Change of route excess procedure question

[IrishDave]

I'm travelling from Coventry to Bridgend and back tomorrow; I want to go out via Birmingham and come back via Reading, for which two different ticket flows exist, the via Reading fares being more expensive. I planned to buy a via Birmingham return and excess the return portion.

I just went to the ticket office at Coventry to buy the ticket; he sold me the via Birmingham return, but he wouldn't sell me the excess. He said it had to be done "on the day, at Bridgend". That surprised me; is that correct?

He also said that my Off-Peak Return via Birmingham couldn't be excessed to a Super Off-Peak Return via Reading (on the return portion), and that the excess would have to be to the Off-Peak Return via Reading. I'm fairly sure that's not correct, but since he already wasn't going to sell it to me the point is somewhat moot; nonetheless, was he correct?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

 

[Hadders]

Excesses are often difficult to obtain and you often have to shop around.

The clerk in this case is incorrect, the excess doesn't have to be done on the day and you can excess a SVR to a SSR as the excess should be to the appropriate fare.

If all else fails you can obtain a change of route excess on the train, at no additional charge.

 

[bb21]

The solution when you have the luxury of time - shop around.

The claimed timing issue is very wrong. The National Routeing Guide is very clear about this, in a small sub-section titled Dual Route Availability.

DUAL ROUTE AVAILABILITY

Where two or more permitted routes are available for a specific journey, customers may wish to travel out by one route and return by another. If a higher fare applies for the return leg of the journey the customer should be issued with a ticket for the more direct route and an excess fare issued to cover the difference in fare for the return routeing. This option should be made available to customers who wish to pre-book a dual routed ticket prior to travel.

The alternative journey MUST relate to the same routeing points for the origin and destination stations.

This option may not apply to customers holding advance purchase tickets, or tickets which are available by specified trains or endorsed for travel only by the services of a particular train operator.