Lichfield Gold Card no longer offering discount?

[Hadders]

Plus the Gold Card area is now much larger than the Network Railcard area. And a Gold Card discount can be added to Oyster PAYG card, Network, Family and Two Together Railcards cannot.

 

[simonw]

The Network Railcard's 10.00am start and minimum fare make it useless for me.

Clearly it is of use to you and a number of other people but the 'number' is relatively small; which was my point.

 

[TCDD]

Size isn't everything...

 

[Clip]

Size isn't everything...

They've been lying to you

 

[jon0844]

If anyone from GTR is reading, your awful revamp of your ticketing site has lost you my business, so for 2016 it'll be going through Hull Trains. I know you don't care, but point made anyway.

Given my experience today, they couldn't even sell me a season ticket at a station! My £144 went to Abellio instead.

Okay, I doubt GTR will lose too much sleep over the lost revenue but it's still laughable. I wasn't asking for a complex ticket combination.. just a 12 month season ticket!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I don't understand the alone comment? I can get discounts for 3 adults and 4 children as well. That said, 95% of my travel was alone.

The other weirdness to remember with my Annual Gold Card is that I never use it as a travel ticket, so I have to buy tickets for all my rail travel. I don't see myself getting to Lichfield in the near future, unless work takes me there!

When I'm back in Birmingham for the Gadget Show Live next year, I am considering taking a trip up to make the trip back and forth a few times. Seeing as I never got to do that in the IOW!

Maybe there should be a meet up!

Like others, I've saved a lot of money given the saving on the otherwise £13 minimum. I suppose as time goes on, the saving will get less - as fares rise nearer to £13 anyway (mind you, the minimum will presumably creep up too) and the cheapest Gold Card option also gets more expensive.

 

[paul1609]

I just hope you realise what you've done, the isle of wight is practically a heritage operation. you've pulled the rug on their income just as their government is considering renewal of their franchise.
Will your next move be to stab the chairman of the severn valley in the back for £70?

 

[jon0844]

I don't know why SWT decided to increase the prices so much, just as LM has been doing. I'd have thought they'd want to sell season tickets to people I work won't ever congest their trains.

Even after getting my season renewed in record time at the portacabin by Tottenham Hale, there was still time for the guy to point out what a huge increase it was from £108 to £144!

 

[trevmonk]

I just hope you realise what you've done, the isle of wight is practically a heritage operation. you've pulled the rug on their income just as their government is considering renewal of their franchise.
Will your next move be to stab the chairman of the severn valley in the back for £70?

When I mentioned the Ryde ticket to a journalist colleague he was told by the SWT press people that they sold about three hundred of them a year. However, there didn't seem to be any evidence of anyone actually using one at the stations concerned! At that time they would have earned about £45,000 from the sales.

I've stuck with Ryde for one more time this year for old times sake, even though it's more expensive, because I want to actually go there once. My idea of an IOW meet up is probably not going to work as most of you seem to have already switched to Lichfield.

 

[Hadders]

If Island Line want people to use one of their season tickets as a way of getting a Gold Card then they should make sure it's the cheapest.

I can't believe there are many genuine season ticket holders between Ryde Esplanade and Ryde St Johns Road so it could be deliberately priced to attract the custom of those that just want the Gold Card.

This is what Chiltern appear to have done for 2016 with Hatton-Lapworth.

 

[bb21]

At 45k, I doubt anyone is that bothered tbh.

 

[bubieyehyeh]

Long time lurker, first time poster,

I had similar problems at Brighton ticket office this morning. The clerk looked up my choice of stations, Hatton to Lapworth, obtained the price (£160, from 2 January 2016), and printed the ticket... but out it came, on standard orange ticket stock

I tried to buy a hatton - lapworth season ticket this morning at Three bridges station. The person in the ticket office told me he couldn't sell me the ticket, since someone else had tried something similar and was being investigated by revenue protection. He then said to buy the season ticket just to get the gold card discounts was fraud! He said they had been told not to sell such tickets and they could only be bought from Hatton or Lapworth.

I'm not quite sure how it could be fraud, since by that logic I'd be committing fraud if I bought a bacon sandwich and only ate the bacon!

Is this a poorly trained southern ticket seller, making things up to justify his decision not to sell?

Interested in people view on this....

 

[bb21]

I don't see how it can be fraud. It is possible that either the clerk was making it up himself or GTR were instructing their staff to do something that is against the TSA.

 

[PermitToTravel]

Yeah, he's talking ****. Try another clerk at that station, or otherwise another station. I'd write a complaint to Southern about this if I were you, as they're actually not allowed to refuse to sell tickets like that

 

[bubieyehyeh]

Thanks, yes I'm sure he was making it up.

I thought they had to sell tickets for other operators, which I guess what you are refering to as TSA.

I pointed out it can be bought from the southern website and he said I could if I wanted but it was still be fraud. Not to keen on online purchase option in case it comes on the wrong coloured card and have to find a properly trained ticket office to change it.

He wasn't for changing his mind, and I had wasted enough time and had to get home.

I will try again at another station.

 

[sheff1]

He then said to buy the season ticket just to get the gold card discounts was fraud! He said they had been told not to sell such tickets and they could only be bought from Hatton or Lapworth.

Interested in people view on this...

How, exactly, does he expect you (or anyone else) to buy the ticket at Hatton or Lapworth when both are unstaffed ?

 

[yorkie]

He then said to buy the season ticket just to get the gold card discounts was fraud! H.

No, that's a false allegation and he has committed a breach of the Ticketing Settlement Agreement (TSA), compliance with which is a franchise commitment for Govia Thameslink Railway. I think it's important to discuss this matter with the company. Let us know how you get on. If they don't take it seriously, there are various options to escalate the matter further.

 

[jon0844]

Maybe that's the reason I wasn't sold my Gold Card renewal at a GTR station either, and had to go and get it from a Abellio Greater Anglia station in the end.

Perhaps some staff are of the opinion they cannot sell season tickets for stations outside their area, and have differing opinions on why that might be the case.

How could anyone ever know or prove that you were buying a Gold Card season just for the discounts? I mean, without following me every day for a year, or checking CCTV footage to establish that I don't even know where the Lichfield stations are, let alone travel daily...

 

[Bletchleyite]

To be fair, the railway knows full well how it can prevent any need for people to pull this kind of trick to get something they want and are willing to pay for.

 

[bubieyehyeh]

Just tried at Horsham and also told they could not sell the ticket.

Initially said yes but said I wouldn't be able to get it replaced if I lost it. However when I said I want an annual it was no can't sell it.

So I'm not sure if Southern are telling staff to not sell such tickets.

So I'll be making a complaint to Southern for both stations.

I appreciate if someone could point me to where in the TSA it says they must sell all tickets.

Also it would be useful to know what the steps would be to escalate this, so I can put this as a ultimatum in the complaint, and give them a deadline to reply before I escalate.

 

[yorkie]

Page 170:

At least 51 per cent. of a Lead Retailer’s staffed points of sale which are open at a Station must be Impartial Points of Sale unless the Authority agrees otherwise.

Operators must accurately Sell to Purchasers the Fares appropriate for the journey described by the Purchasers.

If they do not wish to sell these tickets then...

Each Operator of an Internet Site, Telephone Sales Office and Site that is an Impartial Point of Sale will submit to the Ticketing and Settlement Scheme Council a resolution in accordance with Clause 15-33(2) listing those Rail Products and Non-Rail Products it does not wish to Sell.

So you could ask them if the have submitted such a list!

By the way, the operator is Govia Thameslink Railway; Southern is no longer an operator; it's now just a route brand used by GTR.

Can everyone who has been refused a sale please report this? It's clearly a breach of the TSA and their franchise agremeents.

Usually, operators get away with such breaches, as hardly anyone can be bothered to report them (at this point a certain person may come along and say I should report them on everyone's behalf, but I'll pre-empt that by saying: get real!)

 

[bubieyehyeh]

Do TOC have to publically list which stations are Impartial Points of Sale?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Do TOC have to publically list which stations are Impartial Points of Sale?

A Ticket Office is an impartial point of sale unless explicitly stated otherwise. The obvious example is the former Gatwick Express Ticket Office at Victoria, which would only sell tickets for premium-priced services running non-stop between Victoria and Gatwick.

 

[furlong]

So you could ask them if the have submitted such a list!

Schedule 45 would show that.