It was brought to my attention today that at least one forum member was asked for payment by an Avanti Train Manager for following advice given on NRE.
The advice was for "London Northwestern Railway" (West Midlands Trains) passengers and stated that they "may use their ticket on Avanti West Coast services".
During the journey, the passenger was told that National Rail Enquiries was nothing to do with Avanti and that it is irrelevant what it says because Avanti are not bound by what NRE says.
The customer disagreed and, after a lengthy conversation, the Guard gave up attempting to charge the passenger for a new ticket.
Avanti stated, via Twitter, that:
The NRE statement was removed shortly after the above statement via Twitter, which was hours after the passenger had completed their journey.
I would like to see all train companies issue absolute clear instructions to all staff with responsibility for checking tickets that passengers who follow NRE advice are not to be charged under such circumstances.
NRE states:
Any disagreement over the legitimacy of content on NRE is an internal rail industry matter and the passenger cannot be penalised for this!
The advice was for "London Northwestern Railway" (West Midlands Trains) passengers and stated that they "may use their ticket on Avanti West Coast services".
During the journey, the passenger was told that National Rail Enquiries was nothing to do with Avanti and that it is irrelevant what it says because Avanti are not bound by what NRE says.
The customer disagreed and, after a lengthy conversation, the Guard gave up attempting to charge the passenger for a new ticket.
Avanti stated, via Twitter, that:
We have not received any request for ticket acceptance from
@LNRailway
We have spoken with National Rail and they have amended the message
The NRE statement was removed shortly after the above statement via Twitter, which was hours after the passenger had completed their journey.
I would like to see all train companies issue absolute clear instructions to all staff with responsibility for checking tickets that passengers who follow NRE advice are not to be charged under such circumstances.
NRE states:
This is the position; the minority of staff who refuse to accept this position need to be dealt with appropriately by train companies, who have a responsibility to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent staff incorrectly charging passengers.We are the definitive source of customer information for all passenger rail services on the National Rail network in England, Wales and Scotland. National Rail Enquiries is part of the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which provides business services to Train Operating Companies.
Any disagreement over the legitimacy of content on NRE is an internal rail industry matter and the passenger cannot be penalised for this!