Excessing wrong ticket with no ticket office

[Leisurefirst]

Hi all.
Just wondering...
I incorrectly bought two singles this morning from a TVM.
I was in a hurry and the return price was the same as a single it would appear.
Luckily there was a ticket office and it was open.
Ironically I had Rail Travel Vouchers I wanted to use which is why I hadn't bought online in advance but the queue was long enough to have made us miss the train we wanted to get and one of the TVMs was free so I used that.
I ended up missing the train and still having the vouchers as I had to queue up anyway to get the tickets changed or excessed!
Strangely IMHO I was charged 10p for each excess, which I was bemused by as the returns were the same price but just happy to have it sorted pleasantly by the member of staff at the ticket office.
My question is what would my options have been if the ticket office was closed or if there wasn't one?
Excess at the destination I guess, but what if that was unstaffed?
Could I travel back on my single ticket and excess if approached or not?
Would I have had to buy another set of tickets and try and claim back?
Thanks!

 

[Watershed]

Hi all.
Just wondering...
I incorrectly bought two singles this morning from a TVM.
I was in a hurry and the return price was the same as a single it would appear.
Luckily there was a ticket office and it was open.
Ironically I had Rail Travel Vouchers I wanted to use which is why I hadn't bought online in advance but the queue was long enough to have made us miss the train we wanted to get and one of the TVMs was free so I used that.
I ended up missing the train and still having the vouchers as I had to queue up anyway to get the tickets changed or excessed!
Strangely IMHO I was charged 10p for each excess, which I was bemused by as the returns were the same price but just happy to have it sorted pleasantly by the member of staff at the ticket office.
My question is what would my options have been if the ticket office was closed or if there wasn't one?
Excess at the destination I guess, but what if that was unstaffed?
Could I travel back on my single ticket and excess if approached or not?
Would I have had to buy another set of tickets and try and claim back?
Thanks!

There would have been no entitlement to an excess at all. Similarly to an overdistance excess, there is no entitlement to a single to return excess.

Even if they were willing to issue the excess in principle, most ticket offices would generally refuse to excess a single ticket that had already been fully used.

You would have been committing an offence if you'd boarded the train back with only your outward single, and would be liable to the usual penalties (ranging from a new Anytime Single, to a Penalty Fare, to being prosecuted). There would have been no entitlement to claim a refund of anything if you bought a single back.

I'm afraid the somewhat harsh rules mean that it's important to check you're buying the right ticket before paying.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Manually entering 10p sounds like a booking office nervous of having to do paperwork for issuing zero fare excesses so entering 10p manually. I've had that before.

 

[janb]

Manually entering 10p sounds like a booking office nervous of having to do paperwork for issuing zero fare excesses so entering 10p manually. I've had that before.

Not wishing to doubt the OP, but without knowing the from and to it could also be that the return is 10p more than the single as is the case for the majority of journeys.

 

[Leisurefirst]

Not wishing to doubt the OP, but without knowing the from and to it could also be that the return is 10p more than the single as is the case for the majority of journeys.

Hi,
It was Farringdon to Brighton.
Apologies, I just double-checked and indeed two Super-Off Peak Day Returns with a Gold Card is £19.10.
I didn't notice the 10p when I looked it up beforehand (or did so wrongly).
Hence buying the singles for £19.00 in error.
Anyway, the member of staff was very helpful and pleasant and sorted out my error obligingly.
Not quibbling over 10p extra, £19.20 is fantastic value.
Just wondered what I could have done had there been no ticket office.