Chippenham to Paddington off-peak First Class trip

[heart-of-wessex]

Hello all,

Would put in fares advice but its more just daft questions for a trip, but please move if appropriate.

I've been trying to find what counts as Off-Peak on GWR, whilst they just basically say its not valid in peak times and not mentioning what those times are, what I've read on here it sounds like they move the goalposts as to what they call peak hours?

I plan to go on Tuesday with an off-peak 1st, leave Chippenham at 0857 (arr Paddington 1006), and leave Paddington on the 1928.

Which brings me to another question, I was wondering if I would even get a seat on the 1928, as GWRs booking engine was offering a 1st Class Advance ticket but there was only 2 seats left. I looked yesterday at this journey to check times again and I notice the 2 seats left notice had gone..Still offering an advance, do they also apply these 'hurry!! Buy now!! 1 left!' marketing trick when there's actually plenty left?

Not sure whats booked on the 1928 but having looked on RealTimeTrains for last Tuesday it was only a 5 car IET.

Lastly, I assume you can use an off-peak 1st in the First Class lounge in peak times?


Any help appreciated

James

 

[jfollows]

An off-peak first return Chippenham to London can be seen at https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=CPM&dest=PAD&expert=on&flow=2&multi=0&fare=3&tkt=FSR and has restriction code LC which you can look up at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket-types/validity/lc/

OUT: Not valid for travel on trains timed to depart earlier than shown from the following stations:

• 08:46 from Chippenham

RETURN: Not valid on trains timed to depart:

• London Paddington after 04:29 and before 09:17 and after 16:38 until 18:34

There is no such thing as "peak times" or "peak hours" or a "peak time train", these are incorrect statements made often by people who run our railways but that doesn't make them correct. The restrictions on travel times are defined by the ticket you purchase and can be looked up easily - "LC" in this particular case.
I don't use First Class lounges but I'd be surprised if you had any problem using the one at Paddington, and there's no such thing as a "peak time" as already mentioned.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Ahh thank you very much completely forgot about that site havent been on there for a long time! Just valid from Chippenham at least, very odd timing that it says not valid before 08.46 which is a bit precise when there isn't a service at that time, one before is 08.32

At least then there is the option to go back on the 1900 if need be, presumably if staff decide its not valid on that service just pull up the restriction code info on the phone and show them it is valid, if it becomes an issue.

Last problem I had was not being able to collect tickets at Chippenham due to office being closed and locked in the morning. Inspector was happy to print tickets but as I had a Chippenham to Zone 1-6 Travelcard it wasn't possible as it would come out on paper tickets.

He said to collect them at Paddington which I wasn't sure if it was going to work and getting through the barriers might be a laugh, but luckily we rolled into platform 9 (I think? The one with no barriers) and collected from TVM no problem

 

[jfollows]

Yes, there's a Travelcard version of the ticket as well but (from memory) it's got the same restriction and just costs slightly more.

And, also, you're right, GWR tends to come up with precise timings for their restrictions which don't always get updated when the timetable changes. At the end of the day it's the official restriction code which matters, so you're fine on the 08:57 for example. And the 19:00 down as you say.