Daft Question - Using 16-25 Railcard on-peak

[easyken]

Hi all,

This might have been asked before, but I couldn't find it on a search through the site. Tomorrow, I've bought an off peak return (using my 16-25 railcard) to travel from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly, and have booked on the 2pm train. Unfortunate circumstances mean that I'll now need to get to Manchester as soon as possible tomorrow - will I be allowed to catch an early train, and are there restrictions on which trains I can catch out of Euston at that time? I know the rules used to be that you could use your railcard at pretty much any time on that journey, but they may have changed.

Your help & advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,

easyken.

 

[ainsworth74]

As far as I am aware Virgin Trains have an easement that means that off-peak tickets when purchased with a 16-25 railcard are in fact valid at anytime during the day. Therefore you can catch any train you like with that ticket as long as it's a Virgin Trains service, other operators do not to my knowledge have this easement.

It's also worth noting that 16-25 railcards can be used at anytime of day but there is a £12 minimum fare before 10am. This means that if the ticket you buy for travel before 10am costs less than £12 you won't be able to get a railcard discount. But if the ticket costs say £13 even before 10am you can get a discount.

 

[easyken]

That's brilliant, thank you - I thought that would be the case but wanted to make sure.

Any idea why Virgin offer this service? Not that I'm complaining of course!!

Just about to buy my last ever Young Persons Railcard. Heartbreaking.

 

[AlterEgo]

Any idea why Virgin offer this service? Not that I'm complaining of course!!

Because they're nice!

 

[323235]

It's also worth noting that 16-25 railcards can be used at anytime of day but there is a £12 minimum fare before 10am. This means that if the ticket you buy for travel before 10am costs less than £12 you won't be able to get a railcard discount. But if the ticket costs say £13 even before 10am you can get a discount.

Not sure if this is what you were referring to but if it costs more than £12 before discount but less than £12 after discount then you should be charged the £12 minimum fare.

 

[ainsworth74]

Not sure if this is what you were referring to but if it costs more than £12 before discount but less than £12 after discount then you should be charged the £12 minimum fare.

Ah that's how it works I wasn't entirely sure, makes sense though.

 

[island]

The specific rule is that off-peak tickets (ticket types SVS and SVR) for flows priced by Virgin Trains can be used at any time, unless the ticket is routed VIRGIN TRNS ONLY.

The posts above are correct.

 

[All Line Rover]

The specific rule is that off-peak tickets (ticket types SVS and SVR) for flows priced by Virgin Trains can be used at any time, unless the ticket is routed VIRGIN TRNS ONLY.

The posts above are correct.

Which is why Off-Peak VT Only tickets between Crewe/Stoke and Manchester are NOT valid at peak time when bought with a Railcard. I'm not complaning though, as the difference between peak and off-peak tickets on that flow is minuscule.

 

[island]

I'm not complaning though, as the difference between peak and off-peak tickets on that flow is miniscule.

No, it's minuscule. [/pedant]

 

[All Line Rover]

No, it's minuscule. [/pedant]

The library computers use ie6, which don't have a spell checker (it isn't enabled anyhow). I hate ie6!

 

[SS4]

The library computers use ie6, which don't have a spell checker (it isn't enabled anyhow). I hate ie6!

Who doesn't? It doesn't even have tabbed browsing!

 

[All Line Rover]

Who doesn't? It doesn't even have tabbed browsing!

I use Google Chrome. There are just 2 downsides: a. Google always force you to use THEIR PDF reader which doesn't always display or print things correctly. b. Smilies don't appear in text boxes as a picture - they just remain as text.

 

[Skimble19]

I use Google Chrome. There are just 2 downsides: a. Google always force you to use THEIR PDF reader which doesn't always display or print things correctly. b. Smilies don't appear in text boxes as a picture - they just remain as text.

Ahh, there is an option somewhere to use Adobe, infact whilst browsing the ECML RUS earlier it popped up at the top asking if I'd prefer to open it in Adobe. As for the Smilies, what version of Chrome are you using? They work fine on Chrome 13

 

[All Line Rover]

Ahh, there is an option somewhere to use Adobe, infact whilst browsing the ECML RUS earlier it popped up at the top asking if I'd prefer to open it in Adobe. As for the Smilies, what version of Chrome are you using? They work fine on Chrome 13

Just checked. 11.**************** beta!

I'll update is tomorrow!

 

[Skimble19]

Ahh, 13 is currently the dev build so you should update to 12 tomorrow