Caledonian Sleeper ticket question

[gpb_croppers63]

I've booked a single on the Caledonian sleeper from Euston to Aberdeen on 20th March in a first class berth. When I booked the ticket, they told me I'd get a 2-zone travelcard in London. I received my tickets last week and there was no kind of travel card included with the tickets. I rang Scotrail to ask about it and they told me that the travelcard was encoded into the train ticket itself. Can anyone tell me if this information is correct or whether I should contact Scotrail again.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Gareth

 

[Phoenix]

I've booked a single on the Caledonian sleeper from Euston to Aberdeen on 20th March in a first class berth. When I booked the ticket, they told me I'd get a 2-zone travelcard in London. I received my tickets last week and there was no kind of travel card included with the tickets. I rang Scotrail to ask about it and they told me that the travelcard was encoded into the train ticket itself. Can anyone tell me if this information is correct or whether I should contact Scotrail again.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Gareth

Well if your 100% sure the travel card isn't in there and the envelope hasn't been tampered with and finally that you have read you ticket and made sure that there isn't something about the London travel being included with the sleeper then..........
Yes I would defiantly give them another ring saying that there was no such ticket received and explain you have double checked and hopefully they will send another.

 

[gpb_croppers63]

The ticket doesn't appear to have any kind of travelcard info on it. It just says from London Terminals to Aberdeen. The girl at Scotrail told me that she's been asked this before and the travelcard info is encoded into the magnetic stripe but I'm still not convinced. Anyone else got any ideas?

 

[Pumbaa]

The ticket doesn't appear to have any kind of travelcard info on it. It just says from London Terminals to Aberdeen. The girl at Scotrail told me that she's been asked this before and the travelcard info is encoded into the magnetic stripe but I'm still not convinced. Anyone else got any ideas?

Yes it is encoded. The LU gates should open up when you put it in.

 

[gpb_croppers63]

Great. Thanks for that. I'm planning to print out the details from the Scotrail website that say I get a one day travelcard to show to the staff at the LU gates if the ticket doesn't work and they query whether it's valid.

 

[John @ home]

I'm planning to print out the details from the Scotrail website that say I get a one day travelcard

Are you sure?

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/caledoniansleeper/business.html says:
"Caledonian Sleeper First Class Anytime tickets now include a complimentary refreshment voucher for the Lounge Car plus a London Underground Zone 1 & 2 pass within the current price. Single ticket journey holders receive a £2.50 refreshment voucher and Return ticket holders receive a £5 refreshment voucher. Please note, refreshment vouchers and London Underground passes are not available when your purchase this ticket online"

I haven't seen any reference to a one day travelcard and I would not be surprised if Scotrail's interpretation of a London Underground Zone 1 & 2 pass is a single between Euston and any one London Underground station in Zone 1 or 2.

But I am surprised that your ticket is from LONDON TERMINALS. The usual designation for any one London Underground station in Zone 1 or 2 is U12 LONDN.

John

 

[gpb_croppers63]

Are you sure?

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/caledoniansleeper/business.html says:
"Caledonian Sleeper First Class Anytime tickets now include a complimentary refreshment voucher for the Lounge Car plus a London Underground Zone 1 & 2 pass within the current price. Single ticket journey holders receive a £2.50 refreshment voucher and Return ticket holders receive a £5 refreshment voucher. Please note, refreshment vouchers and London Underground passes are not available when your purchase this ticket online"

I haven't seen any reference to a one day travelcard and I would not be surprised if Scotrail's interpretation of a London Underground Zone 1 & 2 pass is a single between Euston and any one London Underground station in Zone 1 or 2.

But I am surprised that your ticket is from LONDON TERMINALS. The usual designation for any one London Underground station in Zone 1 or 2 is U12 LONDN.

John

Hi John,

Thanks for the info. It seems I did misread zone 1&2 pass as travelcard. I'll have to be more careful in future . However, I've just checked the ticket and it does say "London Terminals". If it said "U12 LONDN" I probably wouldn't have queried it. Do you think another call to Scotrail telesales may be in order?

 

[First class]

Your ticket will NOT be accepted by LU, unless it says:

+CAL SLEEPER ONLY

DESTINATION: U12* LONDN

They may have issued your ticket incorrectly.


Thinking about it now though, I think you only get the LU travel when you are going TOWARDS London....

 

[John @ home]

Do you think another call to Scotrail telesales may be in order?

I think I would send an e-mail to [email protected] asking for confirmation that your ticket from London Terminals to Aberdeen is actually valid from anywhere in Zones 1 or 2. Then print the reply in case of difficulty on the journey.

John
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Thinking about it now though, I think you only get the LU travel when you are going TOWARDS London....

But that's not what is advertised.

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/caledonian.../business.html says:
"Caledonian Sleeper First Class Anytime tickets now include a complimentary refreshment voucher for the Lounge Car plus a London Underground Zone 1 & 2 pass within the current price. Single ticket journey holders receive a £2.50 refreshment voucher and Return ticket holders receive a £5 refreshment voucher. Please note, refreshment vouchers and London Underground passes are not available when your purchase this ticket online"

Thus a £184 FOS from London to Aberdeen route Cal Sleeper includes "a London Underground Zone 1 & 2 pass within the current price" as long as you don't purchase the ticket online.

John

 

[First class]

Personally, I think telesales is excluded then.

Meal vouchers definitely are separate tickets.

For a single journey you should have:

1. 1st Anytime Single ticket London-Aberdeen
2. Zone 1-2 Travelcard
3. Meal voucher ticket worth £2.50
4. Berth reservation coupon ticket

You should have 4 seperate tickets.

 

[gpb_croppers63]

Thanks for all the info guys. I don't have the tickets to hand at this moment as I'm in work but I did check to see if there was a "+" anywhere on them and I couldn't see one. I'll check again tonight when I get home. Also, the origin is definitely "London Terminals". I think I'll take your advice John and e-mail them so that I have something in writing in case anything goes wrong.

Thanks again for all the help and advice. Very useful!

 

[Daniel]

IIRC there is an easement which allows you cross London travel on LU services when your ticket starts at London Terminals, and cross Glasgow travel via the Glasgow Underground when your ticket originates from Scotland.

It is something LU have not briefed me on, but which I found myself prior to travelling on the Cal Sleeper from Euston, with an e-Ticket.

 

[gpb_croppers63]

IIRC there is an easement which allows you cross London travel on LU services when your ticket starts at London Terminals, and cross Glasgow travel via the Glasgow Underground when your ticket originates from Scotland.

It is something LU have not briefed me on, but which I found myself prior to travelling on the Cal Sleeper from Euston, with an e-Ticket.

Hmmm. The plot thickens! I think an e-mail to Scotrail is definitely in order just so I have something in writing. Thanks again for all the assistance.

 

[yorkie]

It is something LU have not briefed me on....

Their training is awful when it comes to NR tickets.

Hopefully one day when you've risen through the ranks you can sort it out

 

[Daniel]

Easement 20010: Passengers using the sleeper northbound from Euston may start their journey with a cross London service.

Found that, however I do not have that confirmed in any document, it's only from Wikipedia that I've seen it!

 

[glynn80]

Found that, however I do not have that confirmed in any document, it's only from Wikipedia that I've seen it!

It is quoted from the ATOC Routeing Guide.

A direct link to the page is here: http://www.atoc.org/rsp/_downloads/Routeing_Guide/easements.htm

 

[clagmonster]

From the National routing guide. See http://www.atoc.org/rsp/_downloads/Routeing_Guide/easements.htm

 

[Daniel]

Thanks gents, certain pages weren't loading on the intranet yesterday, and didn't want to say 'here's the easement' without an official source.

Thanks again for that guys.

 

[gpb_croppers63]

Thanks again for all the information guys. It looks like I'm going to be OK but I'll still e-mail Scotrail tomorrow to be 100% sure. I'll let you all know what they say.

 

[gpb_croppers63]

I've just received the following reply from Scotrail:

Dear Sir

Thank you for your email dated 16 March 2009 regarding tickets that you purchased for a journey from London Euston to Aberdeen on our Caledonian Sleeper service on 20 March. I understand that you have requested travel on the London Underground also.

I have checked your booking with our Telesales team. They have confirmed that the main journey ticket is now programmed with the necessary details to allow you to proceed through the requested underground zones. Please insert your main journey ticket into the automatic barriers.

Thank you for contacting ScotRail. If there is anything else we can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Should you need to reply to this email, please respond to [email protected].

so it looks like all will be fine . I'm going to print this e-mail and take it with me so that if I have any problems on the LU, I can show them.

Thanks so much again for all the help!

 

[gpb_croppers63]

Well it wasn't as cut and dried as it appeared. I got into the underground at Liverpool Street without a problem so was feeling quietly confident. When I went to exit at Euston Square, the barriers wouldn't let me out. I was sent to the excess fares booth where I was charged £4 for the short trip from Liverpool Street. What annoyed me the most was that the LU guy flatly refused to believe me that I'd asked Scotrail the question and he wouldn't even look at the e-mail I'd printed off. I tried to pass it through the windw several times and he would not take it off me!

Anyway, I rang Scotrail telesales straight away and they have promised to refund the £4 if I send in the receipt. To be honest, it's not the £4 that bothers me. It's more that I looked a right idiot and was made to feel like a criminal and a fare-dodger on the LU.

 

[yorkie]

What was his name?

Write to LU giving full details and request he is given extra training.

I'd have refused to pay the £4 personally (unless I was in a massive rush for the train) and demanded to speak to the station manager.

 

[gpb_croppers63]

What was his name?

I didn't get his name unfortunately.

Write to LU giving full details and request he is given extra training.

As I did not get his name, this would be difficult. Would the receipt I got from him provide any information (employee number or anything like that)?

I'd have refused to pay the £4 personally (unless I was in a massive rush for the train) and demanded to speak to the station manager.

I really did argue my point as much as I could but there was no budging this guy. Like I say, he flatly refused to believe that I had tried to ensure that the ticket was valid and wouldn't even look at the printed e-mail, let alone read it!!

ScotRail telesales were great when I rang them though. I'm going to draft the letter to them this evening and send it tomorrow. I'll let you all know what response I get.

 

[yorkie]

Write in anyway. LU are very lacking when it comes to ticket training, and some of their staff are lacking in manners.

Next time you encounter someone like that, get their name.

 

[gpb_croppers63]

To be honest, I was so annoyed that I never thought of getting his name. I think he was right that the ticket was not valid but it was his attitude that got my back up more than anything. Maybe a quick e-mail or letter to LU could be a good idea. They're bound to be able to find out who was working at Euston Square at 20:00 on Friday evening.

 

[glynn80]

Write in anyway. LU are very lacking when it comes to ticket training, and some of their staff are lacking in manners.

Next time you encounter someone like that, get their name.

Agreed, they are the worst in manners and ticket training.

 

[yorkie]

To be honest, I was so annoyed that I never thought of getting his name. I think he was right that the ticket was not valid but it was his attitude that got my back up more than anything. Maybe a quick e-mail or letter to LU could be a good idea. They're bound to be able to find out who was working at Euston Square at 20:00 on Friday evening.

He was not right, his attitude was abysmal and I'm sure they'll be able to get a good idea of who was on duty at that time.

 

[asylumxl]

Chances are your ticket is valid. They just want extra revenue. This seems to be the latest thing in London. Many times at St Pancra's FCC barriers, the people attending the barriers have told me my tickets not valid and I will have to buy another. This is absolute rubbish. Don't back down and tell them you'll take it to their superiors, and they back down.

 

[gpb_croppers63]

Chances are your ticket is valid. They just want extra revenue. This seems to be the latest thing in London. Many times at St Pancra's FCC barriers, the people attending the barriers have told me my tickets not valid and I will have to buy another. This is absolute rubbish. Don't back down and tell them you'll take it to their superiors, and they back down.

That's intersting. Thanks for the information. Are the LU barriers programmed to automaticlly reject valid rail tickets just to gain extra revenue? If they are, surely that's illegal.

I got the impression from the guy at ScotRail that I wasn't the first person to experience this problem. When I told him the story, his first response was "oh no!" in a resigned tone of voice as if this happens regularly. It'll be interesting to see what ScotRail say in their reply to me.

 

[paul1609]

Had a chat with a contact in Southerns ticketing office in Croydon. He is of the opinion that this easement would only apply to Nationalrail services only although he was not sure what would consitite a cross london service to Euston.
However the agreement with LUL is quite specific as to what will be accepted and he couldnt find any arrangement for Caledonian Sleepers.
It seems to me that the London Underground Staff were probably right and Scotrail are issuing the wrong tickets.