So if my ticket is actually valid on Southern and I decide to chance it on a day when there hasn't been a cancellation what's the impact.
Worst case would I receive a PF that I'd then need to appeal on the basis its the same TOC. Is it still the view that all such appeals would be successful now Govia is no longer facing the class action lawsuit?
The position hasn't changed.
GTR/DfT's position was - and I believe still is - along the lines that Southern, despite not being a TOC, is in fact a "TOC for the purpose of ticketing" (!) and that GTR is an "umbrella company" (!) consisting of non-companies that exist as if they were companies for the purpose of making people pay more for certain journeys. It doesn't wash.
Over the years, the weasel words have changed slightly, so their current argument may be slightly different to that.
A penalty fare cannot legitimately be issued for being on the wrong
brand, so any PF can be appealed on that basis. I can't promise success, but I'd certainly help in any way I can.
I've not heard of any Penalty Fares recently, but there used to be loads back when Southern (which was then a separate company) took over Gatwick Express brand from the previously dedicated company, before it all became GTR:
For those who haven't been keeping up on the SN/GX threads... back in January I approached gateline staff at Victoria and asked if a Southern Only Off Peak Day Return was good for the Gatwick Express, and was sold a "Southern Std Su" upgrade ticket, pictured on the right here...
www.railforums.co.uk
For those who haven't been keeping up on the SN/GX threads... back in January I approached gateline staff at Victoria and asked if a Southern Only Off Peak Day Return was good for the Gatwick Express, and was sold a "Southern Std Su" upgrade ticket, pictured on the right here:
http://www.railforums.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=10104&d=1328977770
Mid-February I wrote to Southern requesting a refund having since learned that Southern and Gatwick Express are not seperate companies, and therefore the Southern Only ticket should have been allowed because it is a breack of NRCoC 10 to restrict a ticket by anything other than company or route.
Yesterday I received a letter from Southern stating that a member of the Refunds team will contact me by telephone to obtain my card details in order to process the refund.
Prior to 2008ish, there used to be three companies along the route; that reduced to two and is now just one.
And yet we still have fares restricted by brand, despite being told that fares "harmonisation" would happen back in 2014.
The old Southern company back in 2008 created a propaganda video promising nothing would change:
Soon after, it seems they reviewed every claim made in the video and ensured every single one was broken in the maximum way possible
By the way, GTR argue that if the fares were harmonised they would have to increase, however they tried that with Redhill, and the matter became such a political point, that GTR were forced to reduce the fares. This became known as the "Redhill Hump" and was a well-deserved defeat for GTR.
The cheaper fares cannot be abolished as it would be political suicide for any Government to do this, but the Government isn't prepared to stop charging premium fares from people who are prepared to pay for it. They threw
many £millions of taxpayers money to make the legal case against them become so expensive to maintain, that once other issues occurred (e.g. the death of the class rep, incompetent economists making mistakes, etc), it all just mounted up to the extent it was no longer viable.
