Carnet Validity on LNER

[rdwarr]

Is a Peak Carnet from Letchworth to King's Cross valid for a change at Stevenage onto an LNER service? GTR Twitter are saying "no" but BRFares is saying the ticket has no restrictions. An off-peak Carnet does appear to have a "GN Only" restriction.
Is there a definitive source for such information?

 

[Haywain]

Going by what's on BR Fares, all Peak and Off Peak Carnet tickets for that journey are routed "Any - Permitted" (this will not be printed on the ticket, but then nor will anything to the contrary) and are therefore valid for travel on LNER services from Stevenage to King's Cross. I cannot imagine you would have any difficulty in using a carnet on LNER services.

 

[rdwarr]

That seems logical, but https://twitter.com/GNRailUK/status/1039461097823191040 shows that there is some room for doubt. There's also this comment from GN :
If you purchased this at the Great Northern desk at Kings Cross I imagine its restricted to Great Northern services.
which seems to imply that a ticket's validity depends on whom you buy it from.

One of the more informed team members has said he'll come back with a source so we'll see where the confusion is coming from.

 

[greatkingrat]

The use of the phrase "I imagine" clearly shows the person tweeting doesn't have a clue what the answer is and is just guessing.

 

[Haywain]

The quality of their answers is poor, to say the least. The very first answer they gave is the correct one: "If this is an any permitted ticket this will be fine". Then you get to "If you purchased this at the Great Northern desk at Kings Cross", showing how poor it gets. There isn't a Great Northern desk at King's Cross, where the counter it was purchased from is operated by LNER. However, where the ticket is purchased has no impact at all on which trains it can be used on. If no route is stated on the ticket then the default is 'Any Permitted" as any other route restrictions must be shown on the ticket. The carnet ticket is, without a shadow of doubt, valid on LNER between Stevenage and London.

 

[Hadders]

Looks like the type of standard wibble we’ve come to expect from GTR.

Probably part of the training for a role advising customers of Ticket validity to Gatwick airport

 

[Haywain]

To clarify, the definitive sources are the route shown on the ticket - there is a tiny dot under the 'R' of 'Route', and that denotes that the ticket is routed 'Any - Permitted' which is route code 01000. If it was routed 'Any Permitted' (note: no dash) that would be route code 00000 and the words would print on the ticket. This is a form of simplification and should be used where only one route is available for a journey. The routeing guide will show that permitted routes from Kings Cross to Letchworth are the shortest route and those shown on map KE, which are basically the GN route from London. As long as the holder of the ticket adheres to these routes any appropriate train operator can be used.

 

[island]

There isn't a Great Northern desk at King's Cross

I think there is one on the platform, it’s an excess window and night ticket office.

 

[Haywain]

I think there is one on the platform, it’s an excess window and night ticket office.

On platform 8? That's part of the LNER operated Travel Centre. GN only have TVMs and an occasional RPI for ticket selling, and the RPIs should only be selling to arriving passengers on platforms 9-11.

 

[rdwarr]

Thanks for the updates (including the Twitter thread). It will be interesting to see where they got the "GN Only" opinion from. It hadn't occurred to me that there's no GN desk at King's Cross!

 

[Haywain]

Thanks for the updates (including the Twitter thread). It will be interesting to see where they got the "GN Only" opinion from. It hadn't occurred to me that there's no GN desk at King's Cross!

I suppose if the question, as they thought it, was "Can you use the ticket on LNER between London and Letchworth?" the answer would be no, because LNER don't serve Letchworth. But then again they could have plucked it out of thin air and that, sadly, is more likely.

 

[philjo]

I saw a report on twitter yesterday from a passenger with a carnet to Letchworth. The destination was printed as “Letchworth GN City”. (GN an abbreviation for Garden). He reported that Kings Cross staff interpreted the GN as meaning Great Northern so said they could not use the LNER service to Stevenage!

 

[Haywain]

I saw a report on twitter yesterday from a passenger with a carnet to Letchworth. The destination was printed as “Letchworth GN City”. (GN an abbreviation for Garden). He reported that Kings Cross staff interpreted the GN as meaning Great Northern so said they could not use the LNER service to Stevenage!

Good grief!!!