Split Flexi Season Ticket - GWR

[ajhard]

Hello - I use a split flexi season ticket between DID-SLO and SLO-PAD. I have been doing so for a few months and have had infrequent ticket inspections with no issues from all the inspectors except for one who is absolutely adamant the combination isn’t valid unless the train stops at Slough. On the first couple of times he told me it wasn’t valid but he’d let me off, but yesterday he was a little more aggressive and took photos of my tickets, saying he would escalate to a manager. I did show him section 14.3 but he insisted that was talking about ‘real’ season tickets and not either Flexi or Weekly ones. He was on board again this morning and tells me he has checked and his manager agrees. I asked what he was going to do about it and he said I might get a letter and he would get a manager to come with him on a future occasion to explain to me why it’s not valid. He has never asked me to pay for a new ticket or any kind of fine.

What should I do in this scenario - I am confident it is a valid combination, but he seems unwilling to consider the ’rules’…just need to know how best to handle if asked to pay for a ticket / fine. Is there some way I can get GWR to confirm validity that will get to him?

Thanks!

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I did show him section 14.3 but he insisted that was talking about ‘real’ season tickets and not either Flexi or Weekly ones.

Weekly and Flexis are just as 'real' season tickets as Monthly or Annually.
14.3 doesn't only state season ticket, and has the open "or another area based Ticket" which a flexi or weekly season absolutely is.

if you are using a Season Ticket, daily Zonal Ticket, or another area based Ticket such as a concessionary pass, ranger, or rover,

 

[Mcr Warrior]

So, what can / should the OP do to avoid possible future grief when using the combination of flexi tickets mentioned above?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Maybe raising it to GWR's complaints team might be worth a try?
Although there's the risk of the prices being raised to make the split not worth it.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

What should I do in this scenario - I am confident it is a valid combination, but he seems unwilling to consider the ’rules’…just need to know how best to handle if asked to pay for a ticket / fine. Is there some way I can get GWR to confirm validity that will get to him?

Purely on this point, it's important not to let yourself to be put in the wrong. So (as I am sure is already the case) from your side all interactions should be polite and (if possible) friendly to avoid giving the inspector any cause for objecting to you. And although byelaw 23 reads

23. Name and address
(1) Any person reasonably suspected by an authorised person of breaching or
attempting to breach any of these Byelaws shall give their name and
address when asked by an authorised person.
(2) The authorised person asking for details under Byelaw 23(1) shall state the
nature of the breach of any of these Byelaws in general terms at the time
of the request.

(source: https://assets.publishing.service.g...8a54f8/dft-railway-byelaws-amendment-2025.pdf: my italics for emphasis)

in my view, if your name and address were asked for then you should give them, as you will want to be in contact with the railway over this matter, as well as avoiding aggravation - and contact is so much easier if they know where to write to.

 

[redreni]

If they want to increase fares during a supposed fares freeze because they're upset that you're using a valid split, that's a matter for them to explain away. GWR seem to be very active in increasing fares they see as anomalous during this fares freeze.

What they absolutely shouldn't be doing is creating hassle and stress for somebody who very obviously holds a valid combination of tickets according to the contract under which he bought them. It doesn't matter if the rules don't say what members of GWR think they're intended to mean, or what they (wrongly) think they do mean. They say what they say and that should be the end of the matter.

Worrying that the manager apparently agrees, although we don't know how the question was put to the manager.

I would be polite enough, though I would still convey to the guard that I thought he was completely wrong and that, in my humble opinion, he was wasting both our time. And I wouldn't give an inch in this situation - I certainly wouldn't change my time of travel to avoid this guard or travel on slower trains, for instance.

If and when letters arrive in the post, by all means redact personal details and post here for comments and suggestions.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I wonder if this apparent misunderstanding lies in the fact that they replaced carnets. Would carnets have been valid in this way? They were effectively bulk-bought Anytime Returns and did not allow unlimited travel on the day of use. They were not seasons, but have been replaced by a ticket that is unquestionably a Season Ticket, given it is even titled "season". But it seems a slightly poorly defined area here.

GWR's own guide states a couple of concerning/questionable statements for you here, and I cannot really blame the inspector if he is confused.

Quoting from https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket/season-tickets/flexi-season-ticket (my bold):

What is a Flexi Season Ticket?

A Flexi Season ticket provides customers with 8 days of travel in 28 days - any time between two named stations.

The 8 days of travel doesn’t need to be specified in advance, giving part-time commuters more flexibility to travel when they want and need.

Flexi Season tickets allow commuters to make eight-day return journeys over a 28-day window, while saving at least 20% on the cost of an equivalent monthly season ticket, when travelling two days a week at peak times.

- "Eight-day return journeys" reads like it resembles a carnet arrangement rather than a conventional season ticket (ignoring the illiterate hyphen which completely changes its meaning) but I think is just lazy phrasing since in the next paragraph:

Is a Flexi Season ticket the same as a Season Ticket?

A Flexi Season ticket is a new, more flexible, kind of season ticket that allows 8 days of travel in 28 days with unlimited travel, from the time you activate your day pass until 04:29 the next morning, between two stations each day that it is used

- So it is "a kind of season ticket" and allows unlimited travel on the day of use - conclusion it is irrefutably a season ticket.

How do I use a Flexi Season ticket?

At the start of your journey, just place your Touch smartcard on a smartcard reader. This will load any new purchases and activate one of your day passes and allow you to travel. Our onboard team can check your ticket by scanning your smartcard.

It is important that you touch in at the start of your journey and out at the end where facilities exist, to validate your journey. You can also activate your Flexi Season day pass using the National Rail Smartcard app (more info available soon).

- So we now have an implied requirement to "validate" your journey (although this word is barely used in the NRCoT and is not listed under Appendix B Definitions).[/quote]

The NR website goes further https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-and-offers/ticket-types/flexi-season-tickets/ (my bold):

Using a Flexi Season ticket

You can use your Flexi Season ticket at any time, in both Peak and Off-Peak periods. You must always activate a day’s worth of travel before you board your train. To do this, you can touch in on the ticket gate reader, platform validator or (in some cases) self-service ticket machine. Alternatively, you can activate your pass in the National Rail Smartcard Manager app.

- "Must". Your Slough to Paddington Flexi Season would never be physically validated at Slough as you don't break your journey there. The suggestion in this wording suggests this a condition of use.

Are you activating the Slough to Paddington ticket on the app? If you are then I think you are undoubtedly not in the wrong. If not, he may be technically correct for the wrong reason, i.e. they may argue that you could allow your best mate or colleague in Slough to commute with it because it wouldn't be validated before your use. Perhaps tapping out with it effectively validates it, but this is not "before you board your train".

 

[ajhard]

Thank you all, and agreed I have and will maintain polite composure! While at the same time maintaining my opinion that the guard is incorrect. I will of course provide my details if requested, the situation I am keen to avoid is being made to pay some money that I then have the hassle of trying to get back.

I will post an update as and when the situation develops!!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Apr 2026 ==

I wonder if this apparent misunderstanding lies in the fact that they replaced carnets. Would carnets have been valid in this way? They were effectively bulk-bought Anytime Returns and did not allow unlimited travel on the day of use. They were not seasons, but have been replaced by a ticket that is unquestionably a Season Ticket, give it is even titled "season". But it seems a slightly poorly defined area here.

GWR's own guide states a couple of concerning/questionable statements for you here, and I cannot really blame the inspector if he is confused.

Quoting from https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket/season-tickets/flexi-season-ticket (my bold):



- "Eight return journeys" reads like it resembles a carnet arrangement rather than a conventional season ticket but I think is just lazy phrasing, since in the next paragraph:



- So it is "a kind of season ticket" and allows unlimited travel on the day of use - conclusion it is irrefutably a season ticket.



- So we now have an implied requirement to "validate" your journey (although this word is not barely used in the NRCoT and is not listed under Appendix B Definitions).

The NR website goes further https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-and-offers/ticket-types/flexi-season-tickets/ (my bold):



- "Must". Your Slough to Paddington Flexi Season would never be physically validated at Slough as you don't break your journey there. The suggestion in this wording suggests this a condition of use.

Are you activating the Slough to Paddington ticket on the app? If you are then I think you are undoubtedly not in the wrong. If not, he may be technically correct for the wrong reason, i.e. they may argue that you could allow your best mate or colleague in Slough to commute with it because it wouldn't be validated before your use. Perhaps tapping out with it effectively validates it, but this is not "before you board your train".
[/QUOTE]

Yes - I activate both portions in the (TrainPal) app prior to boarding at Didcot. TrainPal for cashback reasons, I was using TPE smart card, but having two tickets was making that unreliable and I’m not certain of the rules around having 2 different smart cards from the same operator (are they supposed to reflect an identity?).

 

[Royston Vasey]

Yes - I activate both portions in the (TrainPal) app prior to boarding at Didcot. TrainPal for cashback reasons, I was using TPE smart card, but having two tickets was making that unreliable and I’m not certain of the rules around having 2 different smart cards from the same operator (are they supposed to reflect an identity?).

Then I think you're undoubtedly doing nothing wrong.

For what it's worth, I would think it likely that he hasn't consulted his manager, and close to negligible are the chances of him being accompanied by said manager next time you travel, on the off chance they're both on shift and you choose that specific day for your 8 in 28 commute.

 

[ajhard]

Then I think you're undoubtedly doing nothing wrong.

For what it's worth, I would think it likely that he hasn't consulted his manager, and close to negligible are the chances of him being accompanied by said manager next time you travel, on the off chance they're both on shift and you choose that specific day for your 8 in 28 commute.

That was also my thinking!

 

[Royston Vasey]

Sounds like it was a passenger-positive (and thus almost certainly unintended) consequence of carnets being withdrawn and replaced by a season ticket product!

Maybe raising it to GWR's complaints team might be worth a try?
Although there's the risk of the prices being raised to make the split not worth it.

I cannot see them being able to change the ticket's definition as a season ticket without scrapping it entirely, even less the rules on the use of split tickets involving a season and not needing to call. These are quite well enshrined.

I also can't see them getting away with the changing the pricing of either the two Flexi Seasons compared to the DID-PAD Flexi Season as the gap is truly substantial... well done @ajhard! I don't want to draw attention to it but anyone can compare the prices of the split "FL1" tickets for the split vs the through ticket on BRFares.

 

[Linsladian]

Condition 14.3 uses the phrase "Season Ticket", which in Appendix B is defined as:

“Season Ticket” means a Ticket sold as such which allows you to travel for a period of 7 consecutive days or longer, or any 8 in 28 days;

i.e. the definition has clearly been written specifically to include flexi-season tickets...

 

[ajhard]

Condition 14.3 uses the phrase "Season Ticket", which in Appendix B is defined as:

“Season Ticket” means a Ticket sold as such which allows you to travel for a period of 7 consecutive days or longer, or any 8 in 28 days;

i.e. the definition has clearly been written specifically to include flexi-season tickets...

That is magic! I can’t believe I’d never thought to read through for the definitions

Thank you so much!

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Rather late in the day, and playing devil's advocate (because this isn't the answer I want) might the inspector be trying for a restrictive interpretation of condition 14.3 in the NRCoT?

Unless Condition 14.1 applies, 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.

(source: https://assets.nationalrail.co.uk/e...e/National_Rail_Conditions_of_Travel_2026.pdf)

My recollection is that when this wording first came in, there was some concern that 'using a Season Ticket (...) in conjunction with another Ticket' meant that only one of the two tickets could be a season ticket - the other must be a conventional ticket.

Has this interpretation been shown to be wrong? If not, it might give the inspector a leg to stand on.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

My recollection is that when this wording first came in, there was some concern that 'using a Season Ticket (...) in conjunction with another Ticket' meant that only one of the two tickets could be a season ticket - the other must be a conventional ticket.

I don't see "another" definied in the appendix, so based on the typical definition of "another" which doesn't seem to prevent it being the same, for example saying to "have another" almost always applies to having an identical of something (in most contexts, food).

The cambridge dictionary lists it as:

one more person or thing or an extra amount:
example: I'm going to have another piece of cake.

Which I think proves my point.

 

[CyrusWuff]

My recollection is that when this wording first came in, there was some concern that 'using a Season Ticket (...) in conjunction with another Ticket' meant that only one of the two tickets could be a season ticket - the other must be a conventional ticket.

That was the case with Condition 19 of the NRCoC, which explicitly said one is a Season Ticket and the other(s) is/are not.

It didn't survive the transition to the NRCoT though, which may have originally been an error in drafting but it hasn't been resurrected in later updates.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

That was the case with Condition 19 of the NRCoC, which explicitly said one is a Season Ticket and the other(s) is/are not.

It didn't survive the transition to the NRCoT though, which may have originally been an error in drafting but it hasn't been resurrected in later updates.

Sounds as if I'm wrong then.

Good.

 

[Timetraveller]

Maybe the trainpal flexi season is generating eticket/barcode as anytime day returns similar to what trainline flexi season does. This may cause confusion as 2 anytime day returns Didcot to Slough and Slough to London, which maybe considered a split ticket ? Is there anything on the eticket that is issued by Trainpal that says Flexi-season? On a ITSO smartcard, you can activate the passes on the national rail season ticket app

 

[ajhard]

Maybe the trainpal flexi season is generating eticket/barcode as anytime day returns similar to what trainline flexi season does. This may cause confusion as 2 anytime day returns Didcot to Slough and Slough to London, which maybe considered a split ticket ? Is there anything on the eticket that is issued by Trainpal that says Flexi-season? On a ITSO smartcard, you can activate the passes on the national rail season ticket app

It’s definitely not that, the ticket displayed on screen clearly states ‘Ticket Type: Flexi Season’ - the inspector is not getting an error of any type he is simply firmly of the view that ‘Season ticket’ in that context means monthly or annual. He keeps telling me that it’s quite normal for different season ticket types to be treated differently - using the example of refunds which apparently are different for weekly vs longer periods…

 

[Watershed]

It’s definitely not that, the ticket displayed on screen clearly states ‘Ticket Type: Flexi Season’ - the inspector is not getting an error of any type he is simply firmly of the view that ‘Season ticket’ in that context means monthly or annual. He keeps telling me that it’s quite normal for different season ticket types to be treated differently - using the example of refunds which apparently are different for weekly vs longer periods…

The reason that refunds for weekly or longer season tickets are different, and that you can get a changeover on a monthly season but not a weekly one, is because the NRCoT says so.

The NRCoT does not say that the non-stop splits allowed under condition 14.2 are conditional on the season ticket being of monthly duration or longer. Indeed it explicitly states that daily zonal tickets (and rangers, which are also daily) can count; therefore, clearly there is no requirement for a ticket to be valid for any particular length of time to qualify.

The inspector is simply making things up based on how they think the rules should be. You should complain to GWR now, so that the complaint can hopefully work its way through their customer services before you next encounter the inspector.

 

[yorkie]

Hello - I use a split flexi season ticket between DID-SLO and SLO-PAD. I have been doing so for a few months and have had infrequent ticket inspections with no issues from all the inspectors except for one who is absolutely adamant the combination isn’t valid unless the train stops at Slough. On the first couple of times he told me it wasn’t valid but he’d let me off, but yesterday he was a little more aggressive and took photos of my tickets, saying he would escalate to a manager. I did show him section 14.3 but he insisted that was talking about ‘real’ season tickets and not either Flexi or Weekly ones. He was on board again this morning and tells me he has checked and his manager agrees. I asked what he was going to do about it and he said I might get a letter and he would get a manager to come with him on a future occasion to explain to me why it’s not valid. He has never asked me to pay for a new ticket or any kind of fine.

What should I do in this scenario - I am confident it is a valid combination, but he seems unwilling to consider the ’rules’…just need to know how best to handle if asked to pay for a ticket / fine. Is there some way I can get GWR to confirm validity that will get to him?

Thanks!

Refuse to pay anything and politely stand your ground.

Sadly, companies such as GWR provide insufficient staff training, and also lack safeguards to ensure that their staff behave/act appropriately/correctly.

This is a longstanding problem, for which there seems to be little, if any, desire to put right. There is no passenger watchdog, ombudsman or regulator with the powers, ability and desire to do anything about this either. Therefore, some customers who are travelling on entirely legitimate tickets, are likely to wrongly be told their tickets aren't valid, indefinitely.

Lodge a complaint against GWR. I trust you have a description of the individual (though GWR will know from the rosters who they are).

My recollection is that when this wording first came in, there was some concern that 'using a Season Ticket (...) in conjunction with another Ticket' meant that only one of the two tickets could be a season ticket - the other must be a conventional ticket.

This was the old rule. It changed several years ago. You could use one season, but no more than that, and any number of non-Seasons and the train didn't need to call anywhere.

Even longer ago before that, it was something like the train operator you travel with must operate at least one service (per week!) that calls at the intermediate point; of course GWR regularly do, so would have qualified.