Railcard Minimum fares

[devon_metro]

If I travel from A - D but buy tickets:

A - B (07:50 Anytime Return)
B - C (09:40 Off Peak Day Return)
C - D (10:12 Off Peak Return)

Journey leg B - C is only £4.90 railcard discount, if i'm buying a combination of tickets that total well over £12 do I still have to pay a minimum fare for this?

Thanks

 

[Edvid]

Yes, the minimum fare (pre-10am) applies to each ticket (or so I thought...)

Digressing slightly, I only recently realised that Advance tickets aren't subject to minimum fares.

 

[John @ home]

If I travel from A - D but buy tickets:

A - B (07:50 Anytime Return)
B - C (09:40 Off Peak Day Return)
C - D (10:12 Off Peak Return)

Journey leg B - C is only £4.90 railcard discount, if i'm buying a combination of tickets that total well over £12 do I still have to pay a minimum fare for this?

What an interesting question!

The relevant paragraph of the Conditions of issue and use of the 16-25 Railcard (formerly Young Persons Railcard) and reduced priced tickets ('discounted tickets') bought with a 16-25 Railcard is:

7. A £12 minimum fare applies for journeys made at or before 10am Monday to Friday excluding Advance Fares. This minimum fare does not apply on Public Holidays or during July and August. Please refer to minimum fares.
http://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/buy-16-25-railcard/railcard-terms-conditions

and the section on minimum fares says:

Minimum fares / Time restrictions
Please remember that for all journeys made at or before 10am Monday to Friday, a £12 minimum fare applies. If you travel regularly before 10am then a weekly or monthly season ticket may be more appropriate (a Railcard discount will not apply). However, there is NO minimum fare on Public Holidays and during July or August. For full details of minimum fares, please ask at your local staff station or National Rail licensed Travel Agents.

The important point is that both the conditions and the minimum fares statement use the word journeys. A journey is defined in the National Rail Conditions of Carriage:

19. Using a combination of tickets
You may use two or more tickets for one journey as long as together they cover the entire journey and one of the following applies:
(a) they are both Zonal Tickets (unless special conditions prohibit their use);
(b) the train you are in calls at the station where you change from one ticket to another; or
(c) one of the tickets is a Season Ticket (which for this purpose does not include Season Tickets or travel passes issued on behalf of a passenger transport executive or local authority) or a leisure travel pass, and the other ticket(s) is/are not.
You must comply with any restriction shown on the tickets relating to travel in the trains of a particular Train Company or Train Companies (see Condition 10).
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/misc/NRCOC.pdf

This seems to me to mean that the £12 minimum fare can only be applied lawfully to the full journey, not to an individual ticket for part of the journey. But I would not be at all surprised to learn that the ticket issuing software has been set up to do the opposite.

I suspect that this one will run and run.

John

 

[yorkie]

You have a PM