.....Without wishing to sound flippant but why would a member of on train staff be refering to the retail manual?
The only manual for on train staff is the ticket examiners handbook which is woefully out of date and hasn't been issued to our on train staff for a very
long time!
Hence the "ask at your local station" bit. Although you should raise this point with your manager and, if they fail to act, the Union, as they must provide you with the equipment and training to do your job properly, it is logical to assume that you cannot enforce rules that you can't back up when in the course of your duties.
I should perhaps marginally re-word a previous post as I failed to mention company policy. As I understand it, OFFICIALLY there is 2 options for TOC specific tickets:
1) Issue a new ticket according to your companies policy (for the purposes of clarity, this would include any conditions in the PF scheme (it must be company policy if they use it) and the Retail Manuel section on excess fares).
2) Issue a PF as NO TICKET. (the ticket they have is not valid and cannot be excessed)
By the book, you cannot use an excess fare because you cannot excess a TOC specific ticket to use on another TOC, unofficially maybe, but not by the book.
In relation to my previous post, all I meant by my comment to Yorkie was that just because my current employer doesn't use PFs doesn't necessarily follow that I know nothing about them, it was not meant to mean that I know everything or should be treated as though I do.
Rules may change, thats life, but instead of going whole hog into the "your current employer doesn't use them so you know nothing" approach without checking if the person to whom you speak actually knows about them, a simple "This person currently issues penalty fares for a TOC and knows about all the current rules, do you have experience in this field?" line of post would have been better, don't you think?
I feel that everytime me and yorkie have a disagreement about an issue it ends with an attack on myself, maybe light hearted, maybe not, with the potential for an all out war of words, as has happened before, I am getting fed up of it frankly. I enjoy a good discussion, particularly an informative one such as we were having.
I was unaware Tom C was a ticket examiner until now, and until otherwise stated, I will try and remember that for future posts.
I realise that sometimes I word things wrongly and accept that others may do, or that I mis-understand others posts and that others may mis-understand mine, but that it should keep happening between the same two people is beyond a coincidence.
I do not wish to see another thread about fares, routeings and such, turn nasty, for the benefit of the interested parties who wish to know more about the topic.
I will accept that Tom C is in a better position to state the current terms of Penalty fares than me, on the basis that he issues them, but equally I feel I am in a better position to state what constitutes a valid ticket and how they can be excessed, as I have access to the current RM.
Now back to the topic of the thread.........
:grin: