Restriction code FO

[Nicholas43]

1. For a journey from Radley, eg to London Terminals, with a one month off-peak (SVR) return, restriction code FO, is the contractual outward restriction
(a) depart after 0835, as it says in the published restrictions; or
(b) depart after 0859, as it says in the unpublished restrictions, which retailers in practice seem to follow?
2. Is there any point in complaining (and if yes, who to) that the afternoon restriction for the return portion, if used to depart from Paddington, is the utterly vague "+PM" ?

 

[Starmill]

It is whatever it says at www.nre.co.uk/FO.

This means that in the case of Radley, it is that the ticket is not valid by any train timed to depart from 0430 until after 0835.

Note the nice helpful text at the bottom:

Seasonal variations
Time restrictions on GWR set fares will be lifted from XX until XX January inclusive.

 

[kieron]

1. For a journey from Radley, eg to London Terminals, with a one month off-peak (SVR) return, restriction code FO, is the contractual outward restriction
(a) depart after 0835, as it says in the published restrictions; or
(b) depart after 0859, as it says in the unpublished restrictions, which retailers in practice seem to follow?

It has a "depart after 8:35" restriction, although you still need to obey the other restrictions. If I just search for Radley to London* times, catching the 8:41 from Radley would lead to me arriving at 9:39, where the restriction text bars anything which arrives before 9:52.

The 8:43 to Oxford should be fine, as should catching a train into London Waterloo. In general, I think you can defend your position if you obey the restrictions on nre.co.uk, or if you have an itinerary which backs up the way you have used the ticket.

* You may need to delete any nationalrail.co.uk cookies you have for this link to open correctly.

 

[philthetube]

you would have thought that a decision would have been taken to avoid an FO code in any case.

 

[Nicholas43]

It has a "depart after 8:35" restriction, although you still need to obey the other restrictions. If I just search for Radley to London times, catching the 8:41 from Radley would lead to me arriving at 9:39, where the restriction text bars anything which arrives before 9:52.
The 8:43 to Oxford should be fine, as should catching a train into London Waterloo. ...

Thanks. But NRE does not offer (to me) a return price for the 0843 departure travelling via Oxford, even though it arrives at Paddington after 0952. Or for arrivals at Paddington well after 0952, departing 0841 or 0843, if I stipulate increased time to change trains. Or for Radley depart 0841, extra time to change at Reading, Waterloo arrive 1134.

 

[Nicholas43]

you would have thought that a decision would have been taken to avoid an FO code in any case.

Er, can you elaborate? Is FO well-known in informed circles as an incoherent mess?

 

[Mathew S]

Er, can you elaborate? Is FO well-known in informed circles as an incoherent mess?

I imagine it's more that there are other short, blunt, anglo-saxon words it might stand for...

 

[kieron]

Thanks. But NRE does not offer (to me) a return price for the 0843 departure travelling via Oxford, even though it arrives at Paddington after 0952.

Sorry, I wasn't disputing this. I was just saying that the printed rule is a bit more complicated than "leave after 8:35", even if you know you're using a Radley-London ticket.

I've had a bit of a look into the machine-readable version of the FO restriction. Before 8/9/2019, the restriction from Radley in the electronic data was 8:35 in both directions. The restriction didn't match the restriction text then (I've only checked the outward restrictions, but there is no restriction for Islip, or any for "other stations"), but it was fairly close.

It changed then, and the machine-readable restriction now appears to be designed to change with each new timetable. For Radley, off peak starts at 9:00 between 15/12 and 2/5, and 8:36 the rest of the year. There's no return restriction for Radley.

There are quite a few other bits of the restriction which change like this, but neither version matches the text on NRE.

 

[Belperpete]

It changed then, and the machine-readable restriction now appears to be designed to change with each new timetable. For Radley, off peak starts at 9:00 between 15/12 and 2/5, and 8:36 the rest of the year. There's no return restriction for Radley. There are quite a few other bits of the restriction which change like this, but neither version matches the text on NRE.

So, if I bought a ticket on say 10/12, for travel on 15/12, which version of the restriction would apply?

 

[Nicholas43]

...the machine-readable restriction now appears to be designed to change with each new timetable. For Radley, off peak starts at 9:00 between 15/12 and 2/5, and 8:36 the rest of the year. There's no return restriction for Radley.

Thanks. But I would hope that the contractual restriction must be the one published on NRE?

 

[kieron]

So, if I bought a ticket on say 10/12, for travel on 15/12, which version of the restriction would apply?

The version for 15/12. If you look at a restriction (such as 1A) which gives the dates in the text, it's pretty clear how it's supposed to work.

Thanks. But I would hope that the contractual restriction must be the one published on NRE?

I know the general principle is that you have a contract based on whatever you were told at the time you agreed it. don't, personally, know if there's anything which directs you to the NRE version.

The retailer doesn't always explain the off peak restrictions (I know of one web site which just says things like "Your return train tickets are also valid on all* off-peak trains on <date>"), and the ticket may not have a "restriction code" URL printed on it, even if you manage to see the ticket before the sale is concluded.

 

[Nicholas43]

Thanks. In practice, orange tickets, and electronic tickets from Trainline or trainsplit, do include the nre FO web address.