Poor service at Birmingham New Street

[CyrusWuff]

A friend of mine held a First Advance ticket from Oxford to Birmingham New Street and was due to travel today.

On Wednesday, he went to the Ticket Office at New Street wishing to change the time of travel and was eventually presented with a Zero Fare Excess (with ticket type X/S Advance 1st) and Change of Journey Fee, along with his original ticket and reservation.

The clerk in question assured him that this would be valid on any service today, after having spent 10 minutes attempting to work out how to refund the difference in fares (the "relevant" fare in this case being an Anytime Single).

Fortunately, the Train Manager accepted the tickets he presented for travel in First Class, but what would have been the position if the TM had taken an exception to the lack of reservation for the train he was on and required him to purchase a new ticket?

 

[craigwilson]

A friend of mine held a First Advance ticket from Oxford to Birmingham New Street and was due to travel today.

On Wednesday, he went to the Ticket Office at New Street wishing to change the time of travel and was eventually presented with a Zero Fare Excess (with ticket type X/S Advance 1st) and Change of Journey Fee, along with his original ticket and reservation.

The clerk in question assured him that this would be valid on any service today, after having spent 10 minutes attempting to work out how to refund the difference in fares (the "relevant" fare in this case being an Anytime Single).

Fortunately, the Train Manager accepted the tickets he presented for travel in First Class, but what would have been the position if the TM had taken an exception to the lack of reservation for the train he was on and required him to purchase a new ticket?

Well, the fact he had both an excess (to an Anytime ticket) and the original ticket, and he had sorted it prior to boarding means that there should never be an issue and what his ticket says (regarding the original booked train) no longer matters.

I have to say, I'm not quite sure how this classifies as poor service.

 

[DownSouth]

I have to say, I'm not quite sure how this classifies as poor service.

From what the OP said about the clerk owning the issue and going to the effort needed to bring a satisfactory conclusion despite it being a difficult system to work with, it sounds like quite good service.

 

[yorkie]

Well, the fact he had both an excess (to an Anytime ticket) and the original ticket, and he had sorted it prior to boarding means that there should never be an issue and what his ticket says (regarding the original booked train) no longer matters.

I have to say, I'm not quite sure how this classifies as poor service.

Except it wasn't to an Anytime ticket.

Sounds like he was trying to downgrade from 1st Advance to Std Anytime, which is a legitimate excess. No refund is due.

The passenger benefited from the mistake, by being allowed to travel in 1st on any train.

It's unclear whether any endorsements/notes were issued with the ticket. I guess not. Had they been, it would have clarified the ticket was to be treated as a (Standard) Anytime Single and the passenger could have then relaxed (but not sat in 1st!)

 

[CyrusWuff]

Should have been clearer in the original post...The ticket type printed on the Excess was "X/S ADVANCE 1ST" and no new reservation was issued.

I would have thought that such changes of ticket would be a regular occurrence at somewhere like New Street, thus am at a loss to see how they could have messed it up so badly in this case. (Or, more accurately, potentially badly had the TM taken exception to the ticket and required my friend to buy a new First Class Anytime Single for the journey, at a cost of £80.50).

 

[Blindtraveler]

I have to admit my surprise at this, BHM is one of the offices that, by and large I would recommend for more complex ticketing transactions and one I use for same when needed. I calso understand the OPs problem too as I have had wrongly issued eccesses go bad on me in the past.

 

[Flamingo]

If it said x/s advance first, then it had obeen changed to another first class advance ticket, but for a different train that was the same (or lesser) price.

 

[island]

If it said x/s advance first, then it had obeen changed to another first class advance ticket, but for a different train that was the same (or lesser) price.

That should, however, have resulted in the issue of a reservation coupon for the correct train.

 

[najaB]

If it said x/s advance first, then it had obeen changed to another first class advance ticket, but for a different train that was the same (or lesser) price.

So, assuming that the X/S ticket didn't have 'Valid only with reservation' printed on it, could the passenger have gotten in trouble aboard the train? It seems to me that the clerk was correct that the ticket, though maybe incorrectly issued, was valid on any train.

 

[Flamingo]

That should, however, have resulted in the issue of a reservation coupon for the correct train.

Correct. It sounds like the ticket clerk was having a senior moment...

 

[Greenback]

A simple mistake by the sounds of it, and, fortunately, no adverse consequences for the passenger!

 

[yorkie]

A bonus for the passenger as they got to travel in 1st class (it was meant to be an excess to Std Anytime, not 1st Anytime)

 

[craigwilson]

Except it wasn't to an Anytime ticket.

Sounds like he was trying to downgrade from 1st Advance to Std Anytime, which is a legitimate excess. No refund is due.

The passenger benefited from the mistake, by being allowed to travel in 1st on any train.

It's unclear whether any endorsements/notes were issued with the ticket. I guess not. Had they been, it would have clarified the ticket was to be treated as a (Standard) Anytime Single and the passenger could have then relaxed (but not sat in 1st!)

Ah, I see...Thanks for the explanation yorkie, it seems I misunderstood the OP!

Clearly this could have left the passenger in a sticky situation, but as others have said, thankfully it didn't.