Excessing a ticket

[mildertduck]

Hi - I hope you can help.

A week ago, I booked an off-peak return ticket, from Durham to Manchester Piccadilly for next weekend. It looks as if it will be more convenient for me to alight at Manchester Oxford Road (the next station that the train I'm on is due to call at). I would still be returning from Piccadilly, though.

Is it possible for me to excess the ticket on the day, or should I buy a Piccadilly to Oxford Road single ticket at 85p and have done with it? I note that the fare from Durham to both Piccadilly and Oxford Road appears to be the same.

Many thanks in advance,
Duck

 

[maniacmartin]

The best thing to do would be to excess it before boarding, but apparently some guards/ticket office staff don't like issuing zero-priced excess fares so you might have to shop around.

 

[ainsworth74]

You should be able to get an over distance excess, ask at the Durham booking office before travel. I'd leave a bit of extra time or go on a day before travel as not many booking offices are very clear on issuing excesses. If the price difference is zero then the excess should also be zero cost to yourself. Though as above not all staff like doing zero fare excesses so again I'd make sure to leave a bit of time extra to get it done.

 

[island]

No need for any excess if your ticket is to Manchester Stns, which it almost certainly is.

 

[LexyBoy]

I note that the fare from Durham to both Piccadilly and Oxford Road appears to be the same.

Indeed - the price is the same because it's the same ticket. As island says, the destination printed will be "Manchester Stns" and it's valid to both Piccadilly and Oxford Road (and Victoria and Deansgate, as long as you can get there on a permitted route). No need to change anything

 

[calc7]

And G4S have no right to take it off you if you wish to continue to MCO within its validity.

 

[323235]

For some reason one of the guys on Birmingham New Street on Friday was trying to take tickets off everyone that went through without even looking what they were. I watched him do it to about 5 people before I went through so was prepared for what might happen. He tried to take my Anytime Return off me twice even though it wasn't a ticket to/from Birmingham Stations, hadn't been completely used as I was stopping short and could easily have used the remaining part in the remaining 4 days validity of the outward portion.

I just showed it to him, carried on walking and told him "NO" when he tried to take it.

When I came back through he seemed to have given up, as I suspect he'd quite rightly met with some resistence from people who weren't stupid enough to hand over a ticket that was still valid.

 

[mildertduck]

I collected my ticket earlier, and it is indeed to "Manchester Stations". Does this mean that I won't have to do anything, even though I'll be passing through Piccadilly to get to Oxford Road?

 

[calc7]

I collected my ticket earlier, and it is indeed to "Manchester Stations". Does this mean that I won't have to do anything, even though I'll be passing through Piccadilly to get to Oxford Road?

No, that's absolutely fine. You may have to remind the Northern-contracted G4S staff that your ticket has further validity that you wish to use, but they don't usually put up a fight in that respect.

 

[island]

No, that's absolutely fine. You may have to remind the Northern-contracted G4S staff that your ticket has further validity that you wish to use, but they don't usually put up a fight in that respect.

Won't even have to do that if staying on the same train and not alighting at Piccadilly, which appears to be the case.

 

[BestWestern]

For some reason one of the guys on Birmingham New Street on Friday was trying to take tickets off everyone that went through without even looking what they were. I watched him do it to about 5 people before I went through so was prepared for what might happen. He tried to take my Anytime Return off me twice even though it wasn't a ticket to/from Birmingham Stations, hadn't been completely used as I was stopping short and could easily have used the remaining part in the remaining 4 days validity of the outward portion.

I just showed it to him, carried on walking and told him "NO" when he tried to take it.

When I came back through he seemed to have given up, as I suspect he'd quite rightly met with some resistence from people who weren't stupid enough to hand over a ticket that was still valid.

This sort of nonsense really winds me up. As somebody who deals with revenue myself I fully appreciate that we can't know everything about every ticket, and that we're all human and just cock it up sometimes. But idiots such as the gent mentioned above just shouldn't be in the job, it's shameful. At the other end of the scale, I was equally irked when I recently observed barrier staff at a station rear entrance waving through anybody who asked if they could "come in to buy a ticket"; talk about undermining your own job... :roll:

Some TOCs really need to get a grip on their barrier staff.

 

[mildertduck]

Thank-you all very much for your help