Birmingham - Grantham on board ticket advice - travelling now

[dvboy]

I am going to Grantham and I'm currently travelling on the 1703 XC without a ticket because there was no-one selling at bhm (vic sq entrance) and I would have missed it had I gone to the main concourse. It is full and standing because it is a substitute set following an earlier problem. Should I battle my way through to find the train manager or wait until he attempts a ticket check, and if he doesn't should I buy my ticket at Derby?

 

[Yew]

Try and find the Guard/TM, explain the circumstances, and he wil leither sell you a ticket, or suggest you buy at derby (unlikely). Going to him Gives a better impression than waiting for him to come to you, as it shows you arent chancing it.

 

[dvboy]

i was in coach f and he hadnt appeared by Burton so I went to the retail manager at the back who called him through from coach a to sell me one.

Apparently someone a couple of weeks ago had done the same but waited until Derby who stung him with a penalty fare.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

i was in coach f and he hadnt appeared by Burton so I went to the retail manager at the back who called him through from coach a to sell me one.

Apparently someone a couple of weeks ago had done the same but waited until Derby who stung him with a penalty fare.

You couldn't be penalty fared if you'd been travelling on a XC service surely? The penalty fares there should apply to EMT services only.

 

[222007]

(vic sq entrance) and I would have missed it had I gone to the main concourse

No excuse im afraid the booking office was open!

 

[embers25]

So when you go to a station with multiple entrances you are expected to explore every possible entrance to make sure they are all closed? Surely they should at least put a sign up telling you where to go and if that's not up then you can assume closed, particularly given the VERY long distance between entrances at New Street which if you were elderly with luggage for example could take a very long time to walk. Also you'd have to explain why you had no ticket at the barriers before the ticket office and I'm not convinced they would believe you based on past experience there.

 

[dvboy]

at 5pm on a friday i would have expected vic sq to be in full barriers mode and be able to buy a ticket there. having to walk to the main concourse, verbally fight with the barrier staff and buy my ticket i would have missed my train

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Show the staff on the gateline your bank card, they wouldn't notice the difference!

 

[island]

XC doesn't have a penalty fares scheme, although one could be charged an Anytime fare.

 

[dvboy]

Show the staff on the gateline your bank card, they wouldn't notice the difference!

This is true!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

XC doesn't have a penalty fares scheme, although one could be charged an Anytime fare.

I know this, and I don't know how true the retail manager's story was, or how the staff at Derby, which is an EMT run station, would know that you were travelling on XC if you tried to buy a ticket there they would probably argue that if you came from Birmingham you would have gone through barriers. I don't know really.


As it happens the train manager on the XC service was very helpful (I think his name was Matt, quite a big guy).

 

[island]

It's an interesting question. The Penalty Fares Rules have quite a lot to say about charging Penalty Fares or running Compulsory Ticket Areas at stations where some TOCs that call do not operate a Penalty Fares Scheme.