Buying a Priv rate ticket after hours

[L401CJF]

I was faced with a situation late last night which got me thinking. I'd like some opinions from all of you, as to what you would have done.

The Mrs and myself were supposed to stay over in Manchester last night. A last minute change of plan meant we needed to get back home. A quick check found the 2340ish Northern service from Piccadilly to Chester so decided to go for that. We had travelled up via TfW using our TOC passes. There was also an 0030 ish to Chester operated by TfW so we could have caught it for free, but didn't fancy hanging around over an hour.

Long story short, we settled on the Northern service so went to buy some tickets. The ticket office at Piccadilly was closed, meaning we couldn't buy discounted tickets.

As it happened I suddenly remembered the RST online site which I have registered for but never used and bought some priv rate E tickets on there (after a bit of arguing with it as it wouldn't let me buy both together so had to do them separately).

I know plenty of staff will ask the guard for a lift for free with their TOC cards - I don't like doing this on other TOCs as I don't fancy the consequences of asking the "wrong" guard.

I could have asked to buy from the guard before boarding I suppose, but again if they said no for whatever reason that doesn't leave me any better off!

And the final option would be to just cough up and buy a full price ticket from a TVM, but I'm tight so I'd rather wait for the 0030!

It's a bit of a non-story really, as the guard was friendly (and checking tickets!) and I am sure he would have sold me one - but we all know there are certain staff out there who arnt so forgiving.

So what would you do in the same situation?

As a side note, you would have thought a major station such as Piccadilly would have at least one ticket window open at night!

 

[Watershed]

I was faced with a situation late last night which got me thinking. I'd like some opinions from all of you, as to what you would have done.

The Mrs and myself were supposed to stay over in Manchester last night. A last minute change of plan meant we needed to get back home. A quick check found the 2340ish Northern service from Piccadilly to Chester so decided to go for that. We had travelled up via TfW using our TOC passes. There was also an 0030 ish to Chester operated by TfW so we could have caught it for free, but didn't fancy hanging around over an hour.

Long story short, we settled on the Northern service so went to buy some tickets. The ticket office at Piccadilly was closed, meaning we couldn't buy discounted tickets.

As it happened I suddenly remembered the RST online site which I have registered for but never used and bought some priv rate E tickets on there (after a bit of arguing with it as it wouldn't let me buy both together so had to do them separately).

I know plenty of staff will ask the guard for a lift for free with their TOC cards - I don't like doing this on other TOCs as I don't fancy the consequences of asking the "wrong" guard.

I could have asked to buy from the guard before boarding I suppose, but again if they said no for whatever reason that doesn't leave me any better off!

And the final option would be to just cough up and buy a full price ticket from a TVM, but I'm tight so I'd rather wait for the 0030!

It's a bit of a non-story really, as the guard was friendly (and checking tickets!) and I am sure he would have sold me one - but we all know there are certain staff out there who arnt so forgiving.

So what would you do in the same situation?

As a side note, you would have thought a major station such as Piccadilly would have at least one ticket window open at night!

If the ticket office is shut, the RSTL instructions permit you to buy on board. The only proviso is that if you're travelling on a Penalty Fares service, you should obtain a Permit to Travel or Promise to Pay Notice if one is available.

There are two Northern TVMs at Piccadilly - one next to the Avanti TVMs to the left of the ticket office, and another on the footbridge leading to platforms 13/14. I don't know whether either would have been able to issue you a PtPN, as the functionality may have been disabled.

But provided you tried to obtain a PtPN, you could quite legitimately have bought your ticket onboard. In practice I think we all know that 99% of guards wouldn't have charged you even if they'd gone through - but you would have been doing nothing wrong either way.

 

[Mojo]

There is no obligation to buy your tickets online (and indeed some employers (ex-employers in the case of retired staff) do not yet have access to this website). If the ticket office is closed and the TVMs unable to sell you a ticket with a valid method of payment, then you can simply just board the train and buy the discounted ticket when a guard or Inspector comes round, or at your destination if available.

 

[skyhigh]

So what would you do in the same situation?

Ask the guard.

 

[Haywain]

after a bit of arguing with it as it wouldn't let me buy both together so had to do them separately

It’s a bit clunky but you have to select 2 adults and then select 2 adults under railcards.

 

[class68fan]

There is no obligation to buy your tickets online (and indeed some employers (ex-employers in the case of retired staff) do not yet have access to this website). If the ticket office is closed and the TVMs unable to sell you a ticket with a valid method of payment, then you can simply just board the train and buy the discounted ticket when a guard or Inspector comes round, or at your destination if available.

The rules are that you must actively approach the guard/ticket inspector not wait for them to approach you. I don't have a smart phone, even if I did I would not purchase on-line.

 

[357]

So what would you do in the same situation?

Speak to the guard. Simple.

 

[Mojo]

The rules are that you must actively approach the guard/ticket inspector not wait for them to approach you. I don't have a smart phone, even if I did I would not purchase on-line.

The Terms and Conditions say "If there is no open Ticket Office or staff available to sell Staff Discounted (priv) rate tickets, and the cardholder is not travelling in a penalty fare area, then they must purchase priv rate tickets at the first available opportunity on board (or at an interim or destination station). The cardholder must actively offer to pay for their travel at the first available opportunity." It does not require you to seek out the staff on board the train.

 

[skyhigh]

The rules are that you must actively approach the guard/ticket inspector not wait for them to approach you. I don't have a smart phone, even if I did I would not purchase on-line.

Where are those rules written?

 

[class68fan]

Where are those rules written?

The text on the RSTL site has changed again.(just checked) It used to say (or words to that effect) that you should seek out the guard/ticket inspector to ensure that it could not be seen that you were trying to avoid paying for the journey.