As the Brighton to Southampton Central not via London route has been mentioned I'll post my question(s) here. I use an off peak return on this route when I visit my mother, starting at East Croydon and finishing at Eastleigh. I visited last weekend, when I checked the train times I couldn't find a train direct from Clapham Junction to Eastleigh and had to change. Suggested itineraries included changing at Winchester or Southampton Airport Parkway. I chose the latter and have a few questions for future reference/usage. On the outward journey:
1) On the leg from Parkway to Eastleigh, was I technically travelling on the return portion of the ticket (since I had already been through Eastleigh) or was I still on the outward portion?
Brighton - Clapham Jn - Eastleigh - Southampton Airport Parkway - Southampton is a permitted route for a Brighton to Southampton ticket.
Brighton - Clapham Jn - Eastleigh - Southampton Airport Parkway - Eastleigh does appear to be a permitted route for a Brighton to Eastleigh ticket, due to the routeing of the ticket being via Clapham Jn and travel via Southampton Parkway is within 3 miles of the shortest route between Clapham Jn and Eastleigh (split routeing check).
2) The train I boarded at Parkway was for Eastleigh-Chandlers Ford-Romsey. Would I have been okay to travel to Chandlers Ford (where she actually lives) or would that have been going off route and requiring a seperate ticket?
What route are you asking is permitted, using what routeing, exactly?
For the return journey she drove me down to Parkway where I took a direct train to Clapham Junction.
If your ticket was from Southampton Central to Brighton, then as you had already used the ticket between Southampton Airport Parkway and Eastleigh, this was not permitted.
If your ticket was from Eastleigh, then that does appear to be permitted to travel via Southampton Airport Parkway on both portions, though I think some staff are likely to question it.
Or could I have boarded at Eastleigh and travelled Eastleigh-Parkway-Clapham on the return portion?
You cannot repeat parts of permitted routes, so if your ticket was to Southampton then no that would not be permitted to keep travelling backwards and forwards during the journey.
If your ticket was from Eastleigh then you can get itineraries via Southampton Airport Parkway both ways. The Eastleigh ticket does cost more.
2) Whilst waiting for my return train at Parkway a Cross Country train to Reading came in which was stopping at Winchester and Basingstoke-would I have been okay to take this train and change or is the ticket valid only on SWT/SWR betwen Southampton and Clapham?
It is not a TOC specific ticket; you can use any train company along a permitted route (in practice this is likely to be limited to trains operated by GTR, SWR and XC)
By stopping short/breaking my journey at East Croydon, technically I've still got a ticket valid for a trip to Brighton within the next three weeks and could just pay for a single home again, however I was checked on the way home and the guard scribbled through the 'start' and 'valid until' dates, so I could have some fun and games if checked on the way down-although I do know the guard scribbling through the date doesn't prohibit BOJ or using the remander of the ticket within its validity period, the fun would be in convincing them that I'd previously only used it as far as Croydon!
You are permitted to resume your journey, regardless of what any member of staff has written on the ticket.
The onus would be on them to prove you didn't break your journey at East Croydon, rather than the other way round.
If you think that a member of staff has attempted to deny you the right to break your journey, you could take that up with the relevant train company.
This is all getting very complicated; if you want to use tickets in complex ways and push the use of permitted routes to the maximum, you may want to join us at one of our free
fares workshops?
