My parents were in Dublin over the weekend and returned yesterday to London Euston (via Virgin).
My mum booked the train tickets with Virgin direct and, as mums do, didn't seem to listen to my advice to book straight through from the start station - Broxbourne in their case.
So when they went, they bought single tickets to Euston and didn't realise they could get return tickets usable on a different day!
Anyway, their route to Euston was Broxbourne - Tottenham Hale and tube to London Euston. I don't know how much they paid for their ticket or the exact ticket they got, but they had no problems.
Coming back, they arrived at Euston in the afternoon and asked for a ticket to Broxbourne via Tottenham Hale, to go back the exact same way, and were sold a ticket (attached) for £12.50 each. Yet again, my mum didn't think she could use her senior railcard as it was in the evening peak.
Upon arriving at Tottenham Hale (I bet you can see where this is going!) they were stopped by the gate. Tottenham Hale is in zone 3, their ticket is for zones 1&2.
It was here that they were told that they could be given a penalty fare as they had an invalid ticket. My dad asked how it could be invalid when he'd asked for a ticket to Broxbourne going via Tottenham Hale and didn't know anything about the zones.
He was told that the correct route was to go via Liverpool Street, and that they needed to have gone there. A rather long winded route, especially for my mum who is not able bodied and had a lot of convincing in the first place to take the tube route; she usually favours going to Liverpool Street and taking a taxi. She struggles on stairs and doesn't really like escalators either - and now I suspect she won't be taking the tube ever again.
When my dad continued to say that they had done nothing wrong and had even checked previously on the National Rail website for times and been given routes via the tube, he was told that they were going to be let off 'this time' which actually angered him even more! But, ultimately, they got through and got a train home without any penalty, or missing their train.
Upon getting home, he called me to say what had happened and I think it's sad that they're now likely to be put off travelling over something that I can't believe is their fault as they did ask to go via Tottenham Hale, and in any case, that would always seem the most logical route so if the ticket seller wasn't sure - should have asked for clarification.
The ticket sold confuses me. Why is it zones 1 and 2? Is there not a Z1 only ticket? Does the route from Euston to Liverpool Street ever leave zone 1? But, regardless, why sell that if someone has asked to go via Tottenham Hale, which is outside the zones?
And who would even think of going from Euston around to Liverpool Street when you can take the Victoria Line to Tottenham Hale, saving time on both the tube and the ability to get an earlier train than you'd get at LST?
Even for someone able bodied, it seems a rather longwinded route even if you opted to walk up to Euston Square (and she can't walk long distances comfortably).
My mum booked the train tickets with Virgin direct and, as mums do, didn't seem to listen to my advice to book straight through from the start station - Broxbourne in their case.
So when they went, they bought single tickets to Euston and didn't realise they could get return tickets usable on a different day!
Anyway, their route to Euston was Broxbourne - Tottenham Hale and tube to London Euston. I don't know how much they paid for their ticket or the exact ticket they got, but they had no problems.
Coming back, they arrived at Euston in the afternoon and asked for a ticket to Broxbourne via Tottenham Hale, to go back the exact same way, and were sold a ticket (attached) for £12.50 each. Yet again, my mum didn't think she could use her senior railcard as it was in the evening peak.
Upon arriving at Tottenham Hale (I bet you can see where this is going!) they were stopped by the gate. Tottenham Hale is in zone 3, their ticket is for zones 1&2.
It was here that they were told that they could be given a penalty fare as they had an invalid ticket. My dad asked how it could be invalid when he'd asked for a ticket to Broxbourne going via Tottenham Hale and didn't know anything about the zones.
He was told that the correct route was to go via Liverpool Street, and that they needed to have gone there. A rather long winded route, especially for my mum who is not able bodied and had a lot of convincing in the first place to take the tube route; she usually favours going to Liverpool Street and taking a taxi. She struggles on stairs and doesn't really like escalators either - and now I suspect she won't be taking the tube ever again.
When my dad continued to say that they had done nothing wrong and had even checked previously on the National Rail website for times and been given routes via the tube, he was told that they were going to be let off 'this time' which actually angered him even more! But, ultimately, they got through and got a train home without any penalty, or missing their train.
Upon getting home, he called me to say what had happened and I think it's sad that they're now likely to be put off travelling over something that I can't believe is their fault as they did ask to go via Tottenham Hale, and in any case, that would always seem the most logical route so if the ticket seller wasn't sure - should have asked for clarification.
The ticket sold confuses me. Why is it zones 1 and 2? Is there not a Z1 only ticket? Does the route from Euston to Liverpool Street ever leave zone 1? But, regardless, why sell that if someone has asked to go via Tottenham Hale, which is outside the zones?
And who would even think of going from Euston around to Liverpool Street when you can take the Victoria Line to Tottenham Hale, saving time on both the tube and the ability to get an earlier train than you'd get at LST?
Even for someone able bodied, it seems a rather longwinded route even if you opted to walk up to Euston Square (and she can't walk long distances comfortably).