Hello, yesterday I got an off-peak day return from Chelford Cheshire to Manchester Piccadilly with a young persons railcard Upon returning at Manchester I went to the desk and asked for my return from Manchester to Chelford be upgraded to go to Crewe instead. I paid £1 something and got the new ticket to go with my current ticket. I then got a train to Crewe that did not call at Chelford (I was not advised whether or not I needed to?) anyway no issues.
The fare did not require the train to call anywhere.
You are lucky you found a booking clerk who was able to issue it, though.
Then today I ended up doing the same thing (I didn’t think I was going to need to but I did due to my partner). Again I went to the desk. This time the lady said I would be buying a ticket from Chelford to Crewe and would need to get on a train that stops in Chelford. I said I wanted to get a faster train so that wouldn’t work so I ended up buying an £8 something ticket from Manchester to Crewe with a young persons railcard.
What train did you get? In a worst case scenario, if the staff were unable to issue the excess, I would expect the train to call at Wilmslow, so a Wilmslow to Crewe Single would suffice.
Please can you advise which day I paid correctly and got the correct ticket.
Thanks
The first occasion was correct in my opinion. The second occasion was incorrect, but not all staff & machines can issue the excess, and there is no contractual entitlement in the NRCoT for the excess to be issued. But you should not have paid more than £5.30, which is the price of either an ATW Only or Virgin WestCoast Only single. Whose idea was it to purchase a ticket all the way from Manchester?
Another matter (off-topic here) that provokes discussion is whether the journey must then pass through the original destination.For example, if a London to Banbury ticket is excessed to Birmingham would the new journey then be permitted to use the WCML.
It does not need to.
The T&Cs applicable to the fare you excess
to, are those which apply:-
Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA) said:
Excess Fare means a variation in the Rights and Restrictions applicable to a Fare which has the impact of converting that Fare into another Fare
The rail industry can give the customer more favourable terms than those stipulated in the Ticketing & Settlement Agreement, but they cannot give less favourable terms.
In my experience its incredibly hard to buy an over distance excess from a ticket office or guard, I tried the other day whilst on my journey (ticket office where I first boarded, ticket office at interchange, guard on train 2, and then guard on train 3)
Many people find it difficult to purchase these, but you tend to have more chance with a Guard than at a ticket office.
I’ve asked Virgin on Twitter (they were the desk I went to) and they said I would need to buy a new single from Manchester - Crewe or buy a single from Chelford to Crewe and get a train that stops at Chelford.
Virgin Trains twitter are
not knowledgeable regarding fares matters. It is
ludicrous to say you'd need a new ticket all the way from Manchester to Crewe. But such an answer is in line with my expectations of them; I am
not at all surprised.