Didcot to London validity advice

[lemonic]

A friend is looking to travel from Didcot to London on a weekday but come back to Oxford. Is an Oxford to London Off Peak Return (SVR) valid on the 0929 service from Didcot to Paddington?

According to the restriction code, it is valid for leaving Oxford after 0910 and leaving Didcot after 0920. It isn't possible to leave Oxford after 0910 to make the 0929 service from Didcot. But if you start short at Didcot is the ticket valid? I think it is but would like to check what others think. Thanks.

 

[34D]

This is a grey area I believe.

There are supporting arguments and logic either way.

The fares & ticketing guide doesn't address this aspect of starting short.

One possible workaround is to buy the Didcot-London return then attempt to excess the whole ticket to convert it to an Oxford-London return.

The guard on board your 09:29 service may be able to assist.

Strictly speaking, an overdistance excess is intended to change the destination and not the origin. Worth asking though, as it is technically possible.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Definitely a grey area, given that the "fast" Oxford services generally bypass Didcot on the avoiding lines...and whilst that counts as going via Didcot for routeing purposes, it wouldn't necessarily do so for ticketing purposes.

 

[34D]

Definitely a grey area, given that the "fast" Oxford services generally bypass Didcot on the avoiding lines...and whilst that counts as going via Didcot for routeing purposes, it wouldn't necessarily do so for ticketing purposes.

I don't think there's any dispute that an Oxford to London is valid either via Didcot platforms or Didcot avoiding lines though?

 

[CyrusWuff]

I don't think there's any dispute that an Oxford to London is valid either via Didcot platforms or Didcot avoiding lines though?

That's definitely not in dispute...Question is: Can you do an excess on a train that uses the avoiding line? (Ignoring for a moment the fact that walk-up fares between Oxford and London and between Didcot and London are identical)

 

[LexyBoy]

There is no grey area in my opinon. Ticket restrictions restrict "services", not "itineraries". If the restriction says leaving Didcot after 0920, and BoJ -and thus starting short - is allowed, then it is valid from 0920.

Trying to get an excess is just making life difficult for yourself (and is not officially allowed). You would most likely be told you should have bought a ticket from Oxford in the first place!

The route itself is valid and I've not had problems either using a London-Oxford ticket to Didcot (for a year) or using split tickets at Didcot on the avoiding line (under 19c).