Bought my ticket the wrong way round!

[BluePenguin]

I got a call from a member of my family this afternoon and I now have to make an unexpected journey tomorrow. I bought myself an open return ticket online and collected it on my way home to save myself time and stress tomorrow.

I only looked at it this evening to realise that I have bought my ticket the wrong way round! To my surprise I went through the whole process of booking the ticket and completing the transaction without noticing my mistake at all despite seeing what I was buying several times.

So, my question is can I use these tickets to travel in the opposite directions to what is printed on them? If not will I be punished with a £10 fee to change them round?

I am hoping that it should be okay if I explain myself, although I assume there are strict rules around this to prevent tickets from being re-sued.

If anyone knows what to do or has any advice that would be appreciated

 

[najaB]

Strictly speaking you cannot use the two halves of a return in the wrong order. So, yes, you would need to refund the ticket you hold and buy a new one.

However, if there is no difference in price between the fare you've paid and the fare in the opposite direction you might be allowed to travel with the current ticket. It doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

If you talk to the original retailer, the company from whom you bought the ticket, and explain what has happened, they might allow a change of ticket or refund at no cost (if you buy another ticket straight away), but this would be very much at their discretion.

The outward portion of a return ticket is only valid with the unused return portion, though I can't recall an instance of this being enforced in recent times.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

When was the last time anyone experienced being asked to produce the RTN portion when showing an RPI / ticket inspector an Outward portion? I have never, in all my 35 years of travelling by train, been asked !

I know you are supposed to have the RTN portion with you. But in practice, I'm sure the OP will not experience a problem

 

[PeterC]

The last time that I produced both halves was with an Edmonson card ticket.

 

[cornishjohn]

If you talk to the original retailer, the company from whom you bought the ticket, and explain what has happened, they might allow a change of ticket or refund at no cost (if you buy another ticket straight away), but this would be very much at their discretion.

The outward portion of a return ticket is only valid with the unused return portion, though I can't recall an instance of this being enforced in recent times.

I had to show my unused return portion on an outward trip last month. The ticket inspector didn't believe I had bought it from a machine earlier.

 

[BluePenguin]

O dear it is not looking certain I won't have an issue.

This morning I called the customer services of the website I bought the ticket from and they said that had I chosen the wrong date then they could have changed it for me for £10, however apparently changing the origin the destination is not possible and I need to buy new ticket.

I can understand what they are saying as it the policy but I only want to swap he orgin and destination and not change them to new places. I don't agree with them and think I will just be polite and explain if I'm questioned along the way.

Should I be okay to do this? If not then I guess I will have to pay again later and put it down to experience

 

[telstarbox]

What ticket have you actually bought?

 

[Bletchleyite]

O dear it is not looking certain I won't have an issue.

This morning I called the customer services of the website I bought the ticket from and they said that had I chosen the wrong date then they could have changed it for me for £10, however apparently changing the origin the destination is not possible and I need to buy new ticket.

I can understand what they are saying as it the policy but I only want to swap he orgin and destination and not change them to new places. I don't agree with them and think I will just be polite and explain if I'm questioned along the way.

Should I be okay to do this? If not then I guess I will have to pay again later and put it down to experience

If it's a walk-up return ticket they can't *change* the origin and destination, but what they can do is refund it less £10 then you buy a new one. It sounds like a combination of incompetent staff and not asking the right question.

If it's Advances, the question is not relevant because they are valid only by the booked trains.

 

[Tetchytyke]

When was the last time anyone experienced being asked to produce the RTN portion when showing an RPI / ticket inspector an Outward portion?

I've been asked to on TPE when I was travelling on the outward portion of an Anytime return a couple of days after the first day of validity. The guard's face sank when I had the unused return portion

I'd say ask the ticket office to change it, if not you'll have to eat up the £10 administration fee. It's annoying, but I wouldn't recommend risking using them the wrong way around. The risk of getting caught may be low, but £10 isn't a great deal of money in the grand scheme of things.

ETA If you've bought a walk-up return ticket they can't change the origin or destination, but they can refund the fare, less £10, and sell you an entirely new ticket with the correct date, origin and destination.

If you've bought an Advance ticket they can't change the origin or destination, or the operating TOC, but they can change the ticket to another time (i.e. for a train when you want to return), subject to the £10 admin fee. As each Advance ticket is a single, and independent of any other ticket, you can change your ticket A-B to be booked for a train after ticket B-A. You don't change the origin or destination, you just change the time, which in effect reverses the journey.

If you need to change both Advance tickets to another time it would be a £10 fee for each leg, i.e. £20 in total.

 

[talldave]

Surely this can be solved by buying just a single ticket for the return journey, rather than a new return ticket? Bin the outward ticket, use the return ticket to make the actual outward journey and purchase a single for the return.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Surely this can be solved by buying just a single ticket for the return journey, rather than a new return ticket?

Depends. If the single is less than £10 then yes, that's the best shout. If it's more than £10, you're best off getting it refunded or changed.

 

[BluePenguin]

Surely this can be solved by buying just a single ticket for the return journey, rather than a new return ticket? Bin the outward ticket, use the return ticket to make the actual outward journey and purchase a single for the return.

That is a great idea, I think I will do this. It works out much cheaper than paying for another ticket. There should hopefully be a few advance fares for when I want to come back.

 

[BluePenguin]

I've been asked to on TPE when I was travelling on the outward portion of an Anytime return a couple of days after the first day of validity. The guard's face sank when I had the unused return portion

I'd say ask the ticket office to change it, if not you'll have to eat up the £10 administration fee. It's annoying, but I wouldn't recommend risking using them the wrong way around. The risk of getting caught may be low, but £10 isn't a great deal of money in the grand scheme of things.

ETA If you've bought a walk-up return ticket they can't change the origin or destination, but they can refund the fare, less £10, and sell you an entirely new ticket with the correct date, origin and destination.

If you've bought an Advance ticket they can't change the origin or destination, or the operating TOC, but they can change the ticket to another time (i.e. for a train when you want to return), subject to the £10 admin fee. As each Advance ticket is a single, and independent of any other ticket, you can change your ticket A-B to be booked for a train after ticket B-A. You don't change the origin or destination, you just change the time, which in effect reverses the journey.

If you need to change both Advance tickets to another time it would be a £10 fee for each leg, i.e. £20 in total.

What a mess! Who knew train ticketing could be so complicated

 

[BluePenguin]

If it's a walk-up return ticket they can't *change* the origin and destination, but what they can do is refund it less £10 then you buy a new one. It sounds like a combination of incompetent staff and not asking the right question.

If it's Advances, the question is not relevant because they are valid only by the booked trains.

It is a walk up ticket yes although I bought it online as I thought I might as well earn myself some cash back. In hindsight that was a bad idea as it renders my local ticket office powerless to help me. I don't mind paying the £10 to change advance tickets as it is my fault for changing my plans and I still save on the walk up fare but otherwise it is unnecessary.

I agree, it seems that a lot of the staff at the end of the phone these days have been trains poorly so have idea what the rules are when it comes to selling ticketing, the times they can be used or the routes they are allowed and not just on the phone either.

Once I was on my way to Gatwick and noticed that the train I was supposed to catch from Redhill was cancelled, so I can stayed on my original train and changed at Clapham Junction. When the conductor/fine person came I got barked at the using a ticket that was routed "Not Via London" despite never actually been into London terminal! Nevertheless I declined to pay £30 for a new ticket was threatened that the revenue people would be waiting for me at Gatwick. I said that was fine and has no trouble

 

[Bletchleyite]

What site did you buy it from?

You don't have to talk to them to refund a ticket on the VTWC site, certainly, you just click a few buttons then (if you have collected it) post the ticket in for a refund less £10. I've done it a couple of times, it wasn't an issue other than that the refund is slightly delayed, taking a week or two (which might or might not be an issue for you).