Partial refund of Euro High Saver Return

[mattjejackson]

Too Long Didn't Read - If you break a return journey and then abandon it, can you get a refund for the remaining portion of the ticket from the break to the final destination?

I've tried to find the answer to this in the National Rail CoC, but no luck I don't think.

Essentials:
Ticket: Euro High Saver Return
Route: BRI -> LNE
Date out: 26/10/2023
Date return: 30/10/2023

The fare conditions state that you can't break the outward journey, but you can break the return.

I need to get to St Pancras from Bristol fair regularly. I live near to Parkway. For reasons I've never fully understood GWR's Euro High Savers from BPW are routed via either SAL or WMN to Waterloo. They're half the price of the route from BRI to PAD but often take three times as long.

Because the routeing via Wiltshire is much longer I start the journey at Temple Meads. Because the high savers from BRI are via any permitted route, depending on timetable I often get the return trip (once back at Paddington from St Pancras) on the trains to South Wales and get off at BPW. Because I can break the journey there I often just leave the station and if I have any cause to use the remainder of the trip to BRI later I will.

The CoC say at 29.2 "In such cases [where applying for a refund when you decide not to travel], a deduction from your refund in the case of part-used Tickets, will normally be calculated on the cost of the journey(s) actually made." There isn't a definition of "part-used" anywhere in the CoC.

I get that legally there are arguments one could make about where ambiguity arises it's to a consumer's benefit etc. But in practice would a TOC consider a return portion of a ticket "part-used" when you abandon the journey after breaking it, or would they say it's fully used because you started the return leg?

I get the portion from BPW to BRI won't be huge, but I'll be making the trip often enough on an ongoing basis to at least think about whether it's worth asking in the future. Obviously I strongly suspect the answer is "that's the price you pay for spending a third of the time travelling to the Eurostar".

 

[yorkie]

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I find the above post quite difficult to understand, at least at first glance.

In any case, if you don't travel via Warminster/Salisbury, there is no equivalent fare to compare to.

I suppose you could argue the Anytime fare to London Terminals is equivalent for a routeing/time restrictions perspective, but then you'd end up owing money (even without the £10 admin fee), so perhaps best not to do that

 

[Miken]

There is a detailed infomation page on the NR Website....

Euro High Saver Return | National Rail

Looking for Euro High Saver Return? A portal into UK rail travel, including information on ticket purchase and promotions, train times and delays, and more.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

Quote: "A Standard Class return ticket which can be purchased in advance or immediately before travel.

This ticket can only be sold to passengers who already hold onward Eurostar or Rail Sea international tickets."

Makes the whole post somewhat academic to me...

 

[Fawkes Cat]

If you break a return journey and then abandon it, can you get a refund for the remaining portion of the ticket from the break to the final destination

I get the portion from BPW to BRI won't be huge

It's probably worth quoting NRCoT 29.2 in full:

In such cases, a deduction from your refund in the case of part-used Tickets, will
normally be calculated on the cost of the journey(s) actually made. An administration
charge may also be made, which will not exceed £10 per Ticket; however, if the
administrative charge and/or other deductions exceed the refund amount no refund
will be payable. If a delay or cancellation on any leg of your journey is the reason you
could not complete your journey, you are entitled to a full refund on any Tickets held
for that journey under condition 30.1

So an admin charge of up to £10 may be made.

Per https://www.brfares.com/!fares?orig=BPW&dest=BRI, the anytime day single from Parkway to Temple Meads is £5.20: I imagine a proportion of the Euro High Saver return would be less, because returns tend to be cheaper per mile and so do long distance tickets. So £5.20 is the most you could hope to recover per journey

Put that against a £10 admin charge and unless you can find a ticket site to sell you the ticket without the admin charge on refund then this won't possibly work.

 

[mattjejackson]

It's probably worth quoting NRCoT 29.2 in full:



So an admin charge of up to £10 may be made.

Per https://www.brfares.com/!fares?orig=BPW&dest=BRI, the anytime day single from Parkway to Temple Meads is £5.20: I imagine a proportion of the Euro High Saver return would be less, because returns tend to be cheaper per mile and so do long distance tickets. So £5.20 is the most you could hope to recover per journey

Put that against a £10 admin charge and unless you can find a ticket site to sell you the ticket without the admin charge on refund then this won't possibly work.

Thanks. That makes sense. There's only one site where you can actually buy the CIV tickets without going to a ticket office and they would recover the admin charge.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Wallsendmag]

Do you have a Eurostar ticket?

 

[mattjejackson]

Do you have a Eurostar ticket?

Yes. But I think it's academic for the reasons Fawkes Cat set out.

 

[Haywain]

I need to get to St Pancras from Bristol fair regularly. I live near to Parkway. For reasons I've never fully understood GWR's Euro High Savers from BPW are routed via either SAL or WMN to Waterloo. They're half the price of the route from BRI to PAD but often take three times as long.

Because the routeing via Wiltshire is much longer I start the journey at Temple Meads. Because the high savers from BRI are via any permitted route, depending on timetable I often get the return trip (once back at Paddington from St Pancras) on the trains to South Wales and get off at BPW. Because I can break the journey there I often just leave the station and if I have any cause to use the remainder of the trip to BRI later I will.

I doubt if anyone would give a second glance if you used the Bristol Temple Meads to London International ticket to board a service at Bristol Parkway, especially in the absence of a similar fare from Parkway.

 

[mattjejackson]

I suspect you might be right. The main practical problem is that trains from TM don't go through Parkway en route to Paddington any more, so if anyone in the gate did take issue, I'd have to get a train to TM before going on and they're not all that consistent timing wise to connect at TM.

 

[Haywain]

The main practical problem is that trains from TM don't go through Parkway en route to Paddington any more,

You are not required to take a direct train, and changing trains at Parkway would be permitted.

 

[island]

You are not required to take a direct train, and changing trains at Parkway would be permitted.

But starting at Bristol Parkway would not, as the ticket has a break of journey prohibition on the outbound leg.