I remain of the view that:
1)As correctly stated at:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/46427.aspx
When you buy a ticket to travel on the railway network you enter into an agreement with the Train Companies. That agreement gives you the right to make the journey, or journeys, between the stations or within the zones shown on the ticket you have bought. These National Rail Conditions of Carriage are also part of that agreement and they apply to all domestic (non-international) journeys by scheduled passenger train services of the Train Companies on the railway network of Great Britain.
These National Rail Conditions of Carriage set out your rights and any restrictions of those rights. The Train Companies may give you more extensive rights than those set out here; they may not give you less unless, in the case of some types of reduced and discounted fare tickets, a Condition specifically allows for this. The National Rail Conditions of Carriage therefore set out the minimum level of service you are entitled to expect.
2) accordingly, the NRCoC forms part of the contract to travel;
3) the word "Condition", as used above, refers to a Condition of the NRCoC;
4) any ticket valid for travel on a scheduled passenger train service is a "ticket" within the meaning of the NRCoC and also within the meaning of related railway legislation, such as byelaw 18;
5) regardless of the separate contracts formed with other parties relating to the contract for travel by other methods of transport, and for other services, the contract for travel by domestic rail is with the TOCs whose services one has the right to use, with Merseytravel acting as agent, in the same way as Megatrain acts as agent for the sale of Megatrain tickets, with the contract for travel formed with the relevant TOCs,
NRCoC Condition 1 said:
A ticket that has been issued to you is evidence of a contract between you and each Train Company whose trains you have the right to use. Where the company selling you the ticket is not one of the Train Companies on whose services you are travelling, the seller is acting as agent for the Train Company or Companies in whose trains you are entitled to travel
; (6) this contract is governed by, and subject to, the NRCoC, which itself forms part of the contract to travel, as provided for by the franchise agreements, and the NRCoC itself; insofar as the TSA relates to interavailable tickets, it further reinforces that the tickets are subject to the NRCoC; accordingly, the ticket is the property of the relevant TOCs as per the NRCoC, at least in relation to the travel by rail envisaged by that contract; it may also be the property of Merseytravel as well;
7) section 13 of the Railways Act 2005 provides that certain bodies may enter into private agreements with each other; nothing in this section regulates the contract entered into by the passenger, nor provides for the non-application of the NRCoC to such contracts for travel;
8) it is contrary to the conditions of their franchise agreements, to stated advertising, and to wider public policy, for TOCs, and their agents, to be able to sell tickets for domestic rail travel which are not subject to the NRCoC at all; in which case the contracts for travel might then, in the absence of other statutory or governmental regulation, be subject to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations after all, which I understand do not normally apply to contracts for travel by rail, which would make it substantially more difficult for the TOCs to seek to enforce onerous or unclear terms (perhaps including NRCoC Condition 4 on PFs, albeit that these are governed by actual legislation?);
9) it is contrary to the conditions of their franchise agreements, to stated advertising, and to wider public policy, for TOCs, and their agents, to be able to pick and choose which aspects of the NRCoC they wish to follow, and would also result in highly undesirable uncertainty for all concerned;
10) Merseytravel, as agents for the TOCs in relation to rail travel, may introduce additional conditions relating to Saveaway tickets, but these additional conditions may not, under any circumstances, deny passenger rights contained in the NRCoC unless the NRCoC itself expressly permits this; insofar as such conditions purport to deny such rights, such conflicting conditions are null, void and of no effect;
11) insofar as any ambiguity exists, the principle of
contra proferentem means, in this context, that the passenger is entitled to the most favourable interpretation, which would reinforce the principle that the NRCoC prevails over the less favourable conflicting conditions.
12) notwithstanding all the above, I see no reason why these additional conditions, (or, as the case may be, restriction codes), may not prescribe a different definition of "journey" for the purpose of time restrictions, from that which would naturally apply for other purposes, provided this is made clear, (and so long as fares regulation is not contravened, but this is not relevant to this ticket type);
13) I believe that, in this case, it is made sufficiently clear, and hence that the time restriction validly applies to Saveaway tickets involving a change of train notwithstanding that the journey is commenced before the time specified, and notwithstanding that the NRCoC applies to the contract for travel;
14) were this not the case, it would be trivially simple for Merseytravel, on behalf of the relevant TOCs, to amend the published condition relating to time restrictions so as to make it enforceable, perhaps by introducing a blanket ban on all journeys before 09:30; this would not be in the interests of passengers!