Overnight break of journey and trainline.

[AlexET]

I purchased an off peak return ticket from Oxford to Stirling. The ticket code was SVR and the restrictions were not via London. I picked the mobile ticket option.

I went to Stirling on the outward day and everything was fine. On my return journey I wanted to stay a day in Edinburgh, so I activated the ticket and travelled to Haymarket and spent a day in Edinburgh.

The next day I could not activate the ticket again. I phoned support and was told that I had to use it in one day. After 15 mins of them repeatedly just saying that the return must be used in one day. I gave up and purchased a single to get home.

Nothing when booking the ticket stated that, and I assumed that national rail rules applied. The Trainline app basically repeated what national rail says so I thought I was fine.

Have the rules changed regarding break of journey? The person in the ticket office agreed that I should be able to. But the wording isn't clear. If not did I agree to the 1 day rules when buying from trainline? I couldn't see any but then my dispute would be about making terms clear. If not then what process should I use to get my money back?

 

[WirralLine]

Was it definitely the "open return" you bought? Trainline has a habit of selling tickets as "open returns" but they are infact day returns so disappear into the past bookings section as they expire at end of the day. Have a look at your booking history and see if it was definitely not a day return you bought.

 

[AlterEgo]

Do etickets need to be activated? Mine just come as a pass on email which I use without issue.

 

[A S Leib]

There isn't an off-peak day return from Oxford to Stirling, assuming that was the ticket sold and not split tickets.

Do etickets need to be activated? Mine just come as a pass on email which I use without issue.

Maybe it was an M-ticket, especially for Stirling given that ScotRail often doesn't give e-tickets?

 

[father_jack]

The next day I could not activate the ticket again. I phoned support and was told that I had to use it in one day. After 15 mins of them repeatedly just saying that the return must be used in one day. I gave up and purchased a single to get home.

That is a common Trainline problem. The return portion "disappears" from the app at the end of the day it's used to open a barrier or clipped. GWR (other apps may be the same) send you a PDF back up on an email in case the app goes down rather than obliging you to show through an app like the Trainline do. I always advised screenshotting a Trainline ticket in this kind of case. Same thing when people buy a day return and realise they meant period return so I excess it- the day return disappears at the end of the day so a screenshot is advised as the excess isn't valid without the original return coupon.

 

[Haywain]

Do etickets need to be activated?

They shouldn't do. But as the OP has referred to activating a "mobile ticket option", it is not clear what was actually purchased, and Trainline's notorious SplitSave may be coming into play. We need more information from the OP.

 

[Watershed]

@AlexET - it would be very helpful if you could provide us with a screenshot of your booking confirmation and the ticket(s) you received - with your name and any booking/reference numbers redacted, of course. This would help us to confirm exactly what ticket you held.

If what you bought was an Off-Peak Return from Oxford to Stirling costing £200.10 (or £133.25 with Railcard discount), this would have allowed you you to break your journey an unlimited amount of times in each direction - and as you say, the return portion is valid for a month. Therefore you would have been entitled to stop off overnight in Edinburgh on the way back, or indeed as many times as you want until the month's validity is up, or you reach Oxford. The Trainline app should in no way have hidden the ticket from you after the first day. Was your ticket only available to view within the app - or did they also provide you with a PDF in the email which you could show? If so I would have used the latter.

Of course, if you held an Advance ticket on the way back, or a series of day returns, then it is somewhat different. We will be able to provide better advice once you can provide us with the above.

 

[yorkie]

I purchased an off peak return ticket from Oxford to Stirling. The ticket code was SVR and the restrictions were not via London. I picked the mobile ticket option.

I went to Stirling on the outward day and everything was fine. On my return journey I wanted to stay a day in Edinburgh, so I activated the ticket and travelled to Haymarket and spent a day in Edinburgh.

The next day I could not activate the ticket again. I phoned support and was told that I had to use it in one day. After 15 mins of them repeatedly just saying that the return must be used in one day. I gave up and purchased a single to get home.

Nothing when booking the ticket stated that, and I assumed that national rail rules applied. The Trainline app basically repeated what national rail says so I thought I was fine.

Have the rules changed regarding break of journey? The person in the ticket office agreed that I should be able to. But the wording isn't clear. If not did I agree to the 1 day rules when buying from trainline? I couldn't see any but then my dispute would be about making terms clear. If not then what process should I use to get my money back?

Can you provide more information, such as what the ticket cost, and what exactly was issued?

Have you contacted Trainline about this?

In future, if you wish to avoid this problem, you may want to consider booking from the forum's ticketing site, rather than Trainline.

 

[AlexET]

I can't edit files as I am still on the train so I can't redact them easily to upload them.

It is definitely an off peak return. With code SVR. It cost 200.10. Valid until 8 Sep.

It was a mobile ticket, not an e-ticket. Which meant I had to activate it on the day of travel. I assumed that I would have to activate it each day. I had never seen them before but there was no mention of any restriction other than not via London. Here is the page about them https://www.thetrainline.com/mobile-ticket-guide

 

[yorkie]

m-tickets are awful, however Trainline continue to retail them. Scotrail are big fans of m-tickets too (Scotrail use Trainline as their booking supplier)

You need to submit a complaint to Trainline.

I really would advise switching from them to the forum's ticketing site in future (we have partnered with Trainsplit).

 

[Watershed]

In that case, it sounds like Trainline are in breach of contract for failing to properly supply you with the ticket you paid for. They must reimburse you the cost of the new single you were wrongly forced to buy.

Given the cost of the original ticket exceeded £100, if you used a credit card to pay you would be entitled to make a section 75 claim against your credit card lender if Trainline refuse to reimburse you. If you used a debit card, you may be able to make a partial chargeback but this would be trickier, as there are specific reasons/grounds your claim has to fall under and I'm not sure this would fall into any of them neatly.

If you'd like to draft up a complaint to Trainline, we can take a look at it and see if there are any changes we could suggest.

As @yorkie says, in future I would avoid Trainline for this reason, amongst many others (such as the fact they charge booking fees, which most retailers do not).