Anytime Return not available for London Victoria - Brighton

[Optimo]

Wondering what I'm doing wrong when trying to buy an Anytime Return from Victoria to Brighton.

Does such a ticket exist when I can depart Victoria at eg 3pm on a weekday, and return at peak on a weekday? I asked for an anytime return at the counter and was provided with an off peak return. I told the ticket seller that I'd like a return ticket that I could come back at peak on, and he just shook his head and said I could only use it after 9:30am.

Is the only option for passengers who want to travel out off peak and return at peak to purchase two singles at time of departure?

Thanks

 

[lemonic]

I don't think an Anytime Return (not Day Return) exists from London to Brighton. This is common in the south-east and you are indeed expected to buy two singles. I don't know why you were sold an Off Peak Return though.

 

[snail]

Does such a ticket exist when I can depart Victoria at eg 3pm on a weekday, and return at peak on a weekday?

No. You need two singles, unless someone can suggest a split that achieves the same thing. You shouldn't have been sold an off peak though, unless the return can be excessed to an Anytime Day Single (I don't know).

You can check all the available tickets at BRFares:
http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=VIC&dest=BTN&rlc=

 

[yorkie]

There is no Anytime Return (ticket code: SOR) so you should have been sold an Off Peak Day Single (CDS) at £24.10 plus an Anytime Day Single (SDS) at £24.60.

A Return should not be excessed into a Single, and both portions need to be excessed when you require a change of ticket type in order to travel at a restricted time, so the excess would probably be to 2 x SDS, which is more expensive in this case than if you had been sold the correct tickets in the first place.

My experience of most London area station ticket offices that mostly deal with suburban ticket requests is that they are not good when dealing with complex queries.

Alternatives include:

London - Gatwick SOR Southern Only £27.00 (Valid on all trains operated by Southern) or Any Permitted £33.20 (if you want flexibility of using trains operated by other operators, ie FCC)

plus

Gatwick - London SOR Any Permitted £18.20

This restricts you to trains calling at Gatwick though (unless you are using these tickets in combination with one Season for your journey).

Splitting elsewhere using singles would be cheaper, e.g. if you can change trains at East Croydon then using Oyster PAYG for the London <> East Croydon portions of the journey, and then use FCC for East Croydon <> Brighton on paper single tickets would probably be cheapest.

If you wanted one ticket that allowed almost the equivalent flexibility of a London-Brighton SOR, then a Swindon - Brighton Super Off Peak Return would do the job, however this is more expensive, priced at £56, than 2 x Singles. It's valid on any train between London & Brighton (Network Area rule).

 

[FenMan]

If you wanted one ticket that allowed almost the equivalent flexibility of a London-Brighton SOR, then a Swindon - Brighton Super Off Peak Return would do the job, however this is more expensive, priced at £56, than 2 x Singles. It's valid on any train between London & Brighton (Network Area rule).

Surprisingly, a Banbury - Brighton Super Offpeak Return (route any permitted) also does the job, costing £42.50. The only restriction on the return leg is:-

RETURN TRAVEL
MONDAY TO FRIDAY

By any train timed to depart
London Marylebone before 1600
or after 1842.

EDIT:
The above was taken from BR Fares. The wording on the PDF is different:

Return Travel
Monday to Friday
By any train timed to depart London Marylebone or Paddington before 06:30, from 09:00 until 16:00, or after 19:00.

However, this also seems to allow peak time travel from Brighton on the return leg ....

 

[Metrailway]

There is no Anytime Return (ticket code: SOR) so you should have been sold an Off Peak Day Single (CDS) at £24.10 plus an Anytime Day Single (SDS) at £24.60.

...

If you wanted one ticket that allowed almost the equivalent flexibility of a London-Brighton SOR, then a Swindon - Brighton Super Off Peak Return would do the job, however this is more expensive, priced at £56, than 2 x Singles. It's valid on any train between London & Brighton (Network Area rule).

Would a Leamington Spa - Brighton (+via Banbury) Super Off Peak Return be a cheaper alternative at £47.50? It should be valid on any train between London and Brighton due to the Network Area rule.

 

[barrykas]

Surprisingly, a Banbury - Brighton Super Offpeak Return (route any permitted) also does the job, costing £42.50. The only restriction on the return leg is:-

EDIT:
The above was taken from BR Fares. The wording on the PDF is different:

That would be because the PDF has been updated for NFM14, which comes into force on Wednesday, but BR Fares hasn't.

 

[island]

Does that mean the Chiltern super off-peak restriction is being sneakily tightened up?

 

[barrykas]

Does that mean the Chiltern super off-peak restriction is being sneakily tightened up?

If you regard being implemented by ticket issuing systems from four weeks before the fares change date, posted on the Chiltern website on Christmas Eve and announced by posters at Marylebone (and presumably other stations) "sneaky", then yes.

The reason given on the announcement is "This change has been made following the introduction of a significantly improved morning northbound service from London Marylebone. As a result it has become appropriate to make this alteration."

But even at £50.00 Return in the morning peak, it's still less than a third of the £158.00 Anytime Return that West Coast would have you buy to travel before 09:26.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[richardderby]

when i am stopping over in Brighton, I am usually sold at Victoria a priv open return to Lewes which is valid at Brighton (£49.40) full fare...

 

[MKD]

Don't know if it'll help your overall budget, but if you want to restrict yourself to ONLY travelling on Southern trains TO Brighton (ie your off-peak times) then you could buy a Southern All Network Downlander for £12.50 online (upto 2 days before travel)
http://www.southernrailwaytickets.com/ticketing_promotion.php?iTicketPromotionId=6
with benefit of use on a few buses when you get there (and of course opportunity to wander over rest of Southern trains for rest of your day travelling down).

Then buy a regular anytime single to return to London @ c£24 during Peak hours.

MKD

 

[Optimo]

Thanks for all the posts and helpful info. And thanks to the mods for changing the subject - after posting I realised it was a bit aggressive, as I can see 'Anytime Returns' advertised on the Southern website but I couldn't understand why I was unable to buy one)

Ended up returning off-peak in the end