Havant - Leicester - what ticket would you sell?

[prd101]

I totally agree that it would be madness to say it is only available downstairs, and such a prohibition wouldn't really be feasible!

But these tickets have no restriction at all out of St Pancras and are not labelled in any way as TOC-specific.

Yes that's right. I would have been allowed on FCC but not EMT and that's from the same station, St Pancras.

However, it was at around 1700. The EMT evening peak had begun by that point, but the FCC evening peak hadn't begun. I wonder if that has something to do with it.

Also, whilst one guard could make a mistake, two actually told me the same thing and also the barrier was set up to not let that ticket through.

And yes, I also saw it as perfectly valid on the trainline and also on the national rail site.

I would understand some evening peak restrictions. For example, I do Ryde to York a few times a year and I'm quite used to afternoon peak restrictions out of KX. I suspect this is because the fare is set by East Coast and also, the restriction code is mentioned on that fare.

Hence, the surprise with the Ryde to Bedford issue as there was no restriction code and the fare set by SWT.

I wonder if EMT put that restriction on because it is still valid on a reasonable FCC connection, so they've not actually affected my journey too much (only by a few minutes). If there wasn't the FCC connection, perhaps they wouldn't be able to do that?

 

[yorkie]

Also, whilst one guard could make a mistake, two actually told me the same thing and also the barrier was set up to not let that ticket through.

Calling it a "mistake" is being kind. It's poor training, but I believe done deliberately by EMT in an attempt to make passengers pay extra. They're not the only ones; there was evidence of XC deliberately claiming to guards that they should not accept any Off Peak tickets before 0930 back when they introduced restrictions, as a lot of guards were doing it.

I wonder if EMT put that restriction on because it is still valid on a reasonable FCC connection, so they've not actually affected my journey too much (only by a few minutes). If there wasn't the FCC connection, perhaps they wouldn't be able to do that?

There is no restriction; it's a figment of their imagination.

There is no such thing as a FCC evening peak and a EMT evening peak. It doesn't work like that.

London to Bedford, for example, Off Peak Return outward portion is invalid for departures from STP between 1730 and 1830, so is valid at 1700, regardless of operator. Different ticket types, destinations and portions will vary.

It's the ticket conditions that determines validity, not the guard or the company that operates the train.

 

[Matt Taylor]

Tell the guard or barrier staff to refer to restriction code 4B, if they do so they will see that the ticket is valid on any train after 0930 with a small number of exceptions-none of which include St Pancras.