EC Super Offpeak Single BOJ

Hi all,

I'm travelling Alnmouth - London on 8/7, with an EC Super Offpeak single, but I'd like to spend the night at Durham. Does anyone know if it's possible to break the journey at Durham and continue on Saturday morning?

For clarification: this is a Super Offpeak SINGLE, which is a web-only fare and as such, has scant T+Cs.

Thanks,

Mark

Yes it is; you must recommence your journey by 1200 on Saturday and no further break of journey is allowed except to change trains.

Note however, a super off-peak single is not a web-only fare; it is a walk-up fare. This one should be priced at £111.40 (£73.55 with a Railcard).

I asked the question because EC are running an offer on super offpeak singles. The fare from Alnmouth to London (Y-P) is £36.80, which is a web-only fare.

EC are doing a promotion at the moment, they have web-only single fares that are priced reasonably. (HT, FGW and GC are the only other TOCs that I know of that consistently price long-distance singles sensibly).

I don't see how the rules on overnight break of journey can be any different for this ticket, though.

Mark_re said:

I'm travelling Alnmouth - London on 8/7, with an EC Super Offpeak single, but I'd like to spend the night at Durham. Does anyone know if it's possible to break the journey at Durham and continue on Saturday morning?

For clarification: this is a Super Offpeak SINGLE, which is a web-only fare and as such, has scant T+Cs.

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For a full-price Super Off-Peak single (SSS) Alnmouth - London Terminals (£111.40 or £73.55 with a Railcard) the restrictions include:

Break of journey
Out: Yes.

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But unfortunately the half-price SSS Alnmouth - London Terminals (£55.70 or £36.80 with a Railcard) available from www.eastcoast.co.uk only has the Terms and Conditions:

Terms and Conditions
6. You may not start, break and resume or terminate your journey at any intermediate station. If you do so you will have to pay extra, up to the normal price of the Super Off-Peak Single ticket for that journey.

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/special-offers/Flexible-off-peak-travel-for-less/Terms-and-conditions/

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Speculation on uk.railway suggests that a reason for this restriction is to prevent St Pancras - Nottingham passengers using a SSS London - Newark to undercut EMT's fares.

Does it actually say "EC Super Off Peak" on the ticket? I guess that would make it distinct from a bog standard "Super Off Peak" and thus could have different conditions.

Condition 16 of the NRCOC states that:
...
For the purposes of this Condition and Condition 11, you will be treated as breaking your journey if you leave a Train Company’s or Rail Service Company’s stations after you start
your journey other than:
(i) to join a train at another station, or
(ii) to stay in overnight accommodation when you cannot reasonably
complete your journey within one day, or
(iii) to follow any instructions given by a member of a Train Company’s staff.

If 16(ii) applies, then the passenger is not "breaking their journey".

I would interpret this to include a situation, if it actually exists, where the train stops at Durham but not Alnmouth, and there are no remaining connecting trains to Alnmouth that evening.

jkdd77 said:

I would interpret this to include a situation, if it actually exists, where the train stops at Durham but not Alnmouth, and there are no remaining connecting trains to Alnmouth that evening.

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Wrong direction. This is an Alnmouth - London single.

John @ home said:

Wrong direction. This is an Alnmouth - London single.

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There is a train that would suffice; the 2107 from Alnmouth terminates at Leeds with no onward connection to London. This would allow the OP to get off at a station such as Newcastle, Darlington, Durham or York as well as Leeds, to continue the journey the next day.

John @ home said:

But unfortunately the half-price SSS Alnmouth - London Terminals (£55.70 or £36.80 with a Railcard) available from www.eastcoast.co.uk only has the Terms and Conditions:

Terms and Conditions
6. You may not start, break and resume or terminate your journey at any intermediate station. If you do so you will have to pay extra, up to the normal price of the Super Off-Peak Single ticket for that journey.
http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/special-o...nd-conditions/

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However, if you go through the booking process to purchase a web only EC Super Off Peak and click on 'terms and conditions' on the 'Journey Details' page you are directed to the ticket validity page for the SSS. https://tickets.eastcoast.co.uk/ec/en/tickettandc/S/SSS.aspx.

And that summary says break of journey is permitted. Unless the ticket restriction for the journey you are making does not permit it. There doesn't appear to be a published ticket restriction code for these web only SSSs. The only published ticket restriction codes I can find for East Coast's SSS are 1L and 9D. Both allow BoJ. If you were to go through the booking process without reference to the special offers (quite possible as the 50% off offer is not prominently displayed, even on the special offers page) at no point would you be made aware that the web only Super Off Peak Singles have additional restrictions. It's a bit disingenuous of East Cost to say that the web only Super Off Peak Singles are 50% off the normal SSS. If there are different restrictions then they are different products. And I bet if you were to call NRE or East Coast and ask what the restrictions were for your Super Off Peak Single, they would, in all likelihood, refer to the restrictions codes. I doubt they'd asked whether you are holding the different reduced product.

No doubt an error made by the people responsible for putting the special offer fares into the system but when there is a difference in published terms, the term most favourable to the customer should prevail. Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts blah blah blah.

Thanks for all those replies. I've printed out the webpages showing the restrictions to take with me and keep in case of later trouble. What should I do if the worst comes to the worst and I am told that my ticket isn't valid for break of journey?

Mark_re said:

Thanks for all those replies. I've printed out the webpages showing the restrictions to take with me and keep in case of later trouble. What should I do if the worst comes to the worst and I am told that my ticket isn't valid for break of journey?

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You would be issued with an unpaid fare notice (UPFN) for the difference that you are being asked to pay, then come back here and we shall endeavour to draw up an appeal for you.