Cholsey & Reading - Didcot easement

[mullin]

Hey all,

May need to commute tomorrow morning from Reading to Didcot and have seen the easement regarding Cholsey...


700137 Customers travelling from Cholsey via Didcot Parkway in possession of tickets routed 'Any Permitted' may travel via Reading. This easement applies in both directions.



Am I right in believing that I can go to the ticket office, request the day return (Cholsey - Didcot) and I can board / pass through the barriers at Reading as starting late / stopping short? And am I likely to encounter any issues with using this ticket?

Thanks in advance

 

[bb21]

No, because you are not travelling "via" Didcot.

Also if you are travelling from Reading, then you are not "travelling from Cholsey".

 

[CyrusWuff]

The key clauses in that easement are "from Cholsey" and "via Didcot Parkway". A journey to or from Didcot Parkway or Reading wouldn't be covered.

 

[yorkie]

Hey all,

May need to commute tomorrow morning from Reading to Didcot and have seen the easement regarding Cholsey...


700137 Customers travelling from Cholsey via Didcot Parkway in possession of tickets routed 'Any Permitted' may travel via Reading. This easement applies in both directions.



Am I right in believing that I can go to the ticket office, request the day return (Cholsey - Didcot) and I can board / pass through the barriers at Reading as starting late / stopping short? And am I likely to encounter any issues with using this ticket?

Thanks in advance

I think you misunderstood the easement.

You are not travelling from Cholsey so the easement does not apply.

It does not say "Customers travelling from Reading via Didcot Parkway in possession of tickets from Cholsey routed 'Any Permitted' may travel via, or start short at, Reading. This easement applies in both directions."

 

[mullin]

What's that motto, if it's too good to be true.... ha ha. Oh well, cheers all for the swift responses!

 

[bnm]

It's a great easement for, say, Swindon to Cholsey, breaking your journey in Reading and then having a change of plan preventing you completing the journey to Cholsey.

The times those change of plans have befallen me...

 

[bb21]

It's a great easement for, say, Swindon to Cholsey, breaking your journey in Reading and then having a change of plan preventing you completing the journey to Cholsey.

The times those change of plans have befallen me...

A bit more difficult at the beginning of your journey though.

 

[bnm]

A bit more difficult at the beginning of your journey though.

Indeed. Fortunately I live west of Didcot and not in Cholsey. I hear Cholsey's a nice place. I must visit the destination on my ticket one day.

 

[LexyBoy]

My opinion is that permitted routes as defined by the NRG (including easements) apply only to tickets, and that a journey may be broken or commenced/ended along such routes if allowed by the ticket type (and restrictions if applicable). IMO the exact wording of each easement probably varies according to who jotted it down, rather than any intended precision.

For example:

Customers travelling from Lowestoft, Oulton Broad North, Somerleyton and Haddiscoe travelling to Ipswich may travel via Norwich. This easement
applies in both directions.

A passenger travelling on a combination of London-Ipswich and Ipswich-Lowestoft tickets would not be permitted to travel via Norwich if the easement is interpreted literally.

Customers travelling from Drayton Green, Castle Bar Park, South Greenford, Hanwell, West Ealing, Ealing Broadway and Acton Main Line to Hayes & Harlington and beyond may travel via London Paddington. This easement applies in both directions.

A passenger holding a West Drayton-Maidenhead season and a Maidenhead-Reading CDR would be permitted to travel via London if the easement applies to their journey, rather than the ticket.

Customer travelling via Ford may double back via Barnham. This easement applies in both directions.

"Sorry mate, your ticket's not valid: there's already one person on my train using that easement"

That said I would not use a Cholsey-Appleford ticket for my commute between Reading and Didcot, despite the fact that I could travel in First and still save hundreds of pounds. My interpretation of what's written is one thing but it isn't clear-cut and it certainly leads to an outcome which is obviously not intended in this case (though as I point out, to a more sensible one in other cases). The inevitable outcome would be hours wasted talking to revenue staff, a withdrawn season, a protracted dispute and/or court summons, and a clarification to the NRG to make it clear that it's not allowed.

I do use similar easements on other journeys though. If an itinerary can be obtained in particular, then I cannot see how it can be disputed.

 

[bkhtele]

I struggle to understand this easement: Does the Cholsey easement mean that someone with a Cholsey to Paddington ticket can travel via Didcot & if so can they break their journey at Didcot?

 

[LexyBoy]

I struggle to understand this easement: Does the Cholsey easement mean that someone with a Cholsey to Paddington ticket can travel via Didcot & if so can they break their journey at Didcot?

It's intended to allow travel via Reading for journeys to the West, on the grounds that it might be quicker (I don't think it ever is now that Didcot gets a decent intercity service).

What you describe is not what's intended (although it would be much more likely to actually be useful, Cholsey being only 5 minutes from Didcot but 20 from Reading). I think one must assume that the "via" point referred to by the easement is on the line of a Permitted Route, which the easement then expands upon.

 

[Starmill]

Indeed. Fortunately I live west of Didcot and not in Cholsey. I hear Cholsey's a nice place. I must visit the destination on my ticket one day.

Doesn't count until you hold a season ticket to a place you've never been to

 

[lightbulb]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Easement 30012
Journeys to or from South Greenford, Castle Bar Park, Drayton Green, Hanwell, Acton Mainline, Ealing Broadway, West Ealing, Hayes and Harlington and West Drayton to Reading and beyond may travel via Slough. This easement applies in both directions.


I don't understand this easement! Any why isn't Southall included?

 

[LexyBoy]

Oops! I quoted the wrong easement - corrected in my earlier post.

30012 is, like many easements that litter the NRG, a textual version of an easement in the electronic file used by journey planners added to fix buggy route planning which would otherwise disallow a perfectly obvious (or the only!) route.

 

[nickswift99]

It's intended to allow travel via Reading for journeys to the West, on the grounds that it might be quicker (I don't think it ever is now that Didcot gets a decent intercity service).

What you describe is not what's intended (although it would be much more likely to actually be useful, Cholsey being only 5 minutes from Didcot but 20 from Reading). I think one must assume that the "via" point referred to by the easement is on the line of a Permitted Route, which the easement then expands upon.

The easement is very useful for those at stations between Didcot and Reading when travelling on XC services as Oxford-Reading stoppers have a very long dwell at Didcot making the journey frequently quicker by doubling back at Reading.

Incidentally, Cholsey can be a very useful fare-splitting location as fares are mostly priced as Didcot while other stations such as my local, Goring & Streatley, have prices aligned to Reading.