Super Off-Peak restrictions on Bedworth to Euston (London Northwestern only)

[MKB]

I am looking at the rules of the Super Off-Peak Return from Bedworth (BEH) to Euston (valid on London Northwestern services only) costing £26.50.

I am struggling to reconcile the fare restrictions at brfares with what various booking engines are offering.

That linked page says:

Not valid for travel on services timed to depart the origin station on the ticket after 15:59 and before 19:01 in either direction.

A connecting service can be used to complete a journey begun at a valid time.

So, why do the booking engines seem to agree that the weekday services departing BEH at 15:21 (via Coventry) and 15:29 (via Nuneaton) are not permitted?

Similarly, why are Saturday returns departing Euston at 14:46 and 15:46 (via Nuneaton) not permitted?

If the answer is that the rules at brfares are inaccurate, is there an accurate source somewhere else?

I have also checked National Rail and that concurs with brfares, so I'm very confused.

 

[plugwash]

Because the railway invented a system of electronic restriction data that was inadequate to properly encode the information contained in the human-readable restriction text. This means that sometimes things are allowed by the human readable text are disallowed by the electronic restrictions and vice-versa.

The electronic restriction data does not differentiate between boarding a train at the start of the journey and changing trains on-route.

WMR could work around this by using different restriction codes for different origins, but it appears they have chosen not to.

 

[MKB]

So, am I ok to go by the written rules? Or does this risk a penalty fare?

 

[jfollows]

So, am I ok to go by the written rules? Or does this risk a penalty fare?

Two things:
Yes you'll be OK. Note that the fare restriction explicitly covers this by saying

A connecting service can be used to complete a journey begun at a valid time.

It's just that, as plugwash says, the booking engines can't cope with this.

Secondly, the risk is of an excess fare of the difference between the fare paid and the higher fare if you are travelling outside the validity time of an off-peak ticket rather than a penalty fare. Which you aren't anyway.

 

[MKB]

Ok thanks!

 

[Bletchleyite]

This issue has existed for about 15 years now and traincrew know about it. You will be fine.