All ticket restrictions are lifted on FGW on 24th & 27th-31st December inclusive. So only buy Super Off Peak, if available for your journey, or Off Peak, if not.
Oh, and FGW are using Waterloo, not Marylebone.
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So the restriction in this case of a Reading to 1072 ticket has not changed, however I think he is trying you can find an Off-peak Day ticket which does not have the list of barred trains in the restriction text then it is therefore valid on these trains provided there is no other evening peak restriction.
However, when you search for a Watford High Street to Didcot Parkway ticket which is apparently valid "by any train," journey planners will still not show validity. In ''The Manual'' when you search for a CDR it still shows "First Great Western evening barred trains
In which case I rely on the 'Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Legislation 1999', which allows for the interpretation of T&Cs more favourable to the consumer to prevail. So NFM07 says
ANY train on your Watford HS-Didcot example and does not qualify that
ANY with a list of exceptions.
There are many more Off Peak fares (both period and day) available from/through Paddington that do not refer to the list of barred evening trains within their particular validity code in NFM07. I'm not going to publicise them. FGW can find them themselves if they want to close the loopholes. They are partly responsible for the mess and whilst I understand (a little) their desire to manage capacity out of Paddington in the evening, if they can't or won't ensure that loopholes are closed then I will continue to exploit them. It is also unfair to penalise passengers based on a restriction that is only published in a document that is not in the public domain.
Some rail staff here may argue that information gleaned from journey planners, text displayed on departure boards, or what the clerk says in the ticket office is sufficient for the blanket ban to apply. However, if even just one official source of information on ticket restrictions differs (in this case NFM07) and this difference is more favourable to the passenger then that interpretation of the restriction prevails.
I've successfully travelled out of Paddington on Off Peak tickets using services on the 'barred' list on numerous occasions in the past year. I've yet to have a TM attempt to issue an Excess or UPFN. However that's because you so rarely get a ticket check on evening services until after Didcot and by then I'm on a different ticket anyway because I further reduce the cost of my journey from/to Bristol by splitting at Didcot. I am prepared for the possibility of a TM/RPI querying my ticket but I am only prepared to accept a UPFN and then challenge that. I'm fairly certain that a judge's interpretation of
ANY would be the same as mine. Extremely unlikely that FGW would prosecute though.
Finally, IANAL
