Gloster
Established Member
This is about the sister of the subject of my post Under 25 - proof of age, so again is somewhat irrelevant as I have lost contact. I am less certain about many of the details this time, but think the most important ones are correct.
The young woman was travelling on a Monday morning back to university in Newcastle using a 16-25 Railcard. For the London-Newcastle leg she had an Advance ticket on what I think was East Coast Trains that was tied to a specific departure. On reaching London on the outward journey from Newcastle, she had bought a return ticket for the last leg home: I think it was St Pancras-Haywards Heath; it was certainly a Brighton line station in that area. On arriving at the station (say Haywards Heath) on Monday morning to catch the train to London there were a large number of RPIs checking tickets, so she showed her ticket and railcard. The RPI took the card from her, looked at it carefully and then went to speak to another RPI. After a few words the first RPI started making what seemed to be several ‘phone class while reading details off the the card. The other RPI came over and said they would only be a few minutes: she pointed out that she had a connection at Kings Cross. At all times both RPIs were polite.
She started to get worried because, although she had arrived in time to get an earlier train than the last one due to arrive at St Pancras in time to have the minimum recommended connection time (she was studying law), this train was approaching and she hadn’t got her card back. She asked again to have her card back, but again was met with a,”Won’t be much longer,” type of answer. Eventually she did get the card back with a,”Sorry to have kept you,” apology. At this point a train that, if it arrived in St Pancras on time, would give her just enough time to dash across to Kings Cross, although far less than the required allowance, was running in to the station.
Her choice was to delay at Haywards Heath while she got a note from the RPIs saying she had been delayed by them and use it to persuade East Coast Trains to allow her to travel on a later train. Or to make a dash for the train and hope that it ran on time. The question is: which is better?
She chose to make the dash for it and just - only just - made it: she had to jump on one of the rear coaches as the doors were being closed (that might have been dramatic licence).
The young woman was travelling on a Monday morning back to university in Newcastle using a 16-25 Railcard. For the London-Newcastle leg she had an Advance ticket on what I think was East Coast Trains that was tied to a specific departure. On reaching London on the outward journey from Newcastle, she had bought a return ticket for the last leg home: I think it was St Pancras-Haywards Heath; it was certainly a Brighton line station in that area. On arriving at the station (say Haywards Heath) on Monday morning to catch the train to London there were a large number of RPIs checking tickets, so she showed her ticket and railcard. The RPI took the card from her, looked at it carefully and then went to speak to another RPI. After a few words the first RPI started making what seemed to be several ‘phone class while reading details off the the card. The other RPI came over and said they would only be a few minutes: she pointed out that she had a connection at Kings Cross. At all times both RPIs were polite.
She started to get worried because, although she had arrived in time to get an earlier train than the last one due to arrive at St Pancras in time to have the minimum recommended connection time (she was studying law), this train was approaching and she hadn’t got her card back. She asked again to have her card back, but again was met with a,”Won’t be much longer,” type of answer. Eventually she did get the card back with a,”Sorry to have kept you,” apology. At this point a train that, if it arrived in St Pancras on time, would give her just enough time to dash across to Kings Cross, although far less than the required allowance, was running in to the station.
Her choice was to delay at Haywards Heath while she got a note from the RPIs saying she had been delayed by them and use it to persuade East Coast Trains to allow her to travel on a later train. Or to make a dash for the train and hope that it ran on time. The question is: which is better?
She chose to make the dash for it and just - only just - made it: she had to jump on one of the rear coaches as the doors were being closed (that might have been dramatic licence).
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