AlterEgo
Veteran Member
Hang on a sec.....why don't they just issue one travel ticket instead of two as it has space for number of people ?
That would be pretty inconvenient at barriered stations!
Hang on a sec.....why don't they just issue one travel ticket instead of two as it has space for number of people ?
That would be pretty inconvenient at barriered stations!
"piggy back would be the order of the day"
theres always one isn't there ?
I would be surprised if the reply stated that the guard was in the wrong. This is a classic example of a gesture of goodwill, where the company has not made an error but wishes to encourage the complainant to use their services in the future.
Don't do anything for staff moral if Customer Relations cave in to passengers always to be the ones who shout loudest & possibly least deserving that get let off.
Life is hard try telling a young family of 2 adults & child that missing train with AP tickets as just cost them £100.00 you do feel sorry.
Staff are after all trying to enforce the very rules that TOC's created & they are questioned when anything other than anytime ticket is issued onboard.
Unbelievable. You admitted throwing your reservation away because you thought they "weren't needed" (how you came to this conclusion I have no idea) even though it states "Valid only with reservation(s)" on the ticket, and somehow you still think it's someone else's fault. It's like you haven't even bothered to read the replies to the thread you started.Fortunately East Coast seem to agree with me that the current ticketing system is tedious and there are far to many tickets to lumber passengers with! I was refunded £43.70 and was promised a money off voucher through the post with my apology! Although his mistake is rectified now so it doesn't really matter, how much trouble would it have been to simply call the office to find out whether I was entitled to travel on that train? Seems a little petty to me...
Maybe, but it does also state "Valid only with ticket xyz" on the reservation so you'd think people would put two and two together. Also if you'd made seat reservations wouldn't most people think it wise to actually keep the ticket that told you where you were sitting?I know what it means, you know what it means... but you could read that and think it means the ticket is only valid with a reservation - which you would have made. It doesn't tell you literally that you must have the reservation ticket with you (or to hand).
Might have been better if Customer Relations having looked into this case had stated
"The guard acted correctly in this case but as a good will gesture we have decided refund cost of your original ticket price minus £10.00 admin charge"
Thank you for travelling with East Coast & we look forward to you travelling again.
PS Should cost of original ticket be less than £10.00 we shall send the baliffs after you
As far as I can see East Cost have given the green light to passengers to travel on Advance tickets on their trains without the reservation ticket.
No they haven't.
This was a first "offence". I highly suspect the letter actually said that they were refunding the money as a gesture of goodwill, and that it stated the TnCs of Advance tickets, and that reservation coupons must be carried!
Surely we are not advocating a "zero tolerance" railway?
The OP made a stupid mistake, yes, but I don't think he'll be making it again! It's entirely appropriate for him to receive a refund, on a discretionary, one-off basis.
Depends, they usually have it somewhere on them, and will find it with a little prompting.Flamingo, how often in your experience do people throw away part of the ticket that they need?
As far as I can see East Cost have given the green light to passengers to travel on Advance tickets on their trains without the reservation ticket.
P.S I think EC customer services need to grow a pair.
A firm reminder of the T&Cs together with a goodwill gesture will not cost the industry much, however it will help in presenting the TOCs in a far more positive light.
By all means ching them the second or the third time. A serial fare evader will soon be caught out.
That would be pretty inconvenient at barriered stations!
No they haven't.
This was a first "offence". I highly suspect the letter actually said that they were refunding the money as a gesture of goodwill, and that it stated the TnCs of Advance tickets, and that reservation coupons must be carried!
Surely we are not advocating a "zero tolerance" railway?
The OP made a stupid mistake, yes, but I don't think he'll be making it again! It's entirely appropriate for him to receive a refund, on a discretionary, one-off basis.
By making a "good will gesture" Customer Relations are rewarding a passenger who technically was in the wrong thus giving credence to idea guard was wrong in his action. In this instance guard acted correctly something Dodgydave fails to acknowledge so as the lesson been learnt? As to be carrott & stick not a white flag being waived.
Would have been far better if cost of the original AP ticket minus admin charge was refunded if any refund was to have been made at all.
IMO Dodgydave might have learnt his lesson if he were still £43.00 out of pocket-Harsh but fair that will learn 'em.
By issuing separate coupons its an open invitation for some to attempt to travel for 2 for price of 1 as person A offers ticket & person B offers the reservation pleading thats all that was issued to them by your ticket machine
By issuing separate coupons its an open invitation for some to attempt to travel for 2 for price of 1 as person A offers ticket & person B offers the reservation pleading thats all that was issued to them by your ticket machine
London-Berlin DB special return, two people, 3 legs each way, with reservations.
ONE TICKET.
Warrington-Newcastle, 3 people, 2 legs each way, with reservations and receipts.
FOURTEEN TICKETS.
It's not a competition. :roll:Colwyn Bay - Hunmanby, 2 people, taking bicycles, return journey, with advance tickets and reservations? TWENTY-EIGHT TICKETS!
I have to agree. The only reason for having a separate ticket must be to trap the unwary. The ticket says 'valid only with reservation(s)', but an inexperienced traveller may not realise that this actually means a separate ticket (in what other walk of life do you have to carry around so many bits of card - 4 per person for a return journey on advances - for a single transaction, the loss of any one of which will cause huge problems?), but that there will be some other way to identify that he is on the correct train. It would not surprise me at all to learn that TOCs actually budget for a proportion of their revenue to come from this lucrative stream. The fact that we understand the system does NOT make it either (a) easy to understand, (b) logical, or (c) unimprovable.
Just a thought, but could they have. List of reservations printed of and given to the guard? Like on megatrain?