Bedford > 'London Terminals'

[stephy]

I've recently started commuting from Bedford > London and have been asking for just that, a week season between Bedford and London. In the evenings I walk to St Pancras but in the mornings I've been getting the FCC train to Farringdon as it's a bit easier for my office. I never paid any mind to 'London Terminals' printed on my ticket and just assumed it didn't work in the barriers because of a dodgy strip. I've just showed them my ticket and they've let me out... until today!
I nearly got fined but persuaded them to let me off.
I really don't want to pay extra to include tubes in my season ticket as I would effectively be using the 'tube' or inter-London travel (St Pancras to Farringdon) once a day for a period of about 5 minutes.
If I asked at the ticket office in Bedford for a Bedford/London Thameslink season would this make a difference? Would it cost the same?
What options do I have save walking from St Pancras every morning and getting annoyed?

 

[revenueadvice]

You need a Bedford to London Thameslink ticket and this will cover you to go as far as London Bridge on the Bedford to Brighton trains. Its normally the default for FCC to sell tickets to London Thameslink. I don't really know why they have sold it too London Terminals unless the member of staff has made an error.

 

[LexyBoy]

You've been very lucky if your ticket is indeed to London Terminals!

A Bedford-London Terminals ticket is valid only as far as St Pancras. A Bedford-London Thameslink ticket is valid as far as London Bridge and Elephant and Castle (and thus Farringdon).

However I can't see any Bedford-London Terminals Seasons available, only to London Thameslink. What price is your ticket and what are the stations printed on it?

 

[soil]

Hmm, I don't see that there is any Bedford - London Terminals season either.

 

[revenueadvice]

where did you buy the original ticket from? I have spoken to a passenger before who had a Leicester to Bedford season ticket but wanted an extension to Blackfriars. He tried in Leicester and they "couldn't" sell it too him. I'm not sure if this was to do with a setting on the computer or if they didn't know they needed to use 4452, the code for London Thameslink. Also there is a problem where if someone buys say a return from London Bridge to St Albans they have been sold a London Terminals - St Albans ticket which technically isn't valid to return to the station it was bought from. I'm not familiar with ticket office computers but I was told it was to do with the route setting on the computer being used to sell the ticket.

Long winded but my point is did you buy the ticket from an FCC booking office or say the national rail one at St Pancras?

 

[John @ home]

did you buy the ticket from an FCC booking office or say the national rail one at St Pancras?

"National Rail", that is ATOC, do not operate any booking offices. St Pancras has separate EMT, FCC and Eurostar booking offices. SE also use the station but I am not aware of a SE booking office there.

 

[maniacmartin]

I too would be interesed in learning more about this 7 day season from Bedford to London Terminals, because as far as I know, such a ticket is not available for purchase.

 

[stephy]

i bought it from Bedford, at the FCC-run ticket office.
It'd a 7-day £104.30 ticket between London Terminals & Bedford Stations, ticket type SEASON-00M07D.

If I get the correct Bedford > London Thameslink one, does that mean any route is still permitted and I can get the East Midlands trains service home instead sometimes?
Is this Thameslink one the same price? Surely it should be...

I'm really confused! I'm wondering why the would default to London Terminals at a station from which trains travel through many different London stations.

 

[OwlMan]

i bought it from Bedford, at the FCC-run ticket office.
It'd a 7-day £104.30 ticket between London Terminals & Bedford Stations, ticket type SEASON-00M07D.

If I get the correct Bedford > London Thameslink one, does that mean any route is still permitted and I can get the East Midlands trains service home instead sometimes?
Is this Thameslink one the same price? Surely it should be...

I'm really confused! I'm wondering why the would default to London Terminals at a station from which trains travel through many different London stations.

Such aticket should not exist. Can you post a photocopy of the ticket so that we can see the full details.

 

[LexyBoy]

If I get the correct Bedford > London Thameslink one, does that mean any route is still permitted and I can get the East Midlands trains service home instead sometimes?
Is this Thameslink one the same price? Surely it should be...

Yes, it is routed Any Permitted which means you can take:

• FCC Thameslink services
• EMT trains between Bedford, Luton and St Pancras
• Trains from Euston via Bletchley to Bedford St Johns

And valid at any intermediate station so long as you're on a route permitted by the ticket.

 

[bangor-toad]

i bought it from Bedford, at the FCC-run ticket office.
It'd a 7-day £104.30 ticket between London Terminals & Bedford Stations, ticket type SEASON-00M07D.

As others have said, this ticket doesn't appear to exist.

The online season ticket calculator on the National Rail website shows that a 7 day Bedford - London Thameslink ticket is £52.15.
Here's a Link to the relevant search page.
It seems a little coincidental that the price you're saying is exactly double what the online figure is.

I can only suggest printing this page out and showing it at the ticket office when buying the next ticket.
Good luck,
Jason

 

[LexyBoy]

The online season ticket calculator on the National Rail website shows that a 7 day Bedford - London Thameslink ticket is £52.15.

That's the child rate - adult is £104.30

 

[bangor-toad]

That's the child rate - adult is £104.30

Opps.
Sorry everyone - time for some more coffee to see if that will allow me to become vaguely coherent!

 

[stephy]

god i wish it was £50!!

all i can say is good thing this has been flagged before i buy my month one on Monday.

just really confused as to why this has happened!

 

[soil]

Whoever issued it made an error.

Next time make sure its issued to London Thameslink.

Also I would recommend you buy monthly plus seasons, they are quite a bit cheaper, especially if you schedule them to end on a Friday (so you'd start your next on the 29th of April, and have it issued for 1 month, 3 days. This would be 5 weeks for £441.20, rather than 5 * £104.30 = £521.50, as you are paying now).

 

[stephy]

ah thanks for the tip.
is that cheaper than a buying individual month ones?

 

[oversteer]

So this is a bit confusing, a Bedford Stns to Thameslink 7 day season is £104.30, which would be valid for the OP's journey, but the ticket s/he has is not that ticket, but has the same price, and is clearly not valid for the journey s/he attempted today??

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....Also there is a problem where if someone buys say a return from London Bridge to St Albans they have been sold a London Terminals - St Albans ticket which technically isn't valid to return to the station it was bought from. I'm not familiar with ticket office computers but I was told it was to do with the route setting on the computer being used to sell the ticket....

Depends on how the machine is set up, but if the origin on the machine is defaulting to 'London Terminals' rather than 'London Bridge' then it would offer the London Terminals fare instead and the clerk may not realise.

....Long winded but my point is did you buy the ticket from an FCC booking office or say the national rail one at St Pancras?

If the ticket machine is set up with an origin of St Pancras (or any of the other London Thameslink Stations) or London Terminals, rather than Bedford (London Thameslink cannot be set as an origin or destination), a London Terminals-Bedford season for the same price will show up and can be sold, it doesn't matter which office sold it.

 

[soil]

ah thanks for the tip.
is that cheaper than a buying individual month ones?

Well it's the same price, per day, as buying monthly ones, but since you end on a Friday, you avoid paying for weekend days, so it works out around 5% cheaper than just buying monthlies (saving 2 days in 30, basically). If you can arrange it round your holidays, you will save even more.

There's already a good saving built in with monthlies compared to weekly tickets.

 

[stephy]

this is brilliant advice thank you so much.
hoping to have a mortgage soon so this will really help.

ive had issues with ticket offices understanding the thameslink thing in the past so any advice for what to say should they become difficult about this when issuing me a new ticket? ie if they do my new one with london terminals on it and i question it.

 

[gordonthemoron]

buy it in Bedford

 

[stephy]

that's where i bought this incorrect one...

 

[wellhouse]

Might there be any significance in the ticket showing London & Bedford rather than Bedford & London?

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Might there be any significance in the ticket showing London & Bedford rather than Bedford & London?

Yes, as I noted in my post. A ticket with the origin as 'London' could be issued as London Terminals or London Thameslink, issued with an origin of Bedford it will always be London Thameslink, regardless of where it is bought.

The ticket was bought at St Pancras (EMT) so it is reasonable to assume the first season (London Terminals) was used

 

[bb21]

The moral of the story is: buy your ticket from the ticket office.

Looks to me like the machine has not been set up properly to handle this sort of journeys.

Which machines did you use? Write to the company and point the error out to them. If you get any Penalty Fare, you should be able to claim them back from the company.

 

[barrykas]

The photo in post 14 shows a ticket bought from one of the East Midlands TVMs at St Pancras (NLC 1981), hence the origin of "London Terminals".

AFAIK, "London Thameslink" shouldn't be used as an origin, only a destination. At least that was the case when they were introduced, and implied by the relevant page in The Manual.

 

[bb21]

The photo in post 14 shows a ticket bought from one of the East Midlands TVMs at St Pancras (NLC 1981), hence the origin of "London Terminals".

Do the FCC S&B machines have different NLC codes?

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I don't think there are fares from specific stations to the Thameslink stations north of London anymore, there used to be, but I think they are all London Thameslink now.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Do the FCC S&B machines have different NLC codes?

FCC use the old Kings Cross Thameslink NLC, 1427.

 

[craigwilson]

The photo in post 14 shows a ticket bought from one of the East Midlands TVMs at St Pancras (NLC 1981), hence the origin of "London Terminals".

AFAIK, "London Thameslink" shouldn't be used as an origin, only a destination. At least that was the case when they were introduced, and implied by the relevant page in The Manual.

Is that still the case for a season, as a season is issued "between" two points rather than "From" and "To"?

 

[bb21]

Is that still the case for a season, as a season is issued "between" two points rather than "From" and "To"?

It is still specified as "from" and "to".

This can have potential impacts on Gold Card eligibility in certain circumstances.