Night Riviera with rovers?

[HST43257]

So I might be wrong on this, but I’m looking at future travel plans and trying to see whether it’s allowed for someone to travel on the Night Riviera sleeper from London to Penzance (before a day of trains in Devon largely) with a London to Exeter single/return, then a Devon and a Cornwall day ranger?

I see peak restrictions on the rovers but presumably they’d still be fine on Friday nights arriving west on the Saturday morning.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

There can be a debate about this because of somewhat contradictory information in the National Rail Conditions of Travel.

if you are using a Season Ticket, daily Zonal Ticket, or another area based Ticket such as a concessionary pass, ranger, or rover, in conjunction with another Ticket and the last station at which one Ticket is valid and the first station that the other Ticket is valid are the same, then the train does not need to Call at that station for your combination to be valid.

However, the supplementary information also says:

If a combination of Tickets is ‘split’ at a station but that station Call is defined as for “pick-up only” in the National Rail Timetable and in journey planners, then the Ticket held to that station is not valid; likewise, if that station call is defined as for “set-down only” in the National Rail Timetable and in journey planners, then the Ticket held from that station is not valid.

The sleeper does have set down only restrictions in Devon/Cornwall.

I suspect as long as you hold both tickets when you board in London, you will be fine in practice, and unlikely to experience any issues.

 

[Watershed]

However, the supplementary information also says:

The sleeper does have set down only restrictions in Devon/Cornwall.

For two reasons, I don't think this prevents the OP from doing what they have proposed.

Firstly, the "INFORMATION" panel merely explains the intended effect of "set down"/"pick up" restrictions for splitting in the context of typical splits involving single/return tickets. It clearly doesn't apply to season or other tickets where non-stop splits are permitted. The capitalised term "Call" is defined in the NRCoT so as to exclude stops with the above SD/PU restrictions; condition 14.3 says that the train "does not need to Call". Therefore, splitting at a restricted stop is no different to a non-stop split - in either case, it is permitted.

If one adopts a purposive interpretation of the NRCoT, the historic intention behind condition 14.3 was to allow people to extend their journey without being restricted as to calling patterns. Therefore it would be incompatible with the intended purpose of the clause if the fact that the train made a SD/PU stop somewhere - even if not a "Call" due to the SD/PU restrictions - prevented you from "extending" your journey.

Secondly, the start of the NRCoT reminds us that:

We have included a number of ‘information’ panels and/or footnotes to help you understand the meaning of certain Conditions. Please note that these panels and footnotes are for explanations only and do not form part of a Train Company’s contract with you.

Therefore the contractual position must be determined without reference to the "INFORMATION" panels; the panels cannot be used to try and infer additional restrictions or limitations. Moreover, even if there were deemed to be any ambiguity about the intended effect of the clause (which there clearly isn't, as above)