Do FGW ever collect Weekend 1ST on commuter services?

[OLJR]

This year I have taken FGW services from Paddington to Maidenhead at the weekend quite a few times. I know from experience that the STD compartment can get full but 1ST is much quieter so I travel in 1ST.

The most economical option for 1ST is to buy a GBP 10.90 STD Off-Peak Day Return and pay GBP 5.00 each way for Weekend First. Total cost = GBP 20.90. A 1ST Off-Peak Day Return is GBP 5.60 more expensive at GBP 26.50.

The thing is though that on all the journeys I have taken there has not once been any ticket inspection so I have effectively enjoyed upgrades to 1ST for free.

Are FGW just not interested in collecting the Weekend 1ST revenue on this route? Or have I just been lucky?

 

[Rich McLean]

Turbo Operated services are DOO. Also is weekend first applicable to these services

 

[ValleyLines142]

My friend I got a train back from London two months ago and we seeked the Train Manager on the platform and she gave us an upgrade for £15 for both of us as we saw her before boarding the train!

She also came round several times during the journey.

 

[alastair]

FGW website(and zonal map) certainly implies you can have w/e first on any service(the Henley, Marlow branches ect are shown),however it also states that you can only buy it onboard (not at a ticket office). So if,as stated,the service is DOO then that makes no sense at all.

Presumably unless you have a (not very likely?)spot check by an RPO you will keep on "being lucky"!

 

[davetheguard]

Clearly if you look at the map that the OP has linked to, the Weekend First upgrade is applicable to Turbos - the map includes the Thames Valley branches, which never see an HST.

The second poster, however, is also right, the Turbos are DOO so unlike on HSTs & Adelantes, there is no Guard/Train Manager to collect the upgrades, apart from the random inspections by RPI's of course.

This suggests that FGW's Weekend First policy is much more customer friendly than say, Greater Anglia, where you could in ignorance, pay the upgrade on an IC from Colchester to Liverpool St. but on the way back be hit by a Penalty Fare on an EMU.

Personally, I think the £5 upgrade on an HST from Paddington to Reading or Didcot is well worth the money on a busy late afternoon service - and with a "free" cup of tea thrown in as well.

 

[Simon11]

Not sure I would think a £5 upgrade is worth it to have a cup of tea thrown at me!

 

[GatwickDepress]

Not sure I would think a £5 upgrade is worth it to have a cup of tea thrown at me!

There are dungeons in Soho where it would cost a hell of a lot more.

 

[PermitToTravel]

I don't think it's made clear anywhere on the FGW website - could one technically avail oneself of weekend first if travelling on Oyster PAYG?

 

[OLJR]

If the trains are DOO then I have one further mystery...

I have seen a FGW member of staff get into the rear drivers car. I assumed that this was the ticket inspector and that he would be coming through the train. But he did not!

Not sure I would think a £5 upgrade is worth it to have a cup of tea thrown at me!

You don't get a cup of tea or anything at all. Just an empty, quiet compartment.

 

[Sleepy]

I
f the trains are DOO then I have one further mystery...

I have seen a FGW member of staff get into the rear drivers car. I assumed that this was the ticket inspector and that he would be coming through the train. But he did not!



He was probably passing back to Reading - could be a driver.

 

[OLJR]

He was probably passing back to Reading - could be a driver.

Got it - like a pilot deadheading!

 

[davetheguard]

If the trains are DOO then I have one further mystery...

I have seen a FGW member of staff get into the rear drivers car. I assumed that this was the ticket inspector and that he would be coming through the train. But he did not!



You don't get a cup of tea or anything at all. Just an empty, quiet compartment.

If on an Inter City FGW train a Weekend First supplement entitles you to free tea/coffee + water + peanuts/biscuits. But you do have to go to the buffet car and show your ticket to get them.

You can't get any freebees on a Turbo, but I wonder what happens if you happen to be on one of the few workings with a trolley?

 

[TEW]

I'm not 100% if the Rail Gourmet trolleys provide complimentary items in First Class, but I believe they do. If so, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to have the complementaries if using Weekend First. A lot of the London-Oxford fast services and Cotswold services have trolleys, even at weekends.

 

[tannedfrog]

My friend I got a train back from London two months ago and we seeked the Train Manager on the platform and she gave us an upgrade for £15 for both of us as we saw her before boarding the train!

sought