Anytime Day Return vs Off Peak Day Return

[GaryMcEwan]

I'm curious as to who was right when I bought my ticket on Friday morning.

I always get the 0654 train from Bridgeton to Glasgow Central, then from Queen Street to Croy. It's always an Anytime Day Return and with my disabled railcard it only costs £4.60.

On Friday the person at Bridgeton sold me an Off Day Peak Day Return which was £3.10 and asked if that was right as it was usually £4.60 and he said it was fine. There was no guard on the first leg, but the guard from Queen Street to Croy said that I had the wrong ticket as the 0730 train from Queen Street to Croy was a peak service.

Once I explained that the person who sold me it said the ticket was fine, the guard mentioned that the ticket was indeed incorrect, but he would let it slide.

Who was actually in the right here?

 

[najaB]

Who was actually in the right here?

According to BR Fares, the guard was:

Not valid on trains timed to depart after 04:29 and before 09:00

 

[miami]

In the bottom right hand corner of your ticket there's probably a 2 letter code - "H9". This refers to the restrictions on the ticket, and it's available at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/H9

As najaB says, it's a nice simple "Not valid on trains timed to depart after 04:29 and before 09:00" restriction.

Don't worry that you didn't realise this, many on the railway have no idea either.

I believe the guard could have charged you £1.50 to upgrade the ticket to an anytime day return.

If you have an ‘off-peak’ or ‘super off-peak’ Ticket, correctly dated but invalid for
the service on which you are travelling; ... you will be charged the difference between the fare that you have paid and the lowest price Ticket that is valid for the train you are using.

However you'd certainly have had a case if that's what you were sold at 6:50 AM.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

No H9 code on the tickets, the only thing it had was a capital D most likely to say that it was a disabled railcard.

I'm not even making a fuss of it to be honest, I was just curious to see what was what really.

 

[najaB]

No H9 code on the tickets, the only thing it had was a capital D most likely to say that it was a disabled railcard.

If it was a new format ticket it would say something like "This ticket can only be used at certain times..." and then a URL to the restriction text on NRE.

 

[crehld]

Once I explained that the person who sold me it said the ticket was fine, the guard mentioned that the ticket was indeed incorrect, but he would let it slide.

Who was actually in the right here?

Unfortunately it's quite common to get incorrect advice from staff, who should be equipped with the knowledge, or at least the means to attain that knowledge, to know what the various restrictions are when selling tickets. A baffling and diverse range of different restrictions for different tickets doesn't help of course! It's really nice that after you were given permission to travel by a member of staff the guard honoured that. A professional and customer focused response!

At least you know for future.
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If it was a new format ticket it would say something like "This ticket can only be used at certain times..." and then a URL to the restriction text on NRE.

Of course I wouldn't be surprised if such a message was omitted, given the industry's inability to consistently apply a simple 'standard' design!

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Could the software behind the ticketing system be tweaked so that for a given journey, if it's a off peak ticket that it prints on the ticket the peak times during which it's not valid?

 

[SickyNicky]

Could the software behind the ticketing system be tweaked so that for a given journey, if it's a off peak ticket that it prints on the ticket the peak times during which it's not valid?

Many tickets have a whole load of differing restrictions, depending on which routes you take. For example, this. How would you display all of that, including the subsiduary restrictions on a ticket?

Edit: and oh yes, the electronic restrictions don't match the textual ones anyway, so booking engines will issue this ticket for times that the text says it's not valid.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Unfortunately it's quite common to get incorrect advice from staff, who should be equipped with the knowledge, or at least the means to attain that knowledge, to know what the various restrictions are when selling tickets. A baffling and diverse range of different restrictions for different tickets doesn't help of course! It's really nice that after you were given permission to travel by a member of staff the guard honoured that. A professional and customer focused response!

At least you know for future.
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Of course I wouldn't be surprised if such a message was omitted, given the industry's inability to consistently apply a simple 'standard' design!

Scotrail guards that I've ever come across a generally a good bunch and even though they aren't probably meant to, they turn a blind eye now and again.

They don't even ask to see my disabled railcard anymore...

 

[Chew Chew]

Scotrail guards that I've ever come across a generally a good bunch and even though they aren't probably meant to, they turn a blind eye now and again.

They don't even ask to see my disabled railcard anymore...

Yeah, reading some of the posts in this area of the forum from posters in England and Wales certainly makes Scotrail staff look decent, I've never had an issue on board, only in the station with station staff.

Once had a Scotrail guard let me travel from Dundee to Aberdeen on an East Coast only ticket. Never charged me anything.