redreni
Established Member
Yesterday I travelled from Dartford to Dover Priory. I bought a Network Railcard-discounted off-peak day return route 'Not HS1' costing £26.55.
On the outbound leg I went via Faversham.
On the return leg I was with some friends who were going to Berkshire via London so I decided to go with them on the High Speed as far as Ebbsfleet International, with the intention of going back to Dartford from there either via Gravesend or by walking to Northfleet.
We arrived at Dover Priory about 7 minutes before our intended train. The ticket office was open and had no queue so I thought I'd ask for a one way change-of-route excess. I had planned for this scenario so knew that the equivalent off-peak day return route '+HS1 Not Stratford' costs £31.60, so as far as I know the one-way change of route excess should be £2.53.
The ticket office clerk said "you might as well have an HS1 upgrade" and tried to charge me five or six quid. I assume that upgrade is priced based on going to London, as BRFares doesn't show any upgrade fares for Dover to Dartford?
I explained I would like the excess as the difference between the Not HS1 and the Plus HS1 Not Stratford fares was only a fiver, so for a one-way change of route excess it should only be about half that. In fairness to the chap he accepted that and tried to sell the excess properly, but didn't seem too sure how to do it. We ran out of time, I thanked him for trying and said I would buy the excess on board, and boarded the train.
We then saw and heard nothing from the guard at any point during the journey to Ebbsfleet. There was a very stern automated announcement as we approached Ashford International insisting anybody with a ticket routed Not HS1 must disembark and buy a new ticket.
When I arrived at Ebbsfleet the barriers were closed and I got "seek assistance". The lady sighed and said "this ticket isn't valid" but still let me through. I said "yes, well I will happily pay the excess" but she wasn't interested in that. So I just walked round to Northfleet and went back to Dartford.
What are people's experiences buying change of route excesses from Southeastern? I heard their CEO interviewed recently saying he wants to make more extensive use of HS1 but he wants lower track access charges for the extra services he wants to run, and he said he wants to make sure they're collecting the revenue they should be for HS1. Yet from my experience, they seem to want to overcharge me by over 100%, and if I insist on paying the right amount this proves to be impossible, so I get to use HS1 for no extra charge.
If the ticket office at somewhere like Dover Priory doesn't know how to sell what was a fairly straightforward excess and defaults to selling an HS1 upgrade for a much longer journey than the one being made, does this suggest overcharging may be widespread? Might Mr White's stated desire to get more revenue from HS1 potentially run up against Southeastern's legal duties when it comes to not double-charging people?
And why does the announcement that is played when a train is about to join the HS1 line not mention the option to pay an excess fare or (if the same price or cheaper) buy an upgrade on board?
On the outbound leg I went via Faversham.
On the return leg I was with some friends who were going to Berkshire via London so I decided to go with them on the High Speed as far as Ebbsfleet International, with the intention of going back to Dartford from there either via Gravesend or by walking to Northfleet.
We arrived at Dover Priory about 7 minutes before our intended train. The ticket office was open and had no queue so I thought I'd ask for a one way change-of-route excess. I had planned for this scenario so knew that the equivalent off-peak day return route '+HS1 Not Stratford' costs £31.60, so as far as I know the one-way change of route excess should be £2.53.
The ticket office clerk said "you might as well have an HS1 upgrade" and tried to charge me five or six quid. I assume that upgrade is priced based on going to London, as BRFares doesn't show any upgrade fares for Dover to Dartford?
I explained I would like the excess as the difference between the Not HS1 and the Plus HS1 Not Stratford fares was only a fiver, so for a one-way change of route excess it should only be about half that. In fairness to the chap he accepted that and tried to sell the excess properly, but didn't seem too sure how to do it. We ran out of time, I thanked him for trying and said I would buy the excess on board, and boarded the train.
We then saw and heard nothing from the guard at any point during the journey to Ebbsfleet. There was a very stern automated announcement as we approached Ashford International insisting anybody with a ticket routed Not HS1 must disembark and buy a new ticket.
When I arrived at Ebbsfleet the barriers were closed and I got "seek assistance". The lady sighed and said "this ticket isn't valid" but still let me through. I said "yes, well I will happily pay the excess" but she wasn't interested in that. So I just walked round to Northfleet and went back to Dartford.
What are people's experiences buying change of route excesses from Southeastern? I heard their CEO interviewed recently saying he wants to make more extensive use of HS1 but he wants lower track access charges for the extra services he wants to run, and he said he wants to make sure they're collecting the revenue they should be for HS1. Yet from my experience, they seem to want to overcharge me by over 100%, and if I insist on paying the right amount this proves to be impossible, so I get to use HS1 for no extra charge.
If the ticket office at somewhere like Dover Priory doesn't know how to sell what was a fairly straightforward excess and defaults to selling an HS1 upgrade for a much longer journey than the one being made, does this suggest overcharging may be widespread? Might Mr White's stated desire to get more revenue from HS1 potentially run up against Southeastern's legal duties when it comes to not double-charging people?
And why does the announcement that is played when a train is about to join the HS1 line not mention the option to pay an excess fare or (if the same price or cheaper) buy an upgrade on board?