Advance Tickets and Engineering works

[F Great Eastern]

How these days are TOC's, specifically NXEA dealing with Advance tickets that have been hit by engineering works resulting in what would normally be one train, being two trains and a bus inbetween?

The reason I asked, is last time I traveled during one of these situations I got penalty fared through no fault of my own.

I booked a ticket from Norwich to London, and the first train did not have a booked seat on it, and had a connection to the bus at Colchester to Chelmsford, with a second train from Chelmsford to to London, with the online booking showing a booked seat on the second train.

Of course the rail replacement bus got delayed, and I missed the train from Chelmsford to Liverpool Street, so I got the next train, only to be told by the revenue inspector on the class 90 set, that my ticket was not valid as it was not on the booked train, whilst this is true, that is hardly my fault.

So this Sunday there are similar works going on, and I have a First Advance single booked for this Suunday, with a journey like this:

Train 1:
18:42 Ipswich Station1
19:02 Colchester Station
No Seat Reservation Required

Bus:
19:11 Colchester Station
20:02 Ingatestone

Train 2:
20:12 Ingatestone
20:42 London Liverpool Street
Reservation booked.

Looks a bit of a mess, just don't want to get fined again, If I was not using an advance ticket it owuld be fine, but I've three times used an advance ticket, in disruption and nearly every time I've had a run in with an RPI.

 

[tony_mac]

You should not get a penalty fare if your connection is missed due to delays - you are entitled to take the next available train - it's in the conditions of the ticket.
(Assuming you have one ticket for the whole journey, it gets a little debatable otherwise).

I would also be writing to them, asking for your previous penalty fare to be repaid!

 

[yorkie]

Of course the rail replacement bus got delayed, and I missed the train from Chelmsford to Liverpool Street, so I got the next train, only to be told by the revenue inspector on the class 90 set, that my ticket was not valid as it was not on the booked train, whilst this is true, that is hardly my fault.

A penalty fare or excess fare MUST NOT be issued in such a case, I would refuse to hand over any cash at that point and let them take my details and issue an Unpaid Fare Notice (UPFN) and appeal it. If I lost the appeal, I'd probably be prepared to let it go as far as they wanted to take it (I doubt they'd take someone to court over that!)

Make sure you appeal this ludicrous charge. Feel free to PM me your letter for proof reading, if you like.

Looks a bit of a mess, just don't want to get fined again, If I was not using an advance ticket it owuld be fine, but I've three times used an advance ticket, in disruption and nearly every time I've had a run in with an RPI.

You were not fined, but issued a penalty fare. A fine is issued by a court to people who intended to avoid paying a fare. If you refused to pay the penalty fare, it would then be up to a court to decide whether to issue a fine or not.

Any fare charged when you are delayed on a train should not be paid at the time, get a UPFN issued if the guard insists, and appeal it, taking it as far as necessary until the appeal is won. It is unacceptable, don't put up with it!

 

[bb21]

I totally agree with yorkie's suggestion. Maybe ask the RPI next time if he does not accept your explanation what he expected you to do.

I got delayed once coming back from Lancaster. As the replacement bus was pulling up at Preston station forecourt, my booked train pulled out. One solution, although not always possible, is that if there's someone at the station, get them to endorse the ticket to save further arguments. I did at Preston and promptly got a taxi at Derby which was the furthest point I could have got that night with later departures.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

With an advance fare, if you are delayed whilst travelling, you may use later services to complete your journey. You should not have been Penalty Fare'd as your ticket was valid in this case.

 

[Squaddie]

So this Sunday there are similar works going on, and I have a First Advance single booked for this Suunday, with a journey like this:

Train 1:
18:42 Ipswich Station1
19:02 Colchester Station
No Seat Reservation Required

Bus:
19:11 Colchester Station
20:02 Ingatestone

Train 2:
20:12 Ingatestone
20:42 London Liverpool Street
Reservation booked.

Just a general observation, but why would anyone buy a first class ticket when over half the journey is by replacement bus? Do you get a bigger seat on the bus?

(If there is a replacement bus for any part of a journey I intend to make I simply don't take the train at all. I will book with National Express or drive).

 

[F Great Eastern]

Thanks guys for your comments - I will indeed appeal the fine. I think the thing that caused it last time, is my seat reservation was for the second half of my journey, and said only valid on that particular train, the first train, did not have a seat reservation on it. When I booked the ticket, it did not list train bus train, but just train, as the engineering works were not in the database at time of purchase, but the ticket upon collection did seem to take them into account.

Just a general observation, but why would anyone buy a first class ticket when over half the journey is by replacement bus? Do you get a bigger seat on the bus?

In this case the actual first class advance, was actually cheaper than the standard class on the same journey believe it or not!!