Advance Tickets getting off early?

[northernrail2009]

I have a Advance Ticket booked between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids with South west trains but due to Family travel plans i wanted to know could i get off early at Basingstoke not Exeter?

is this allowed by south west trains or will the staff at basingstoke stop me getting out of the station or ask me to pay more?

 

[SuperVoyager]

You can get off at any station between your starting station and ending station, your ticket should allow you to go through the barriers.
As its an advance ticket, the barriers will let you back on the station but the ticket is not valid for another train journey
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And by the way... Why didn't you just get a SWT to Reading then FGW Hst - Exeter.
This is just my opinion but id hate to be stuck on a 159 from Waterloo - Exeter

 

[dan_atki]

You can get off at any station between your starting station and ending station, your ticket should allow you to go through the barriers.
As its an advance ticket, the barriers will let you back on the station but the ticket is not valid for another train journey

Factually incorrect - Advance tickets are not valid for break of journey.

The gateline assistant may not notice, but if they do, it's likely you'd be asked to pay the full fare from WAT-BSK.

And by the way... Why didn't you just get a SWT to Reading then FGW Hst - Exeter.
This is just my opinion but id hate to be stuck on a 159 from Waterloo - Exeter

Presumably the fare was cheaper by this route I'd imagine.

 

[northernrail2009]

You can get off at any station between your starting station and ending station, your ticket should allow you to go through the barriers.
As its an advance ticket, the barriers will let you back on the station but the ticket is not valid for another train journey
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And by the way... Why didn't you just get a SWT to Reading then FGW Hst - Exeter.
This is just my opinion but id hate to be stuck on a 159 from Waterloo - Exeter

Im coming down from Crewe to London then London to Basingstoke(should have been Exeter) as coming down on a £7 Midland mainline train from crewe to London and then got a advance from London to basingstoke(again should have been Exeter).

The Fares just worked out a hell of a lot cheaper doing it that way.

 

[Max]

I'm sorry SuperVoyager but this simply isn't the case! Please actually research before you post. The condition of advance tickets for break of journeys are as follows:

BREAK OF JOURNEY:
Customers may not start, break and resume, or end their journey at any intermediate station except to change to/from connecting trains as shown on the ticket(s) or other valid travel itinerary.

So the ticket barriers are unlikely to let you off the station. In theory, you could buy tickets from Hook to Basingstoke for your party, which would allow you to pass through the barriers. I couldn't personally endorse this as it would be a breach of the ticket conditions. But you would probably get away with it.

 

[SuperVoyager]

Well ive had advance tickets and been able to get off at a station inbetween

 

[Max]

Well ive had advance tickets and been able to get off at a station inbetween

That doesn't mean that it's permitted! It means that you got away with it. On this forum, we aim to provide accurate information, so please think about how you word things in future.

 

[SuperVoyager]

Jees some people are so god damn rude

 

[glynn80]

Well ive had advance tickets and been able to get off at a station inbetween

As has been said above, you may have encountered a lenient or unaware member of barrier staff or you may have left at a station without any ticket check when exiting the station.

Of course no one is going to physically force you to stay on a particular train, but the rules do state you cannot end your journey early with Advance fares, so the OP would be liable for an excess which will be the difference between the price paid for the ticket held and the price of the lowest priced ticket available for immediate travel that would have entitle you to end your journey early.

 

[yorkie]

Jees some people are so god damn rude

Who is Jess? And I don´t see any rudeness. You have been asked nicely to please think about how you word things. That´s not rude and it´s not unreasonable.

If you had said ´I do not know if it is officially allowed as I have not checked, but I got away with it, you might too´ then that would be a reasonable comment. But to say it is allowed when it is not, is misleading. We do not want to mislead anyone on this forum if possible.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Northernrail - you have a PM

 

[glynn80]

Jees some people are so god damn rude...

(And Don't Delete It This Time!)

Who has been rude, people are correcting your incorrect and misleading advice. This advice was seemingly given as fact and left as it was would have mislead the OP into believing they were legally able to end their journey early. In fact they would have been liable for a very hefty excess fare.

Please think twice before again posting anecdotal evidence from your experiences as actual fact. Obviously this is because it could cost readers of this section of the forum, quite dearly, if they put this incorrect advice into practice.

 

[northernrail2009]

Please all Im sorry if i have caused any one to fall out here.

I only wanted some advice about my tickets not a row.

I feel bad now.

 

[Max]

Please all Im sorry if i have caused any one to fall out here.

I only wanted some advice about my tickets not a row.

I feel bad now.

Who's fallen out? Do not worry at all! We just wouldn't have wanted you getting duff advice.

 

[First class]

Jees some people are so god damn rude

You're just so god damn factually incorrect!!!

You're obviously trying to help, but it is the second thread you've posted duff information in.

If you're not sure, you're best leaving it to people with access to the FRPP/people who fully understand/work with the NRCoC/Byelaws etc...

I don't think anyone has been rude...

Advance tickets are not generally valid for ending your journey early. If you got a RPI who wanted to reinforce this rule, you could be charged for the entire Full Priced Open Single from London.

 

[glynn80]

Advance tickets are not generally valid for ending your journey early. If you got a RPI who wanted to reinforce this rule, you could be charged for the entire Full Priced Open Single from London.

Well not quite, because the NRCoC states that the excess would be:

the difference between the price paid for the ticket you hold and the price of the lowest priced ticket(s) available for immediate travel that would have entitled you to start, break and resume, or end your journey at that station on the service(s) you have used.

The fare for the "lowest priced ticket" would only occasionally be the Full Priced Open Single and would most likely be an Off Peak Return or something similar.

 

[323235]

Well not quite, because the NRCoC states that the excess would be:



The fare for the "lowest priced ticket" would only occasionally be the Full Priced Open Single and would most likely be an Off Peak Return or something similar.

The Lowest Price Cheap Day Single ticket's from Waterloo to Basingstoke being : £18.30 "Route Woking" or £18.90 "Any Permitted"

No Railcard Discount included

 

[MKB]

The problem with "I'm sorry SuperVoyager but this simply isn't the case! Please actually research before you post." is that it is emotive and runs the risk of being read, rightly or wrongly, with a condescending and patronising tone. Read one way, it sounds quite offensive; read literally and without emotion, it's not. Perhaps it would have been better written as "I think you're mistaken, because...", to avoid the risk of upsetting people?

The other problem is that the posting is as dogmatic as the one being challenged. And I'm not sure the issue is so clear cut.

To my knowledge, the "rules" on breaking advance journeys have not yet been tested in a County Court, so whether they are valid and enforceable is purely speculative. A court may well consider that, effectively telling someone you can't get off early without paying more money, is an undue infringment of their rights. Or they may not. Who knows until this is actually tested in court or looked at by the Office of Fair Trading.

I guess we have to wait for the day that someone gets off early because they take ill and some jobsworth tries to enforce the "rules", and there is an almighty fuss in the press about it.

 

[SuperVoyager]

The problem with "I'm sorry SuperVoyager but this simply isn't the case! Please actually research before you post." is that it is emotive and runs the risk of being read, rightly or wrongly, with a condescending and patronising tone. Read one way, it sounds quite offensive; read literally and without emotion, it's not. Perhaps it would have been better written as "I think you're mistaken, because...", to avoid the risk of upsetting people?

The other problem is that the posting is as dogmatic as the one being challenged. And I'm not sure the issue is so clear cut.

To my knowledge, the "rules" on breaking advance journeys have not yet been tested in a County Court, so whether they are valid and enforceable is purely speculative. A court may well consider that, effectively telling someone you can't get off early without paying more money, is an undue infringment of their rights. Or they may not. Who knows until this is actually tested in court or looked at by the Office of Fair Trading.

I guess we have to wait for the day that someone gets off early because they take ill and some jobsworth tries to enforce the "rules", and there is an almighty fuss in the press about it.

I coulden't agree more.

 

[glynn80]

To my knowledge, the "rules" on breaking advance journeys have not yet been tested in a County Court, so whether they are valid and enforceable is purely speculative. A court may well consider that, effectively telling someone you can't get off early without paying more money, is an undue infringment of their rights. Or they may not. Who knows until this is actually tested in court or looked at by the Office of Fair Trading.

I guess we have to wait for the day that someone gets off early because they take ill and some jobsworth tries to enforce the "rules", and there is an almighty fuss in the press about it.

Well obviously members of this forum can only advise according to the rules that are in place currently. I suppose we could put a disclaimer at the end of each post stating that this information is subject to scrutiny in a court of law...:roll:

Regardless of whether it has been tested in court, the RPIs/Barrier Staff are going to operate under the rules they have been trained in. They will therefore be likely to charge the aforementioned excess above.

How many people would then want to go through the hassle of a court case and the possibility of being even worse off, financially, if they lost? For the sake of approximately £10.00 (the difference between £18.30 and the likely cost of the Advance) I doubt anybody would.

 

[Matt Taylor]

How can it be an infringement of your rights? Nobody is forcing you to purchase an Advance ticket with inflexible restrictions, there are other tickets available that allow you to break your journey.

 

[MKB]

Well obviously members of this forum can only advise according to the rules that are in place currently. ...

Not quite. Where someone thinks a "rule" is unfair and should be challenged, they can choose, if they wish, to advise on the best ways to circumvent the rule. And I see some people have done exactly that by suggesting buying a ticket from the previous station.

 

[Matt Taylor]

That may be how you see it but the best people to get ticketing advice from are the professionals who do it for a living, and I doubt that I am the only one who is not going to post on a public forum about how best to circumvent the rules to gain an advantage, I doubt my employer would see my comments in the same public spirited manner that you do.

 

[glynn80]

That may be how you see it but the best people to get ticketing advice from are the professionals who do it for a living, and I doubt that I am the only one who is not going to post on a public forum about how best to circumvent the rules to gain an advantage, I doubt my employer would see my comments in the same public spirited manner that you do.

Hear Hear!

 

[yorkie]

Hmm.. interesting debate! I can see it from both sides. I'm generally on the passengers side if the rules are unfair, but when it comes to something like this, I am not going to publicly say it's perfectly fine to get off short of your destination on an Advance ticket, and as for getting round it, I'm not really sure we should be publicly posting such advice.

I do agree, however, that the rule probably could be successfully challenged in court, but I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone does that unless they have cash to spare to prove a point.

I'd love it if someone who won the lottery would spend some of it fighting the TOCs on various issues of passenger rights. I reckon a few thousand quid could get a whole load of unfair conditions to be ruled as such!

I don't always side with the passenger though, for example I was once on a train in FC and a passenger was clearly on a leisure journey on a New Deal railcard (the other topic reminded me of it!) and was asking for a discounted ticket in First class! He was extremely rude to the conductor when she said it was not available with that railcard. Given the suitcases with him and his wife she could have refused the discount altogether for being on a leisure journey! Generally, the customer is right, but sometimes they are not.

 

[Matt Taylor]

The rules can sometimes be unfair and that is part of the job I dislike, however I am employed to uphold the rules as decreed by ATOC.

Discretion is the key.

 

[MKB]

A fair summary Yorkie.

I've been reading these boards for only a year or so, but what I quickly realised was that a lot of postings are actually from railway staff who have, how shall we say, "gone native". Whereas the advice that comes from railway enthusisasts seems to be much more balanced. Perhaps people should be more open about revealing any vested interests when posting?

 

[tony_mac]

I just did a completely unscientific check of a few website to see what they say about stopping early on advance tickets.

Only nxec specifically say that it isn't allowed.

Virgin and Southern say that you can't break your journey
FGW say that you can't break and resume your journey
Thetrainline says 'You must travel on the date, time and trains specified', but doesn't mention break of journey.

There may well be other conditions buried in the website, but these are the most obvious ones to the customer.

Apart from nxec they don't say that stopping early is a break of journey, and I don't think it's necessarily obvious to everybody that it is.