Hi,
My knowledge on excess fares isn't all too sharp, so I'd like to know if I've made some mistake or I have grounds to complain to Greater Anglia for the following which happened today at London Liverpool St station:
I was at the LST booking office with a friend of mine.
He had the RTN part of a Y-P discounted SVR OFF-PEAK RTN, from Whittlesford Parkway to London Terminals, and wanted it to be excessed to be able to a Cambridge to London Terminals ticket. (The outbound part from London to WLF had already been used and discarded).
I thought that this should be possible, and cost half the difference between the 2 applicable tickets, ie (19.15-14.90)/2 = £2.15 routed Greater Anglia only, or (21.30-14.90)/2 = £3.20 for any permitted route.
However, the clerk assumed he wanted to convert his ticket into a London to Cambridge single, and when informed that he would be travelling to Cambridge on a completely unrelated ticket and wanted the RTN part excessing, she asked to see this other ticket. She then said it is not possible to do the excess. When pressed for a reason, she got quite irritated, and said there is no such thing as an excess rail fare, and he should sort it out at Cambridge before he travelled.
We didn't want to waste all that time queueing to have to queue up again in another station, so told her that excesses do exist. She then tapped at the computer and told us the excess fare was £4.30. I looked at the customer part of the till and it read "Cambridge -> Whittlesford Pway ANYTIME DAY S £4.30". This wasn't what he asked for at all, and he didn't buy the ticket, but decided to buy at Cambridge instead.
is this a valid excess or have I got the rules wrong?`
My knowledge on excess fares isn't all too sharp, so I'd like to know if I've made some mistake or I have grounds to complain to Greater Anglia for the following which happened today at London Liverpool St station:
I was at the LST booking office with a friend of mine.
He had the RTN part of a Y-P discounted SVR OFF-PEAK RTN, from Whittlesford Parkway to London Terminals, and wanted it to be excessed to be able to a Cambridge to London Terminals ticket. (The outbound part from London to WLF had already been used and discarded).
I thought that this should be possible, and cost half the difference between the 2 applicable tickets, ie (19.15-14.90)/2 = £2.15 routed Greater Anglia only, or (21.30-14.90)/2 = £3.20 for any permitted route.
However, the clerk assumed he wanted to convert his ticket into a London to Cambridge single, and when informed that he would be travelling to Cambridge on a completely unrelated ticket and wanted the RTN part excessing, she asked to see this other ticket. She then said it is not possible to do the excess. When pressed for a reason, she got quite irritated, and said there is no such thing as an excess rail fare, and he should sort it out at Cambridge before he travelled.
We didn't want to waste all that time queueing to have to queue up again in another station, so told her that excesses do exist. She then tapped at the computer and told us the excess fare was £4.30. I looked at the customer part of the till and it read "Cambridge -> Whittlesford Pway ANYTIME DAY S £4.30". This wasn't what he asked for at all, and he didn't buy the ticket, but decided to buy at Cambridge instead.
is this a valid excess or have I got the rules wrong?`
