Clarification on using restrictions 9I and YG

[andrewkeith5]

Hi all,

I'll be traveling from Gatwick Airport (GTW) to Droitwich Spa (DTW) this Friday, returning Sunday.

My plan is to use the Any Permitted Off Peak Return ticket (priced by Virgin), which hold restriction code 9I, as I want as much flexibility as I can considering the relatively infrequent connections at DTW on Sundays.

Looking at the restriction code 9I, it seems there are evening peak restrictions out of basically everywhere (roughly 4:30 to 19:00 although different for every London Terminal).

What interests me is that at the bottom of restriction 9I there is a reference "For Off-Peak travel via Hereford, Oxford & Newport see restriction code YG." Restriction YG permits travel on any service via Oxford and Hereford. Therefore, if I took a Great Malvern service and changed at Worcester for DTW, would I be OK to use any evening service out of Paddington?

I am having a nightmare with the NRE journey planner which is determined to put me on the direct GTW-Reading service despite my desire to travel via Paddington. I have however managed to get it to put me on a service during the supposed peak, by sending me into Paddington then straight back out.

 

[Haywain]

I am having a nightmare with the NRE journey planner which is determined to put me on the direct GTW-Reading service despite my desire to travel via Paddington. I have however managed to get it to put me on a service during the supposed peak, by sending me into Paddington then straight back out.

I can force the journey you want by using via points of East Croydon and Ealing Broadway, and an avoid point of Birmingham New Street.

 

[andrewkeith5]

I can force the journey you want by using via points of East Croydon and Ealing Broadway, and an avoid point of Birmingham New Street.

Aha, thank you! I will give that a go - for some reason when I was looking last night it didn't like the idea of two Via points. Did you get an itinerary in the evening peak or were you not looking?

 

[higthomas]

I can get it to show that as valid on the off peak return in the evening peak. The east coast journey planner gives an option of via Evesham and London. It did also work on the £66 option.

 

[Starmill]

There are a lot of routes available for this journey!

EVESHAM/STROUD
VIA EVESHAM
✠NOT VIA BIRMNGHM
✠LONDON EVESHAM
✠ANY PERMITTED

All except the last one use 4P so you can definitely travel by any train so long as you are not going via Swindon.

Note you can save money by getting the cheapest - 'EVESHAM/STROUD' for £57.50 and excising it (half the difference) to +Any Permitted for your return journey. London may even be on a permitted route for this, although it might not be intended as the existence of the ✠LONDON EVESHAM fare suggests.

Is there some reason why you don't want to take the direct trains from Gatwick to Reading?

 

[andrewkeith5]

Thanks for all your help everyone. For a brief while I was confused by the prices you're quoting as I'm used to looking at everything with a 16-25 railcard in mind!

To answer some of the questions that have been asked:
> It is the Any Permitted ticket that I am proposing to get - primarily because I want maximum flexibility of route. My preferred route would be to use Virgin Trains to Birmingham, but obviously this is restricted whereas in the restriction it looks like the Paddington trains aren't.
> Normally I would be option to taking the direct Gatwick to Reading train, on this occasion though I have some things I need to do in London so I intend on breaking my journey for a couple of hours as I won't be able to head into town until the new year otherwise.
> Thank you for your excessing suggestion, it is appreciated and I will investigate. How easy would it be to get the necessary excess and/or do you know of anywhere which would do it with relative ease? I won't have time to mess around convincing station staff that they can do what I'm asking them to on this trip, and I could do without the frustration as this is supposed to be my weekend of relaxation!

 

[higthomas]

Might the Virgin trains off peak relaxations when using a railcard come into play then?
In fact I think it would.

 

[andrewkeith5]

Might the Virgin trains off peak relaxations when using a railcard come into play then?
In fact I think it would.

I believe these only play when your ticket is entirely within the Virgin Trains route? I could split like that but sadly with the way fares south of London (i.e. no non-day Off Peak returns) it would be more expensive than the Any Permitted fare, hence the reason for this thread as if I can travel in the afternoon peak on FGW that solves my problem relatively neatly.

Now that I have managed to get an itinerary with the far I was proposing in the first place I am happy that I can travel when I want to, thank you to everyone for your help!