1996 free travel from South West Trains

radamfi · 8 Oct 2018

Who remembers when SWT gave free travel? Was that the biggest free travel giveaway in British rail history? Where did you go?

RailUK Forums

700007 · 8 Oct 2018

We could do with that today even though business wise it is seriously unstable. :lol:

Carlisle · 8 Oct 2018

Was it mostly just an opportunity for a privitised operation to appear superior to the stale old BR , and wouldn’t likley happen again given the current set up is now so long established, with no major change as yet on the horizon

318266 · 8 Oct 2018

Much more recently (2015 and I think 2017), ScotRail gave out 1 million free tickets.

adamello · 8 Oct 2018

SWR gave free travel at the weekend for me, stupidly I bought a ticket, but certainly didnt need to..

Obviously I know it is not legal, and the law of the sod dictates that had I tried that I would be RPI'd withing 5 mins

CheapAndNerdy · 8 Oct 2018

Back in 2011 Southern had a 90% off Advance tickets sale. Took a trip to Eastbourne for a quid!

kristiang85 · 8 Oct 2018

SWR even got rid off the free weekend tickets for gold card holders, so I certainly can't imagine them ever giving away free travel to all and sundry.

Shimbleshanks · 8 Oct 2018

radamfi said:
Who remembers when SWT gave free travel? Was that the biggest free travel giveaway in British rail history? Where did you go?

I seem to remember a free travel day throughout the whole of the Network Southeast area back in the 1980s, or was it for a flat fare like a tenner?
I also remember being very dischuffed as I needed to travel somewhere beyond the Network region that day and couldn't get on my train at Liverpool Street as I was crowded out by the freeloaders.

Islineclear3_1 · 8 Oct 2018

Not free, but SouthEastern advertised a "go anywhere" ticket for £20 last Saturday. Sadly, I was busy elsewhere

PeterY · 8 Oct 2018

Shimbleshanks said:
I seem to remember a free travel day throughout the whole of the Network Southeast area back in the 1980s, or was it for a flat fare like a tenner?
I also remember being very dischuffed as I needed to travel somewhere beyond the Network region that day and couldn't get on my train at Liverpool Street as I was crowded out by the freeloaders.

I think it was a flat fare of £1, the first ever Network day. Trains were crowded. I can't recall the exact date.

I enjoyed my South Eastern Super Saturday ticket. Perhaps Northern should do one on a Saturday :lol:

pdeaves · 8 Oct 2018

Shimbleshanks said:
I seem to remember a free travel day throughout the whole of the Network Southeast area back in the 1980s, or was it for a flat fare like a tenner?

There were a couple of "Network Days". A fare was charged; I think £5 for the first one. As PeterY says, trains were crowded as 'everyone' realised they could get a cheap day out to Weymouth beach!

radamfi · 8 Oct 2018

For those unaware, SWT ticket offices gave away free tickets to anywhere. You basically visited the ticket office as usual but you didn't need to pay. So you could get 5 tickets to Thurso, for example. I went to Weymouth that day but didn't realise it was free to anywhere until late afternoon.

Three-Nine · 8 Oct 2018

There was a rumour at the time of the SWT free travel day that somehow someone managed to work out a way to get to continental Europe - possibly even as far as Turkey - using it! I absolutely cannot confirm this, and its likely the railway equivalent of an urban legend, but that was the story...

gazthomas · 8 Oct 2018

Three-Nine said:
There was a rumour at the time of the SWT free travel day that somehow someone managed to work out a way to get to continental Europe - possibly even as far as Turkey - using it! I absolutely cannot confirm this, and its likely the railway equivalent of an urban legend, but that was the story...

Ouch, that must hurt SWT!

johnnychips · 8 Oct 2018

Three-Nine said:
There was a rumour at the time of the SWT free travel day that somehow someone managed to work out a way to get to continental Europe - possibly even as far as Turkey - using it! I absolutely cannot confirm this, and its likely the railway equivalent of an urban legend, but that was the story...

No, you mean ‘Torquay!’

radamfi · 8 Oct 2018

Three-Nine said:
There was a rumour at the time of the SWT free travel day that somehow someone managed to work out a way to get to continental Europe - possibly even as far as Turkey - using it! I absolutely cannot confirm this, and its likely the railway equivalent of an urban legend, but that was the story...

That would make sense as Waterloo still had a travel centre then, which presumably still could issue tickets for international travel.

AndyPJG · 8 Oct 2018

Three-Nine said:
There was a rumour at the time of the SWT free travel day that somehow someone managed to work out a way to get to continental Europe - possibly even as far as Turkey - using it! I absolutely cannot confirm this, and its likely the railway equivalent of an urban legend, but that was the story...

I heard that story too (I was working at CTRL that day and got my trip to Waterloo for free). Think the deal was just meant to be within SWT area, but the version I heard was someone got a Eurostar day trip to Paris; don't think all the ticket clerks were briefed!

mikey9 · 8 Oct 2018

Fabulous Feb and Mad March savers in 1987/8.
£4, £8 and max max fare anywhere £12.
I did a circular fare Southampton to Kyle out via Penzance, back via Aberdeen......4 days...I think.
Ticket was confetti by the time I made it back.

ChiefPlanner · 8 Oct 2018

pdeaves said:
There were a couple of "Network Days". A fare was charged; I think £5 for the first one. As PeterY says, trains were crowded as 'everyone' realised they could get a cheap day out to Weymouth beach!

I have the SWT and SE logs for the first Network day and ought to write them up as an article , shall we say the 2 standyby trains (8x455 , 8xVEP) at Wimbledon Park were out in service just after 0600 , and the rest of the day was a maelstorm of specials all over , sidings stripped of stock and crews called in.

13 coach diesel hauled specials to Weymouth - 12 car HAPS from Alton to Bournemouth etc etc....BR (SR) and elsewhere at it's very best - hard work and good fun.

Frontera2 · 8 Oct 2018

radamfi said:
Who remembers when SWT gave free travel? Was that the biggest free travel giveaway in British rail history? Where did you go?

I remember the day well - I was working in SWT Customer Relations at the time. The evening before I was asked to come in ultra early and answer phone calls, but they wouldn't / couldn't tell me why and I found out when I got to the office. Very surreal day indeed, I know that some lucky passengers were even able to get free Eurostar tickets.

Frontera2 · 8 Oct 2018

Three-Nine said:
There was a rumour at the time of the SWT free travel day that somehow someone managed to work out a way to get to continental Europe - possibly even as far as Turkey - using it! I absolutely cannot confirm this, and its likely the railway equivalent of an urban legend, but that was the story...

I can positively confirm that Eurostar tickets were sold by a Travel Centre. Not sure about travel beyond Paris / Brussels though

Blinkbonny · 9 Oct 2018

Charles and Diana's wedding day 1981 BR Eastern Region: Anywhere on their network for the day. Was it Free or a Pound? Don't remember.

Me and my girlfriend left Middlesbrough early doors and got as far as Peterborough. Was sat waiting on an absolutely crowded Cambridge train when we decided This is Silly. Got off and watched the wedding in Peterborough cathedral.

Happy days! (And me and her have lasted longer than the happy couple! :smile:

)

Three-Nine · 11 Oct 2018

Frontera2 said:
I can positively confirm that Eurostar tickets were sold by a Travel Centre. Not sure about travel beyond Paris / Brussels though

Thanks for confirming that. Always wondered if that story was true.

1996 free travel from South West Trains

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