Yeovil to Frome

[Westerndiesels]

Why is it £12.50 from Dorchester West to Frome but £14.50 from Yeovil pen mill to Frome.

Is it fraud to buy the ticket from Dorchester but only board the train where I live in Yeovil and save £2.

I needed this journey the other day before had to cancel.

Seems ridiculous.

Also waiting for the 17.42 train from Dorchester to Yeovil right now as the 15.42 is cancelled. Not so bad if trains are hourly but not really encouraging me out of my car. Let's hope the 17.42 is OK.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

£12.50 from Dorchester West to Frome is a (booked train only) Advance Single (GWR only) and you couldn't normally ever use it on SWR trains, for all or any part of the journey.

£14.50 from Yeovil Pen Mill to Frome is an Anytime Day Single. Valid on any train that day. Using GWR or SWR.

So, you're not really comparing like for like.

Starting short at Yeovil Pen Mill on an Advance Single in order to save money is generally frowned upon / not allowed.

 

[Westerndiesels]

Same train though, shorter distance, still confused

 

[Watershed]

It isn't inherently fraudulent to buy a ticket from one station and board the train at a later station, since you aren't making any sort of representation (let alone a false one) merely through the act of buying a ticket. However, 'starting late' is considered a form of break of journey, and Advance tickets don't allow break of journey.

You could argue that it's unfair that you can't buy the £12.50 fare from Yeovil, but - be that as it may - the National Rail Conditions of Travel do entitle the train company to charge you the difference ('excess') to the cheapest walk-up fare that permits break of journey, if you board at Yeovil with an Advance from Dorchester.

If there is a suggestion that you are deliberately avoiding payment of this excess (for example, by repeatedly boarding at Yeovil with Advances from Dorchester, and not always seeking out the guard to pay the excess), it could be alleged that you have committed an offence under section 5(3)(a) of the Regulation of Railways Act 1889. Obviously not a situation you want to get yourself into.