Peak Restrictions Relaxed at Paddington

[SickyNicky]

Today, I have an Off-Peak 1R ticket from Ledbury to London Terminals route Evesham. Normally the return portion of this ticket is not allowed on the 17:22 from Paddington. It's OK on the 18:22, and that's the train I was going to catch.

However, I arrived at Paddington just after 5pm so looked at the screens on the way to the lounge. To my surprise, they showed the attached picture.

Off Peaks (sic) Tickets are valid for Great Malvern and beyond

So I approached the guard who said no - only anytime tickets are valid. I drew his attention to the board and he still wanted to say no, but I persisted and he said OK, get on board.

Anyway, a couple of minutes later, after he had presumably checked for himself, he announced over the tannoy that Off-Peaks were indeed valid for destinations beyond Malvern.

It seems that there is an unofficial easement allowing off-peak tickets to beyond Malvern to be used on the 17:22 because of the Severn Tunnel blockade. I don't think it's in the fares data, though.

Might be useful for someone, anyway.

 

[Gareth Marston]

Today, I have an Off-Peak 1R ticket from Ledbury to London Terminals route Evesham. Normally the return portion of this ticket is not allowed on the 17:22 from Paddington. It's OK on the 18:22, and that's the train I was going to catch.

However, I arrived at Paddington just after 5pm so looked at the screens on the way to the lounge. To my surprise, they showed the attached picture.

So I approached the guard who said no - only anytime tickets are valid. I drew his attention to the board and he still wanted to say no, but I persisted and he said OK, get on board.

Anyway, a couple of minutes later, after he had presumably checked for himself, he announced over the tannoy that Off-Peaks were indeed valid for destinations beyond Malvern.

It seems that there is an unofficial easement allowing off-peak tickets to beyond Malvern to be used on the 17:22 because of the Severn Tunnel blockade. I don't think it's in the fares data, though.

Might be useful for someone, anyway.

There's a whole raft of easements because of the Severn a Tunnel works some vary from day to day, quite complex in retail briefs sent out.

 

[bnm]

Leaving from an unbarriered platform was a bonus as well.

Paddington's notorious gateline muppets staff would most likely have told you the screens were wrong and refused to let you through. By the time they'd acknowledged the screens were right the train would have departed.