1968 Cheapest Rail Fare act?

[sheff1]

I wonder if he appeared on our Disputes & Prosecutions section when he was training?

Indeed. Judging by the large number of fare evading trainee lawyers coming on here it would appear that being dishonest is a key requirement of the profession.

 

[RJ]

I tried to but he's a lawyer and was talking down to me.

You're well within your rights to tell him to move from your window. Do you think he'd allow someone to come into his place of work and talk down to him?

 

[broadgage]

Did he also mention the Carriage of Spaghetti Trees by Railway Act 1957?

Spaghetti trees, if of reasonable size and within the weight limits for luggage may be carried by passengers as luggage.
They must however be fully enclosed in order to prevent any seeds escaping and potentially germinating on railway property, since wild spaghetti trees are very destructive to railway infrastructure.

As any fule knoweth.

 

[tspaul26]

I work in a ticket office for a TOC.
I just wondered if anyone knew of such an act? I was quoted this by a passenger today when enquiring about split tickets saying its my responsibilty to find the cheapest fare using split tickets. I havent been told this by my employer, but he quoted something about this 1968 act?
many thanks.

I have just read through every Act of Parliament granted Royal Assent in 1968 and have found nothing remotely like the 'rule' alleged.

The closest matter relates to various offences of obtaining pecuniary advantage and so forth, but I don't think these would cover railway ticketing and they have in any event now been repealed.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Impartial retailing rules require a Ticket Seller to offer the most appropriate through fare for the journey described by the purchaser. The only time split tickets should be offered is where no through fare exists.

This is enshrined in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

I don't see anything in the Ticketing & Settlement Agreement which mandates that.

My reading is that retailers are at liberty to sell and offer split tickets if they see fit, though there is no obligation on them to do so, and yes, the retailer must offer the unsplit fare. If ticket office staff were to say "The standard fare is £50, but I can do it for you for £30 by issuing one ticket from here to B, and then another from B to C", that doesn't seem to contradict the T&SA (though it may, of course, be against TOCs' own rules for their employees).

But I may have missed something. What bit of it gives you the impression that split tickets should only be offered if there's no unsplit fare available?

(I'm using the phrase "unsplit fare" because a "through fare" as defined in the T&SA expressly includes split tickets.)

 

[bb21]

My reading is that retailers are at liberty to sell and offer split tickets if they see fit, though there is no obligation on them to do so, and yes, the retailer must offer the unsplit fare.

Ticket office staff are not supposed to actively offer split tickets, as that risks undermining the impartial retailing principle, but common sense says disciplinary actions against such behaviour may not go down well.

 

[paul1609]

I reckon he's referring to the Trade descriptions Act 1968 on the basis that if he asks for the cheapest ticket(s) between x and y and you sell him something that is more expensive you are fraudulently misrepresenting the product. I am sure there are posters more learned than myself to explain the basis on which this fails.

 

[tspaul26]

I reckon he's referring to the Trade descriptions Act 1968 on the basis that if he asks for the cheapest ticket(s) between x and y and you sell him something that is more expensive you are fraudulently misrepresenting the product. I am sure there are posters more learned than myself to explain the basis on which this fails.

Trade descriptions apply only to goods and the provisions in the Act relating to false statements have been repealed, so neither will be of assistance to our passenger.

I wouldn't be surprised if the whole alleged Act was simply made up by this person: I have encountered such behaviour before.

 

[sheff1]

Ticket office staff are not supposed to actively offer split tickets, as that risks undermining the impartial retailing principle, but common sense says disciplinary actions against such behaviour may not go down well.

I am sure I read somewhere that Scotrail ticket offices were supposed to offer, as a matter of course, split tickets for internal Scottish journeys when such splits offer a saving over the through fare.

 

[bb21]

I am sure I read somewhere that Scotrail ticket offices were supposed to offer, as a matter of course, split tickets for internal Scottish journeys when such splits offer a saving over the through fare.

I don't know if that is a trial in Scotland but the general rules remain as such. You may be right seeing that inter-operator competition is low but that remains local policy. There was a massive drive a couple of years ago to eliminate split opportunities for internal journeys. How successful that was I cannot say.

Given the publicity splits are getting at the moment, I won't be surprised if things change somewhat in the next few years starting with the trials coming in with booking engines, etc, but I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[najaB]

I am sure I read somewhere that Scotrail ticket offices were supposed to offer, as a matter of course, split tickets for internal Scottish journeys when such splits offer a saving over the through fare.

Not 'were supposed to', more a case of 'told they are allowed to'. I am sometimes offered Perth/Leuchars splits when travelling to Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively but not always - depends on who is working.