Validity of Cheshire Day Ranger

[Green Lane]

Hi all,

I've just had an excellent day today, travelling around on a "Cheshire Day Ranger".

This morning though, I boarded the 08:52 EMT service from Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich. (I travelled as far as Stockport on that service).

The guard, on checking my day ranger ticket told me that "it's not really valid until 09:30".

I said that I thought it was valid from 08:45 on weekdays, as it does say "Available from 0845 Mon-Fri" on the NR website and I had a printout of that webpage. She accepted this, so it was no problem for me. Although it does not precisely say "valid from 0845" on that page, rather it is worded as "available from 0845" which could possibly be ambiguous.

So, can anyone here confirm if the Cheshire Day Ranger is actually valid from 08:45 on weekdays, or is it 09:30? It's just that I might want to use one again, and I'd like to be 100% sure that the 08:45 start time is correct. If it is actually 09:30, then in the future I would start out after that time (or just get one on a Saturday).

Thanks very much for any replies!

 

[tamesidedepot]

I said that I thought it was valid from 08:45 on weekdays, is it does say "Available from 0845 Mon-Fri" on the NR website and I had a printout of that webpage. She accepted this, so it was no problem for me. Although it does not precisely say "valid from 0845" on that page, rather it is worded as "available from 0845" which could possibly be ambiguous.

So, can anyone here confirm if the Cheshire Day Ranger is actually valid from 08:45 on weekdays, or is it 09:30? It's just that I might want to use one again, and I'd like to be 100% sure that the 08:45 start time is correct. If it is actually 09:30, then in the future I would start out after that time (or just get one on a Saturday).

Thanks very much for any replies!

from the Northern leaflet I picked up at Stockport over the weekend:

'The Cheshire Day Ranger, Lancashire Day Ranger, North West Round Robin and South Pennines Day Ranger are not available for travel on trains timed to depart before 0845 Mondays to Fridays but are valid at any time during weekends and Bank Holidays.'

I tend to carry the printed publicity with me when using tickets like this - just in case.

hope this helps

 

[323235]

I have just checked the exact wording and according to National Rail and Northern Rail website it's valid after 0845, so 0846 is the first such train you could catch.

However having just wrote that the above poster has just highlighted that on leaflets the wording differs in the exact time you can use it with that allowing you to catch a train at 0845. So no really consensus although the most favourable to the passenger would be that it was valid on a train at 0845.

I know for a fact 0930 doesn't come into the validity of a Cheshire Day Ranger so the guard was obviously not aware of the exact restrictions.

 

[Chapeltom]

Hi all,

I've just had an excellent day today, travelling around on a "Cheshire Day Ranger".

This morning though, I boarded the 08:52 EMT service from Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich. (I travelled as far as Stockport on that service).

The guard, on checking my day ranger ticket told me that "it's not really valid until 09:30".

I said that I thought it was valid from 08:45 on weekdays, is it does say "Available from 0845 Mon-Fri" on the NR website and I had a printout of that webpage. She accepted this, so it was no problem for me. Although it does not precisely say "valid from 0845" on that page, rather it is worded as "available from 0845" which could possibly be ambiguous.

So, can anyone here confirm if the Cheshire Day Ranger is actually valid from 08:45 on weekdays, or is it 09:30? It's just that I might want to use one again, and I'd like to be 100% sure that the 08:45 start time is correct. If it is actually 09:30, then in the future I would start out after that time (or just get one on a Saturday).

Thanks very much for any replies!

That might be a Nottingham crew running it, which may explain it.

And I'm definitely sure its a 0845 start!

 

[Green Lane]

Thank you very much for the quick reply. That appears to confirm that it's valid starting at 08:45 then. I should have picked up one of those printed leaflets today! I will get one from Lime Street or somewhere, next time I am there.

That is worded a bit more clearly than the printed copy of the page I have. Cheers.

EDIT: Thanks all for the replies, that clears things up for me!

Also, I have a second question. Is it possible just to purchase this ticket before 08:45 on weekdays? For example could I buy it at around 08:35, if I then wanted to go into a shop or to the toilets or something and then board a train ten minutes later (i.e. a train that definitely leaves after 08:45). Or, can this only be sold on or after 08:45 on weekdays?

Today, I bought my ticket exactly at 08:45 on the dot, but it might have been more prudent for me to buy it a few minutes earlier. It would have given me a bit more time before boarding the 08:52. Thanks again!

 

[323235]

That might be a Nottingham crew running it, which may explain it.

And I'm definitely sure its a 0845 start!

That depends on where you look as I have just highlighted above.

You should have no problem buying it at 0835, they should just advise you that it isn't valid til 0845 or 0846, assuming there are trains departing between 0835 and 0845 from the station where your buying.

It is definitely 100% valid on the 0852 EMT from Liverpool whatever day you catch it.

 

[185]

Nottingham crews on all of those nowadays I think.

Definately 0845.

 

[dave87016]

Slightly off topic but I bought a South Pennines Day Ranger on a weekday, wanted to board the 08:45am Man Picc - Sheffield but the G4S Barrier guy refused untill the train had just set off, emailed a complaint and got Unlimited Northern travel voucher for a full day

 

[Chapeltom]

The G4S barriers at Piccadilly really could have a book written about them! It doesn't for one minute surprise me. However, I presume you got the 0920 TPE off Picc to Sheffield, arriving about 4 minutes after? Cos the 0845 arrives in at 1007 I think, the TPE at 1011.

 

[glenbogle]

Slightly off topic but I bought a South Pennines Day Ranger on a weekday, wanted to board the 08:45am Man Picc - Sheffield but the G4S Barrier guy refused untill the train had just set off, emailed a complaint and got Unlimited Northern travel voucher for a full day

What do G4s know about tickets ? Do they go to a railway training school or get induction training?

Also what right does a person not in a railway or police uniform have to ask anyone for a ticket ?

Do these guys work in Tesco one day then at a station the next ? - Bonkers.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

What do G4s know about tickets?

They are credit card sized slips of a paper/card product with orange coloured sections at the top and bottom and a date, origin and destination printed on them. Atleast one of those details is wrong though. [Okay, I admit I am joking with this whole paragraph......they know far less than that]

Do they go to a railway training school or get induction training?

They *should* get training, but even if they get training, it doesn't mean they will take any notice of it.

Also what right does a person not in a railway or police uniform have to ask anyone for a ticket?

If they are an agent of the railway they have powers under the railway byelaws to act on behalf of the railway within the role or duties they have been contracted to perform.

Do these guys work in Tesco one day then at a station the next ? - Bonkers.

Probably not, as training costs money.

 

[323235]

Slightly off topic but I bought a South Pennines Day Ranger on a weekday, wanted to board the 08:45am Man Picc - Sheffield but the G4S Barrier guy refused untill the train had just set off, emailed a complaint and got Unlimited Northern travel voucher for a full day

To be fair on this occasion it might not be the G4S guys fault depending on what the full conversation was as National Rail and Northern website just like the Cheshire Day Ranger list it as being valid "After 0845" therefore if you were going off that interpretation then it wouldn't be valid on the 0845 to Sheffield.

 

[redthunder]

Slightly off topic but I bought a South Pennines Day Ranger on a weekday, wanted to board the 08:45am Man Picc - Sheffield but the G4S Barrier guy refused untill the train had just set off, emailed a complaint and got Unlimited Northern travel voucher for a full day

I havent really had any problems with any barrier staff round Piccadilly, but I regularly use the 4 in 8 coast & peaks rover (and sometimes the South Pennines or Lancashire, dont tend to get the Cheshire one as all of that is covered by the coast & peaks ticket) , but if you ever have problems with one member of staff with lack of training etc, try a different ticket checker elsewhere on the station, they probably may know better than the other person!!!! There is always more than one way to get to each platform at Manchester Piccadilly station!!!!!

 

[headshot119]

G4S and rover / ranger tickets is asking for trouble. I had a rather ciruclar conversation with one of them at Wigan Wallgate claiming my Coast and Peaks wasn't valid, "it's only valid from North Western mate."

Later that day I emailed a letter to Northern, received an apology, and a RTV for my troubles.

 

[Green Lane]

That depends on where you look as I have just highlighted above.

You should have no problem buying it at 0835, they should just advise you that it isn't valid til 0845 or 0846, assuming there are trains departing between 0835 and 0845 from the station where your buying.

It is definitely 100% valid on the 0852 EMT from Liverpool whatever day you catch it.

Thanks very much for the reply! I would have liked to reply sooner, but have been very busy over the last couple of days. Also, thanks for confirming that the ticket was valid on the 0852 that I travelled on.

Also, I'm glad the ticket can be bought earlier in the morning, it is certainly quite convenient to be able to that. Just by sheer coincidence, my ticket was printed at precisely 0845, and it did take the clerk a bit of time and much seemingly repetitive keyboard typing before he could get the machine to issue the ticket. I had a feeling that perhaps it hadn't become available until 0845, but perhaps as this is a slightly obscure ticket that's not asked for every day, it might have simply taken a while just to locate it on the system?

In any case, I'm happy to assume 0846 is the earliest train you can get. I understand that might be an issue for some people though. In my particular case, as I already hold an annual Merseytravel zones B1/C1 season ticket, I can if need be do part of the journey on that ticket before the start of the ranger's validity, so as I set out in the morning I can sort of work around that restriction. (e.g. I travelled from Birkenhead to Liverpool before 0845 on Monday). But I understand that not everyone might have such an option available. I'm just glad that this thread has confirmed that the start time is at least 0845/0846 which for me personally makes this ticket much more worthwhile than if it was 0930.

Also, I was sorry to read about the problems other passengers here have experienced whilst trying to use their day ranger tickets. I am glad to read though that at least suitable recompense was offered.

On Wednesday, at Lime Street I did pick up the official Northern Rail promotional leaflets where indeed it does say "not available for travel on trains timed to depart before 0845 Monday to Friday", exactly as mentioned by forum member tamesidedepot. As others have stated, this does conflict with other info on the web, but if you have this leaflet in hand when travelling on one of these tickets, then it can only be to your advantage. I will certainly do this from now on.

I have one final question:- Can these ranger tickets be ordered over the Internet from a TOC website, for collection from a TOD machine?

Thanks all!

 

[noddy1878]

It would be good if you could order these tickets over the web and then just pick them up but as far as i know you can't. Only Southern Daysaves can be ordered over the net (in fact they have to be done that way!)

Also I have never had an issue with G4S at Piccadilly because they don't seem to know what they're looking at when I go through.

 

[Green Lane]

It would be good if you could order these tickets over the web and then just pick them up but as far as i know you can't. Only Southern Daysaves can be ordered over the net (in fact they have to be done that way!)

Also I have never had an issue with G4S at Piccadilly because they don't seem to know what they're looking at when I go through.

Thanks for the information. Yes, it would be good and really very convenient if these day ranger tickets were available that way. I didn't think they would be, as I could not find them myself after a brief search, but I thought I'd check on here just in case I was wrong. Cheers!

 

[Rover]

I did some research regarding the purchase of rovers and rangers for my website www.railrover.org and found the following:

As mentioned Daysaves can only be bought online.
The only others that can be bought online are the three Scottish ones - FOS, Central Scotland and Highland Rovers which you can buy from the Scotrail website and they post them to you.

Also the Strathclyde Daytripper can be bought via the SPT website, again they post them to you (for a fee).

The FGW and SWT websites state that you can buy rovers and rangers applicable to their areas over the phone.

I haven't tried any of them personally but would be interested to know if anyone has and if they had any problems.

cheers,
Kev