Northern: Issued a day return valid for 1 month

[185]

Found an (Avantix, possibly) ticket issued by Northern, an anytime day return between two Manchester stations ....I won't name the destination as it involves my company who are in touch with them to ask why this has happened.

Just a quick question, has anyone else noticed these day returns with a 31-day validity? The origin was Mauldeth Road, but I'm unsure if it was issued at there or Man Picc by STM. Hoping it's a one-off.

For the record, it looks likely like the fare was sold wrongly, then overide was pressed, by someone who couldn't find the fare after the wrong destination was entered. Passenger using it bought it three weeks earlier for around a fiver.

 

[bb21]

Or it may be a forgery.

I assume it is not in the database?

 

[First class]

It's simply not possible to override a validity period on Avantix. You can only override the fare, and even then, most TOCs have disabled that for common ticket types like SDRs.

Even on other Ticket Issuing Systems, it is impossible to create such a ticket. The best you could do would be to create a manual fare and change the ticket type to Anytime Return, (not SDR).

It is impossible to obtain an SDR from a legitimate source with more validity than permitted.

It would also be 100% clear what system issued the ticket. If you are saying "possibly" Avantix, (and you appear to have good knowledge of ticketing), then you are obviously unsure, which again suggests this ticket is not genuine.

 

[Merseysider]

The origin was Mauldeth Road, but I'm unsure if it was issued at there or Man Picc by STM. Hoping it's a one-off.

I doubt it would have been issued at Mauldeth Road, by the information already in this thread. Only in the last week or two have I noticed STM staff at Mauldeth Road and not once have I seen them holding an Avantix, just notebooks and a phone. The TVM prints off in the 'new' style and has done for months and nothing the ticket office issues could be mistaken for Avantix stock either.

 

[185]

Or it may be a forgery.

I assume it is not in the database?

Deffo not a forgery & not in the database. The coding on the back was fine.

Only thing I can think of is a programming glitch in setting up the fares which crept in during the 'new' Northern PM Peak fares revisions.... however, my observation about the use of overide function is in relation to a destination used for non-GM origin fares, being used from a GM Station - Mauldeth Road. (Which would ordinarily produce a message 'No Fares')

 

[RJ]

The TIS I use has the ability to create manual tickets and the period of validity can be altered from the default. It's a required feature when creating manual season tickets to add to the database, but isn't limited to just season types.