Confused over HS1 Upgrade Single - St Pancras to Swanscombe

[Jack D]

Hi all,

Today I thought I'd try a new route home. Rather than taking the Thameslink train from London St Pancras to Swanscombe which takes about an hour I decided to get the Southeastern High Speed service to Gravesend and then double back on myself. I'm not actually sure if I saved time or not as I had to wait twenty minutes at either end for a connection but I did have a question about tickets.

From what I understand a single ticket from London St Pancras to Gravesend costs £22.20 plus the small fair from Gravesend to Swanscombe. When I was at the ticket machine this afternoon I saw something called a HS1 upgrade for £5.00 (or so) brought it. It didn't read at the ticket barrier but the staff member on duty saw I had a ticket and waved me through anyway. I didn't need to use the ticket to pass over the footbridge at Gravesend.

What exactly did I accidentally buy?

 

[30907]

Did you have a ticket for the TL route?
If so, the HS upgrade is £5.80 for Gravesend but £8.20 for Swanscombe.

 

[Jack D]

Thameslink? Yeah but I took Southeastern High speed as I thought it would be quicker. Looking at national rail app I can confirm that it is but only by five minutes…

 

[cool110]

The HS1 Upgrade is like an excess fare, it's used to add HS1 validity to an existing ticket that's not via HS1.

 

[Jack D]

so I brought the wrong ticket?

 

[talldave]

Did you have a ticket for the TL route?
If so, the HS upgrade is £5.80 for Gravesend but £8.20 for Swanscombe.

Brfares shows the off-peak Swanscombe fare as £7.70 without a Railcard.

Annoyingly - and for no logical reason - HS1 upgrades can't be discounted with an Annual Gold Card, whereas HS1 tickets can be discounted.

 

[transportphoto]

Which ticket did you hold originally? Original, destination, and price paid, would be helpful

 

[Watershed]

If you had a Swanscombe-London ticket (or vice versa) then the HS1 upgrade, costing £5.10 or £5.70 depending on what time you're travelling, would be correct to allow travel via HS1 and Gravesend.

Those prices are with a Railcard so I'm assuming you had one?