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Gold Card £2 Child Flat Fare

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chebourne

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I believe the £2 Child Flat Fare off peak ticket is still available for Gold card season ticket holders?

I assume this covers travel anywhere in the Gold card area? Excepting individual TOC restrictions like Virgin Trains :( Are there any other restrictions?

What is concerning is that there does not seem to be any written information about this anywhere.

I know that they are only available from ticket offices rather than online - although it doesn't even highlight these tickets online and National Rail Enquiries don't know about them either. But also the gold card discount information on Nationa Rail's website doesn't mention it and even your own forum ticketing guide doesn't seem to have this information!
 
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chebourne

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Well this is what is confusing because I managed to buy one from East Midlands Trains St Pancras Ticket office last weekend for a trip from Liverpool Street to Witham:

Ticket type: CHILD FLTFARE R
Start Date: 18 Jun 16
Valid Until: 17 Jly 16
From: London Terminals
To: Witham
Route: Any Permitted
Price: £2.00

£2 Off peak return - you get a 2 part return - 2 tickets.

In fact I have been buying these 2/3 times a year for several years now. I was prompted to look things up again because my Son is now over 11 so cannot travel on London Underground free of charge so wanted to check if the £2 tickets cover that but they don't.

I get the impression that they cannot take this discount away as it was inherited from the old Network South East area discounts (although there was a price hike back in 2012 from £1 to £2) but they are certainly not advertising the fact anywhere and probably don't want to so that it just dies away.

I will check at St Pancras ticket office tomorrow as I am planning a trip to Weymouth which is within the Gold card area and will see if I can obtain that ticket type for that trip from Waterloo.
 
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Bletchleyite

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Oh, those.

No, those are £2 child flat fare when accompanied by an adult tickets offered by GTR (Great Northern) only. Nowt to do with the Gold Card, and not so far as I know offered by SWT (though a number of the ex-NSE TOCs do offer a kids-for-a-quid Family Travelcard deal or similar).

http://www.thameslinkrailway.com/tickets-and-fares/off-peak/

The Gold Card child discount (still absolutely excellent value) is as I state above.
 

chebourne

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No, nothing to do with Great Northern - tickets I bought at the weekend were for Greater Anglia service out of Liverpool St. And I specifically asked for a Gold Card £2 child flat rate fare and had to show my gold card.

Yes, I have seen the TOC offerings but they tend to be Day travelcard deals - this gives you an off peak return, return within 1 month.
 

Bletchleyite

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chebourne

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Checked at St Pancras this morning.

And yes, the £2 Gold Card Child flat fare rate does not exist anymore but some TOCs have offers at their discretion.

Generally anything South West or North West of London do not offer these deals but Southern, South East, Anglia, Thameslink and Northern do. For South East there are even £1 offers! These are off peak return tickets not just day returns.

Even though I was asking for a £2 Gold card child flat rate ticket for Liv St to Witham they were just giving me the offer that Greater Anglia trains do.

In many cases these offers seem to be ongoing indefinitely and maybe stem from when the old system was changed. I would therefore contend that they should be available online or at least Network Rail should point them out on their discount literature- and indeed this information should be in the Rail Forums literature.

Interestingly you do not need to go to a ticket office for the TOC in question in order to get the discount (even though they say that on their websites) - Perhaps St Pancras is considered a 'National' ticket office and therefore you can get any of these tickets from there.

As mentioned, unfortunately South West trains do not offer this deal. I am planning a trip from Market Harborough to Weymouth. Mkt Harb is not in the Gold card area so this is why I was looking at splitting tickets (Mkt Harb to Waterloo, Waterloo to Weymouth) and getting the discount. However, I have now found out that purchasing a striaght thru ticket works out cheaper even if the £2 discount was still in place! Still don't understand why straight thru is cheaper than splitting but there you go.

Thanks everyone.
 
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Wookiee

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As mentioned, unfortunately South West trains do not offer this deal. I am planning a trip from Market Harborough to Weymouth. Mkt Harb is not in the Gold card area so this is why I was looking at splitting tickets (Mkt Harb to Waterloo, Waterloo to Weymouth) and getting the discount. However, I have now found out that purchasing a striaght thru ticket works out cheaper even if the £2 discount was still in place! Still don't understand why straight thru is cheaper than splitting but there you go.

Thanks everyone.

What about splitting at Bedford, on the edge of the Gold Card zone? Off Peak Day Return fares are £47.45 adult and £13.65 child from there.
 

Wolfie

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SWT have an offer on at the moment too. So an Off Peak Day Return from London Waterloo to Weymouth is £16 for an Adult, and £3 for a child, provided you book buy midnight the day before travel.

https://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/offers--days-out/offers/promotion/

Beaten to posting lol..having used the SWT offer myself last week (to Weymouth no less!) I was in the middle of proposing either a further (ie also London) or different (ie London instead of Bedford) split myself.

That might work particularly well if, as has been posted previously, Thameslink continue with a version of the original child offer....

I can't check the fares myself as I'm on my phone with woeful wifi.

Edited to add:

Remember that there is no requirement for the splits for the adult and child ticket to be the same. eg The child ticket might hypothetically be (I can't check!) a Thameslink £2 return Bedford to St Pancras, a free ride on the tube to Waterloo for a child and then a £3 SWT return Waterloo to Weymouth. Different adult splits could similarly be probed.
 
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RJ

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£2 Off peak return - you get a 2 part return - 2 tickets.

In fact I have been buying these 2/3 times a year for several years now. I was prompted to look things up again because my Son is now over 11 so cannot travel on London Underground free of charge so wanted to check if the £2 tickets cover that but they don't.

I get the impression that they cannot take this discount away as it was inherited from the old Network South East area discounts (although there was a price hike back in 2012 from £1 to £2) but they are certainly not advertising the fact anywhere and probably don't want to so that it just dies away.

I will check at St Pancras ticket office tomorrow as I am planning a trip to Weymouth which is within the Gold card area and will see if I can obtain that ticket type for that trip from Waterloo.


There are various child flat fare deals in place in the South East.

Southeastern - Kids for a Quid
Abellio Greater Anglia - Child Flat Fare

Southern and Thameslink also have a £2 flat rate accompanied child fare for £2 for most off-peak journeys not wholly within London.

Family Travelcards (with a flat £1 or £2 child fare) are also available from many stations in the south east. A cursory search suggests it's offered by Abellio Greater Anglia, c2c, London Midland and Southern, plus elsewhere where it's not clearly advertised. I'll have a look in the fares database for any other areas it's offered from a bit later on.

Because I work within Zones 1-6, I don't volunteer this information when I sell tickets. There are reasons for this - the powers that be don't want people travelling solely within London to have these cheap child tickets or group discounts, plus I know better than to sell people tickets they didn't explicitly ask for - believe me, it causes more problems than it is worth. However, I'm more than happy to sell them if they're requested and I think you should make a point of asking specifically for such tickets.

Family Travelcards are available from the stations listed below (Thameslink/Great Northern not included in this dataset) and are offered by the following TOCs;

C2C
Chiltern Railways
First Great Western
Greater Anglia
London Midland
London Overground
Southern
Thameslink/Great Northern
TFL Rail

Code:
ACOCKS GREEN
ACTON BRIDGE
ADDERLEY PARK
ALBRIGHTON
ALDERMASTON
ALDRINGTON
ALRESFORD ESSEX
ALSAGER
ALTHORNE ESSEX
ALVECHURCH
AMBERLEY
ANGMERING
APPLEDORE KENT
APPLEFORD
APSLEY
ARUNDEL
ASCOTT-U-WYCH
ASHFORD INTL
ASHTEAD
ASHURST KENT
ASPLEY GUISE
ASTON
ATHERSTONE WARKS
AUDLEY END
AYLESBURY
AYLESBURY VALEPW
BALCOMBE
BANBURY
BARLASTON
BARNHAM
BARNT GREEN
BASILDON
BATTLESBRIDGE
BEACONSFIELD
BEDHAMPTON
BEDWORTH
BEDWYN
BENFLEET
BERKHAMSTED
BERKSWELL
BERWICK (SUSSEX)
BESCOT STADIUM
BETCHWORTH
BEXHILL
BICESTER NORTH
BICESTER VILLAGE
BILBROOK
BILLERICAY
BILLINGSHURST
BIRMINGHAM INTL
BIRMINGHAM STNS
BISHOPS STRTFORD
BISHOPSTONE SSEX
BLAKE STREET
BLAKEDOWN
BLETCHLEY
BLOXWICH
BLOXWICH NORTH
BOGNOR REGIS
BORDESLEY
BOSHAM
BOURNE END
BOURNVILLE
BOW BRICKHILL
BOX HILL&WHMBLE
BRAINTREE
BRAINTREE FRPORT
BRAMLEY (HANTS)
BRENTWOOD
BRICKET WOOD
BRIGHTON
BROMSGROVE
BURES
BURGESS HILL
BURNHAM BUCKS
BURNHAM ON C
BUTLERS LANE
BUXTED
CANLEY
CANNOCK
CHAFFORD HUNDRED
CHALKWELL
CHAPPEL & W COLN
CHARLBURY
CHEDDINGTON
CHELMSFORD ESSEX
CHESTER ROAD
CHICHESTER
CHOLSEY
CHRISTS HOSPITAL
CLACTON-ON-SEA
CODSALL
COLCHESTER STNS
COLESHILL PARKWY
COLLINGTON
COLWALL
COMBE (OXON)
COODEN BEACH
COOKHAM
COOKSBRIDGE
COSELEY
COSFORD
COSHAM
COVENTRY
COWDEN (KENT)
CRADLEY HEATH
CRAWLEY
CRESSING ESSEX
CREWE
CROWBOROUGH
CULHAM
DANZEY
DENHAM
DENHAM GOLF CLUB
DIDCOT PARKWAY
DOLEHAM
DORKING STATIONS
DORMANS
DORRIDGE
DOVERCOURT
DROITWICH SPA
DUDDESTON
DUDLEY PORT
DURRINGTON
EARLSWOOD SURREY
EARLSWOOD W MID
EAST GRINSTEAD
EAST TILBURY
EAST WORTHING
EASTBOURNE
EDENBRIDGE STNS
ELSENHAM ESSEX
EMSWORTH
EPSOM
ERDINGTON
ERIDGE
EVESHAM
FALMER
FAREHAM
FAYGATE
FENNY STRATFORD
FINSTOCK
FISHBOURNE SSEX
FISHERSGATE
FIVE WAYS
FORD
FOUR OAKS
FRATTON
FRINTON-ON-SEA
FURZE PLATT
GARSTON (HERTS)
GATWICK AIRPORT
GERRARDS CROSS
GLYNDE
GODSTONE
GORING & STRTLEY
GORING BY SEA
GRAVELLY HILL
GRAYS
GREAT BENTLEY
GREAT CHESTERFRD
GREAT MALVERN
GREAT MISSENDEN
HADDENHAM & T PY
HAGLEY
HALL GREEN
HAM STREET
HAMPDEN PK SSEX
HAMPTON IN ARDEN
HAMSTEAD BIRMNGM
HANBOROUGH
HARLOW MILL
HARLOW TOWN
HARTFORD
HARTLEBURY
HARWICH INTL
HARWICH TOWN
HASSOCKS
HASTINGS
HATFIELD PEVEREL
HATTON
HAVANT
HAYWARDS HEATH
HEDNESFORD
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD
HENLEY IN ARDEN
HENLEY ON THAMES
HEREFORD
HERTFORD EAST
HEVER
HEYFORD
HIGH WYCOMBE
HILSEA
HOCKLEY
HOLMWOOD SURREY
HONEYBOURNE
HORLEY
HORSHAM
HOVE
HOW WOOD
HUNGERFORD
HURST GREEN
HYTHE ESSEX
IFIELD
INGATESTONE
ISLIP
IVER
JEWELLERY QUARTR
KELVEDON
KEMPSTON HARDWK
KIDDERMINSTER
KIDSGROVE
KINGHAM
KINGS LANGLEY
KINGS NORTON
KINGS SUTTON
KINTBURY
KIRBY CROSS
LAINDON
LANCING
LANDYWOOD
LANGLEY BERKS
LANGLEY GREEN
LAPWORTH
LEA HALL
LEAMINGTON SPA
LEATHERHEAD
LEDBURY
LEIGH (KENT)
LEIGH ON SEA
LEIGHTON BUZZARD
LEWES
LICHFIELD CITY
LICHFIELD T V
LIDLINGTON
LINGFIELD
LITTLE KIMBLE
LITTLEHAMPTON
LITTLEHAVEN
LIVERPOOL S PWAY
LIVERPOOL STNS
LONDON RD BRGHTN
LONG BUCKBY
LONGBRIDGE
LONGPORT
LONGTON
LYE WEST MIDLAND
MAIDENHEAD
MALVERN LINK
MANNINGTREE
MARKS TEY
MARLOW
MARSTON GREEN
MERSTHAM
MIDGHAM
MILLBROOK BEDS
MILTON KEYNES C
MISTLEY
MONKS RISBOROUGH
MORETON IN MARSH
MORTIMER
MOULSECOOMB
NEWBURY
NEWBURY RACECSE
NEWHAVEN HARBOUR
NEWHAVEN TOWN
NEWPORT ESSEX
NORMANS BAY
NORTH FAMBRIDGE
NORTHAMPTON
NORTHFIELD
NORTON BRIDGE
NUNEATON
NUTBOURNE
NUTFIELD
OCKENDON
OCKLEY
OLD HILL
OLTON
ORE
OXFORD
OXFORD PARKWAY
OXTED
PANGBOURNE
PARK STREET
PENKRIDGE
PENSHURST
PERRY BARR
PERSHORE
PEVENSEY & WHAM
PEVENSEY BAY
PITSEA
PLUMPTON
POLEGATE
POLESWORTH
PORTCHESTER
PORTSLADE
PORTSMOUTH STNS
PRESTON PARK
PRINCES RISBORO
PRITTLEWELL
PULBOROUGH
PURFLEET
RADLEY
RAYLEIGH
READING STATIONS
REDDITCH
REDHILL
REIGATE
RIDGMONT
ROCHFORD
ROWLEY REGIS
ROYDON ESSEX
RUGBY
RUGELEY TOWN
RUGELEY TRNT VAL
RUNCORN
RYE HOUSE
RYE SUSSEX
SALFORDS SURREY
SANDWELL & DUDLY
SAUNDERTON
SAWBRIDGEWORTH
SEAFORD SUSSEX
SEER GREEN
SELLY OAK
SHELFORD CAMBS
SHENSTONE
SHIFNAL
SHIPLAKE
SHIPTON
SHIRLEY W MIDS
SHOEBURYNESS
SHOREHAM BY SEA
SLOUGH
SMALL HEATH
SMETHWICK GAL BG
SMETHWICK RLF ST
SOLIHULL
SOUTH WOODHAM F
SOUTHAMPTON CTL
SOUTHBOURNE
SOUTHEASE
SOUTHEND AIRPORT
SOUTHEND CENTRAL
SOUTHEND EAST
SOUTHEND VIC
SOUTHMINSTER
SOUTHWICK
SPRING ROAD
ST ALBANS ABBEY
ST LEONARDS W SQ
ST MARGARETS HTS
STAFFORD
STANFORD LE HOPE
STANSTD MFITCHET
STECHFORD
STEWARTBY
STOKE MANDEVILLE
STOKE ON TRENT
STONE (STAFFS)
STOURBRIDGE JN
STOURBRIDGE TOWN
STRATFORD PARKWY
STRATFORD U AVON
SUDBURY SUFFOLK
SUTTON COLDFIELD
SWANWICK
TACKLEY
TAME BRIDGE PWY
TAMWORTH
TAPLOW
THATCHAM
THE HAWTHORNS
THE LAKES
THEALE
THEOBALDS GROVE
THORPE BAY
THORPE LE SOKEN
THREE BRIDGES
THREE OAKS
TILBURY STATIONS
TILE HILL
TILEHURST
TIPTON
TONBRIDGE
TRING
TWYFORD
TYSELEY
UCKFIELD
UNIVERSITY BIRM
WALSALL
WALTON-ON-NAZE
WARBLINGTON
WARE (HERTS)
WARGRAVE
WARNHAM
WARWICK
WARWICK PARKWAY
WATER ORTON
WATFORD JUNCTION
WATFORD NORTH
WEDGWOOD
WEELEY
WENDOVER
WEST HORNDON
WEST WORTHING
WESTCLIFF
WHITE NOTLEY
WHITLOCKS END
WHITTLESFRD PWAY
WICKFORD
WIDNEY MANOR
WILNECOTE STAFFS
WINCHELSEA
WINDSOR & E CTL
WINSFORD
WITHAM
WITTON W MIDS
WIVELSFIELD
WIVENHOE
WOBURN SANDS
WOLDINGHAM
WOLVERHAMPTON
WOLVERTON
WOOD END
WOOLSTON
WOOTTON WAWEN
WORCESTER STNS
WORTHING
WRABNESS
WYLDE GREEN
WYTHALL
YARDLEY WOOD
 
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MikeWh

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There are reasons for this - the powers that be don't want people travelling solely within London to have these cheap child tickets or group discounts,

However, anyone with an 11-15 zip Oyster card gets a 75p flat off-peak fare within zones 1-6 and a £1.50 off-peak daily cap within zones 1-9 so it's not all that bad. Anyone in the age range can get these cards (not just London kids) and they cost £15 for up to 5 years cheap travel.
 

Bletchleyite

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However, anyone with an 11-15 zip Oyster card gets a 75p flat off-peak fare within zones 1-6 and a £1.50 off-peak daily cap within zones 1-9 so it's not all that bad. Anyone in the age range can get these cards (not just London kids) and they cost £15 for up to 5 years cheap travel.

Though if travelling as an organised group, trusting parents to sort them out before the event is a nuisance. The Group Travelcard is all very well but presently can't be bought from NR stations and requires the group to travel together, which these other options don't. Hence using these tickets from a station near the Z6 boundary as a bit of a legal "dodge".
 

RJ

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However, anyone with an 11-15 zip Oyster card gets a 75p flat off-peak fare within zones 1-6 and a £1.50 off-peak daily cap within zones 1-9 so it's not all that bad. Anyone in the age range can get these cards (not just London kids) and they cost £15 for up to 5 years cheap travel.

Whilst that is true, I get a high footfall of tourists and visitors from other parts of the UK passing through my home station. For many of these people, that isn't really an option. If I send them to the nearest Oyster outlet to pick up Oyster Cards (I do mention Visitors discount), they come back wanting a paper ticket for the children. A small number have clocked onto the better deal available with outboundary Travelcards and if they ask for them, I'll sell them.
 

Sleepy

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Checked at St Pancras this morning.

And yes, the £2 Gold Card Child flat fare rate does not exist anymore but some TOCs have offers at their discretion.

Generally anything South West or North West of London do not offer these deals but Southern, South East, Anglia, Thameslink and Northern do. For South East there are even £1 offers! These are off peak return tickets not just day returns.

Even though I was asking for a £2 Gold card child flat rate ticket for Liv St to Witham they were just giving me the offer that Greater Anglia trains do.

In many cases these offers seem to be ongoing indefinitely and maybe stem from when the old system was changed. I would therefore contend that they should be available online or at least Network Rail should point them out on their discount literature- and indeed this information should be in the Rail Forums literature.

Interestingly you do not need to go to a ticket office for the TOC in question in order to get the discount (even though they say that on their websites) - Perhaps St Pancras is considered a 'National' ticket office and therefore you can get any of these tickets from there.

As mentioned, unfortunately South West trains do not offer this deal. I am planning a trip from Market Harborough to Weymouth. Mkt Harb is not in the Gold card area so this is why I was looking at splitting tickets (Mkt Harb to Waterloo, Waterloo to Weymouth) and getting the discount. However, I have now found out that purchasing a striaght thru ticket works out cheaper even if the £2 discount was still in place! Still don't understand why straight thru is cheaper than splitting but there you go.

Thanks everyone.

The Greater Anglia flat fare was recently made permanent for accompanied children on all walk up return tickets.
 

Bletchleyite

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Does make you wonder why all the TOCs were so enthusiastic to run away from the kids' flat fare bit of GroupSave, doesn't it? Most of them seem to have reinstated it in some confusingly slightly different form or other.
 
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