Peak restrictions on the strike

[mrmartin]

Say I buy a (super) off ticket tomorrow to London, and I want to travel back on Thursday, after work. Given it looks like GWR stops by 5pm, am I ok to get on the last service from paddington - given there is no service after 7pm, when a super off peak would be valid? I would instinctively say that this would be ok, but my experiences of strike ticketing has been extremely counterintuitive recently!

 

[Watershed]

If you had bought your ticket before the strike timetable was published, you would have been entitled to be accommodated on an earlier train if your intended train was cancelled and the next train wasn't until the following morning.

However, as the strike timetable has now been published, any ticket purchase is done in full knowledge of that and it is no different to, say, buying a ticket for a long journey at a time when you can't complete it within the ticket's duration of validity. It is your 'fault' as it were, and so you are not entitled to any further recourse.

In practice the position may sometimes lie between these two 'extremes', as you may get staff who wrongly refuse to accept a ticket that was bought before the strike timetable was published, or staff who accept a ticket during a restricted period even though it was bought when this reduced timetable had been published.

 

[mrmartin]

Thought this may be the case, which is exceptionally customer unfriendly. I've never had to buy an anytime ticket, but now because of GWRs own staff striking (can't blame NR this time), I have to pay triple the price?

Also, I'm screwed either way - if I buy a ticket before the timetable is up, I don't know what it is and what trains are running, if they finished at say 3pm not 5pm then I can't travel either. But if I do wait until the timetables are out then I've got to pay for an anytime ticket?

I think really all (evening?) peak restrictions should be scrapped on strike days.

 

[ASharpe]

Probably not helpful, but if this is a regular journey for you it can sometimes be worth buying an off peak return to get you home (outbound are often only restricted until 0930) and then you still have a pair of tickets for another journey.

 

[Watershed]

Thought this may be the case, which is exceptionally customer unfriendly. I've never had to buy an anytime ticket, but now because of GWRs own staff striking (can't blame NR this time), I have to pay triple the price?

Also, I'm screwed either way - if I buy a ticket before the timetable is up, I don't know what it is and what trains are running, if they finished at say 3pm not 5pm then I can't travel either. But if I do wait until the timetables are out then I've got to pay for an anytime ticket?

I think really all (evening?) peak restrictions should be scrapped on strike days.

Unfortunately, the industry's handling of the strikes - even if you go beyond the actual negotiations themselves - has been awful. In some respects it would be difficult for it to have handled them any worse.

There have been several cases of strikes being called off and yet reduced timetables still running (e.g. see the late startup at most operators on Friday). Operators are wrongly claiming that passengers can't claim Delay Repay based on the timetable that was in place when they bought their ticket, and that they aren't obliged to provide alternative transport or accommodation if someone intended to travel on a train that's after the last train.

Then there's the fact that the strike timetables themselves have been published so late on in the game, and that there hasn't even been the bare minimum of ticket acceptance (i.e. on any operator and route that's running).

I'm not blaming individual members of staff here, because it's a structural issue that derives from the basic "couldn't care less" attitude to customer service that exists across most of the rail industry. There aren't enough resources put into planning; frontline staff haven't been given proper training on passengers' rights; the leadership from the RDG is non-existent and so industry briefs are full of "should" and "may" rather than "will" and "must". The GBRTT already exists and this is a perfect example of the kind of circumstance where you'd expect a unified response, but there's absolutely nothing.

Coming back to your situation, the best I can advise is to buy tickets before the strike timetable is published - you can always obtain a full refund afterwards if you decide you don't want to travel (as there is "do not travel" advice from most operators). You can be reasonably certain that the level of service you see on Thursday and Saturday will be the same level of service you'll see on future strike dates, in any event.

 

[mrmartin]

Unfortunately, the industry's handling of the strikes - even if you go beyond the actual negotiations themselves - has been awful. In some respects it would be difficult for it to have handled them any worse.

There have been several cases of strikes being called off and yet reduced timetables still running (e.g. see the late startup at most operators on Friday). Operators are wrongly claiming that passengers can't claim Delay Repay based on the timetable that was in place when they bought their ticket, and that they aren't obliged to provide alternative transport or accommodation if someone intended to travel on a train that's after the last train.

Then there's the fact that the strike timetables themselves have been published so late on in the game, and that there hasn't even been the bare minimum of ticket acceptance (i.e. on any operator and route that's running).

I'm not blaming individual members of staff here, because it's a structural issue that derives from the basic "couldn't care less" attitude to customer service that exists across most of the rail industry. There aren't enough resources put into planning; frontline staff haven't been given proper training on passengers' rights; the leadership from the RDG is non-existent and so industry briefs are full of "should" and "may" rather than "will" and "must". The GBRTT already exists and this is a perfect example of the kind of circumstance where you'd expect a unified response, but there's absolutely nothing.

Coming back to your situation, the best I can advise is to buy tickets before the strike timetable is published - you can always obtain a full refund afterwards if you decide you don't want to travel (as there is "do not travel" advice from most operators). You can be reasonably certain that the level of service you see on Thursday and Saturday will be the same level of service you'll see on future strike dates, in any event.

So it turned out there was an easement on GWR for all peak time restrictions today, according to the woman helping out at Paddington. Of course this wasn't communicated anywhere; the boards said NO SUPER OFF PEAK TICKETS, wasn't on the website, etc.

In the end noone actually checked my ticket (I was asking her about something else and asked in passing).

Terrible comms. I saw at least one person who had an anytime single waiting for the train.