug 2013
Messages
6,865
Did nickw1 actually travel beyond the destination on the ticket?

On Monday 28 March, the 2305 Waterloo - Poole train did not pass through Southampton Airport Parkway. In the circumstances of the diversion, what routeing variations did the train company make for Waterloo - Southampton Airport Parkway passengers? The process is described in the National Routeing Guide.The train made an additional stop at St Denys. Was this additional stop added for the benefit of passengers travelling to and from Southampton Airport Parkway? Was Waterloo - Havant - St Denys - Southampton Airport Parkway a permitted route on Monday 28 March? If so, no excess fare was appropriate and nickw1's ticket was valid for the Waterloo - St Denys journey.

Thanks for the replies.

To confirm the St Denys stop is normally made on this train - but half an hour or so earlier when it's not diverted.

It was possible to travel to Parkway via bus on the 2239 to Basingstoke - however the bus got in at 0043 IIRC, and Parkway is then a 30 min walk home while St Denys is my local station, so using the 2305 made sense.
 

island

Veteran Member
Joined
30 Dec 2010
Messages
15,979
Location
0036
My experience with Waterloo booking office is that it's woeful for anything other than a straight walk-up single or return. I have in the past asked for an off-peak return to Reading outwards from Waterloo and back to Paddington, and the clerk was adamant that this was absolutely impossible and I would need two singles. Another time I was trying to advance buy a super off-peak return from Lee to Birmingham Stations a couple of months out (to beat a price rise and rumoured restriction change) and the clerk insisted I had to specify a particular Birmingham station. I suggested he enter the NLC 0418 and he replied icily "we'll do it my way, I'm the one working here". His chagrin when I asked for Birmingham Snow Hill and out came the ticket with Birmingham Stns printed was amusing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top