Rights when following peculiar itinerary

[_toommm_]

Hi folks,

There is the idea on here that if an itinerary is followed when using a ticket, it makes said ticket valid. But how would one go about applying that in the real world, in the face of confrontation?

I've found a crazy itinerary for a ticket, which under no circumstances should it be valid, and gives me a 300mile circuitous route for an otherwise 8ish mile journey. I'm obviously not going to post it on here, but I was wondering for some advice really if possible?

Thank you as always.

 

[wellhouse]

Print a hard copy of your itinerary, and present it should you be challenged on the validity of your ticket.

Since you're concerned about acceptance, it's advisable to use the services specified on that itinerary rather than follow that route on different services.

 

[furlong]

You may need to delve into what you are being offered a bit more deeply to understand whether or not you would have a valid contract.

If it should be obvious to you that it is a mistake, then don't assume that the contract would be enforceable - you might be travelling ticketless. But except in the case of the shortest route, the total distance to be travelled is not a factor that is considered when determining the validity of a particular route - whether it's 8 or 300 miles simply isn't relevant when applying the rules.

There are typically three types of cases - ones where the long journey is clearly a permitted route according to the routeing guide, ones where the long journey depends on accepting a particular interpretation of the routeing guide which might or might not be the correct one, and ones where it's clearly not a permitted route but there's a bug in some software or error in some data causing it to be offered to you when it shouldn't be.

The itinerary argument is roughly 'I asked about making this particular journey, was offered a price for it, accepted that price, so I have an enforceable contract to make this specific journey at this particular price.' That argument is weakened if you 'know' it's a mistake or you travel at a different time.

Another example might be the websites that will sell you a London Travelcard for 'all zones' - but then when you collect it you find it says on the ticket that it only covers zones 1-6 and not the other zones you thought the contract included.

 

[_toommm_]

You may need to delve into what you are being offered a bit more deeply to understand whether or not you would have a valid contract.

If it should be obvious to you that it is a mistake, then don't assume that the contract would be enforceable - you might be travelling ticketless. But except in the case of the shortest route, the total distance to be travelled is not a factor that is considered when determining the validity of a particular route - whether it's 8 or 300 miles simply isn't relevant when applying the rules.

There are typically three types of cases - ones where the long journey is clearly a permitted route according to the routeing guide, ones where the long journey depends on accepting a particular interpretation of the routeing guide which might or might not be the correct one, and ones where it's clearly not a permitted route but there's a bug in some software or error in some data causing it to be offered to you when it shouldn't be.

The itinerary argument is roughly 'I asked about making this particular journey, was offered a price for it, accepted that price, so I have an enforceable contract to make this specific journey at this particular price.' That argument is weakened if you 'know' it's a mistake or you travel at a different time.

Another example might be the websites that will sell you a London Travelcard for 'all zones' - but then when you collect it you find it says on the ticket that it only covers zones 1-6 and not the other zones you thought the contract included.

It's definitely the third option - it's a massive glitch which is taking me on potentially a hugely circuitous round trip. It obviously isn't valid normally though.

I'm happy to PM you specifics if it helps?