Leaving a journey at London terminus

[Simple_man]

Hi

Newby here, I only take a rail journey once/twice a year from south Wales to Paddington, at what seems to be extortionate fares. I need to get to Paddington by 1000 or so on a Thursday in June and the usual two hour journey is longer because of works (diverting via Gloucester) so I am thinking of driving to and starting at Swindon.

I have read that short ticketing is against the T&C for advance fares but booking a ticket for a station beyond Paddington significantly reduces the cost though it’s still nowhere near cheap. My question is this; given that I will be using the first portion of the ticket (Swindon/Paddington) in full and I am choosing not to take the second part of the journey (ever) how could I be prosecuted because I would have a valid ticket for the whole of the journey that I will be on?

Could the train operators check electronically that I haven’t started/finished the second part of my journey, from a different London terminus? Or does Revenue Protection always start with a physical ticket check?

Many thanks for your advice.

 

[The exile]

Whatever the legal niceties may or not be, you’re not going to be followed for not doing the second leg of a journey that involves leaving a station and entering another (cross London interchange being the most obvious). There are after all kinds of things that could happen during the time you are not on the railway- the least dramatic being that you lose your ticket….

 

[duffield]

From reading the Disputes & Prosecutions sub forum, my understanding is as follows:

In theory the correct remedy for stopping short on an advance is to charge an excess fare up to the cheapest walk-up fare. Not a penalty fare, and definitely not prosecution.

In practice this is very rare and only ever happens when a ticket is physically checked (e.g. passing through the barriers at the "wrong" station). I believe very occasionally penalty fares have been *incorrectly* issued in some cases.

In your case at the point of the barrier checks (and from the point of view of train crew seeing you join or leave) you will not be entering or exiting at an "incorrect" station, since joining at Swindon and exiting the barriers at Paddington is a necessary part of your journey. And essentially it's completely unheard of for anyone to be investigated or retrospectively pursued for an excess fare in your particular circumstances.

If you want further views on this I'd suggest a post in "Disputes & Prosecutions" on this specific issue.

 

[Gloster]

Something like fifteen years ago I believe there was an actual legal case on this matter, although it concerned buying cheap booze-cruise tickets for channel ferries and then going on into France rather than coming back. The ruling was, if I remember correctly, that it was not illegal to leave and not use the return portion of the ticket, but it was illegal to buy the ticket with the intention of doing so.