Can you buy an excess on this ticket?

[pinguini]

Super off-peak return between Coventry and London Terminals. London Midland only. £15.20 with YP railcard.

Can this be excessed so that the return portion can be used on Virgin Trains?

 

[GadgetMan]

No. TOC only tickets cannot be excessed to be used on other TOCs.

 

[pinguini]

No. TOC only tickets cannot be excessed to be used on other TOCs.

I have previously had an excess for Virgin Trains only to any permitted on the Coventry to Birmingham route though. Why is this?

 

[transportphoto]

Your previous excess would not remove the requirement for you to travel on Virgin Trains only.

It is not possible to use excesses to remove a TOC only restriction.

TP

 

[pinguini]

Your previous excess would not remove the requirement for you to travel on Virgin Trains only.

It is not possible to use excesses to remove a TOC only restriction.

TP

I'm not saying you're wrong but on the excess ticket I was sold that time it says 'Route Any Permitted'. To the lay person this would mean ANY ROUTE!

I shouldn't have been sold that excess the Birmingham-Coventry route that time then. That's a problem.

 

[island]

I have previously had an excess for Virgin Trains only to any permitted on the Coventry to Birmingham route though. Why is this?

The ticket machines will not prevent clerks issuing such tickets, but they are not supposed to be issued. Your previous one may have been issued in error.

 

[jb]

I'm not saying you're wrong but on the excess ticket I was sold that time it says 'Route Any Permitted'. To the lay person this would mean ANY ROUTE!

Some claim that Any Permitted sometimes doesn't actually mean that.

http://railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=83469

 

[hairyhandedfool]

A TOC specific ticket can, quite legitimately, be excessed to a ticket routed 'Any Permitted' for a number of reasons (over-distance, std to 1st, etc), but to use another TOC is not allowed.

 

[transportphoto]

A TOC specific ticket can, quite legitimately, be excessed to a ticket routed 'Any Permitted' for a number of reasons (over-distance, std to 1st, etc), but to use another TOC is not allowed.

Playing devil's advocate here, hypothetically if I had an East Midlands Trains only ticket between Ely and Norwich and wished to over distance excess it into a Ely to Salhouse ticket, where would I stand? Salhouse isn't served by EMT, only Greater Anglia.

TP

 

[hairyhandedfool]

It may depend on when the excess is done, but either it wouldn't be possible (and a new ticket for the extra distance issued) or you'd have to use EMT between Ely and Norwich. IMO, based on the rules for excess fares, it should be the former.

 

[yorkie]

I have previously had an excess for Virgin Trains only to any permitted on the Coventry to Birmingham route though. Why is this?

What sort of excess was it?

If it was a change of route excess, then it's not officially meant to be done, but some people will do it.

It's rare to get an excess fare correctly. More often than not, you get refused, while at other times it's common to be charged the wrong amount (usually overcharged, but sometimes undercharged).

Also some TOCs have rules that differ from the standard rules (they can be more generous).

 

[hairyhandedfool]

.... while at other times it's common to be charged the wrong amount (usually overcharged, but sometimes undercharged)....

Would that be 'common' amongst all excess fares, or 'common' amongst known excess fares?

 

[yorkie]

I base that on the experiences that have been reported to me by members of this forum, some of whom have required excess fares fairly often.

An example of an incorrect excess, was when a member of this forum had a Route: via Manchester ticket, and was not excessed to the appropriate Route: Any Permitted ticket and was, instead, issued an unpaid fares notice for an excess to a higher priced ticket with additional validity that he did not require. The excess should have been zero and he was overcharged. It took him a lot of effort to get a refund of the difference, in the mean time he was threatened with prosecution!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

So that will be 'Known' excess fares then.