Super-off peaks on evening fast trains from Paddington

[Redcake]

Does anyone know the true position on the validity on super-off peak tickets on fast trains from Paddington in the evening is?

The message boards and on board announcements state that super-off peaks aren't valid on peak trains before 7pm (presumably that restriction starts at some point in the afternoon). These messages don't seem to give an exceptions.

However, my journey starts in Leeds typically at 15:45 (sometimes a bit earlier) and ends in Reading. Journey planners give a super-off peak for this journey and for the 15:45 the journey planner gives the 18:48 fast train from Paddington. So the journey planner doesn't agree with the information at Paddington.

I've tried chatting with GWR on this but haven't really understood the reply (particularly as one reply seemed to contradict a previous reply).

I'm assuming there is something special about super-off peaks that require a long journey to get to London, and then a follow up journey outside of London.

Can I safely ignore the information given out at Paddington and get any fast train?

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Can I safely ignore the information given out at Paddington and get any fast train?

This comes up frequently and has been doing so for the lifetime of the forum.. The Paddington gateline or management don't seem to want to understand that for longer distance journeys through London, the restrictions placed on tickets where the journey starts at Paddington or in the London area don't apply. Technically it's what the restrictions on the ticket say that matters, not what it may say on the departure board or in a guard's announcement.

Their attitude is as if you were taking a through train from Leeds to Bristol and were thrown off at Birmingham because it was 5pm.

 

[Watershed]

The message boards and announcements are, at best, giving an incomplete picture. I would argue they are plain wrong and misleading, since there is no such thing as a blanket "peak" train on which no Off-Peak tickets at all are valid.

The valid trains with an Off-Peak ticket vary depending on the journey you are making and specifically, the restriction code associated with your ticket.

A Leeds to Reading Super Off-Peak Single has restriction code 1L. As per the link printed on the ticket (nre.co.uk/1L), this only has restrictions on your journey from Leeds to London. There are no restrictions departing London towards Reading.

The announcements may be correct if you have a tickets to/from London, but for tickets to/from other stations, Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak restrictions vary significantly and as in your case, some Super Off-Peak tickets have no restrictions at all departing Paddington.

Another point worth making is that you do not need to second-guess what you have been told when buying your ticket. If you have been offered a ticket in conjunction with a particular itinerary, the ticket is automatically valid on those trains. It doesn't matter whether the website has made a mistake; the itinerary is evidence of the ticket being contractually valid.

In most cases, any mistake is down to the train company (e.g. GWR) failing to properly update/maintain the industry data used by journey planned, so their staff are in no position to argue that it "has nothing to do with us".

If you've had any issues using your ticket, please do complain to GWR and claim Delay Repay if it caused you to arrive 15+ minutes late. These sorts of issues have been endemic for years at the Paddington gateline and (to a lesser extent) onboard trains, but GWR have never shown any interest in fixing the situation by correcting their misleading announcements or training their staff properly.

 

[blimmo]

Can I safely ignore the information given out at Paddington and get any fast train?

The experience of this forum is that:
- Yes you have an entitlement to use the train listed in your itinerary (and likely other fast trains depending on the restriction code on your ticket).
- But the staff at Paddington will likely (incorrectly) refuse to let you on trains before 7pm.

If you are challenged by the gateline please come back and tell us how you get on.

 

[yorkie]

Does anyone know the true position on the validity on super-off peak tickets on fast trains from Paddington in the evening is?

The message boards and on board announcements state that super-off peaks aren't valid on peak trains before 7pm (presumably that restriction starts at some point in the afternoon). These messages don't seem to give an exceptions.

However, my journey starts in Leeds typically at 15:45 (sometimes a bit earlier) and ends in Reading. Journey planners give a super-off peak for this journey and for the 15:45 the journey planner gives the 18:48 fast train from Paddington. So the journey planner doesn't agree with the information at Paddington.

The information at Paddington is misleading. I believe this is by design.

You are entitled to take any train from London to Reading using your ticket.

I've tried chatting with GWR on this but haven't really understood the reply (particularly as one reply seemed to contradict a previous reply).

I don't think a company such as GWR would have anyone on their helpdesk who knows how to read a ticket restriction code.

Even though it's a fairly straightforward concept, the tail industry doesn't see the value in training staff appropriately.

I'm assuming there is something special about super-off peaks that require a long journey to get to London, and then a follow up journey outside of London.

Can I safely ignore the information given out at Paddington and get any fast train?

Yes absolutely you can ignore it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Dec 2025 ==

If you are willing to have the argument ..

People should not be intimidated into overpaying.

I was recently told my valid ticket wasn't valid at Paddington, eventually they relented.

Had they not done, I would not have waited many hours and instead paid the excess under duress and claimed it back, with a further request for compensation for wasting my time.

 

[blimmo]

People should not be intimidated into overpaying.

I entirely agree (and to be clear I would also have the argument) but I think we should be honest with people about what will likely happen. I know many people would not want the confrontation (including me if I wasn't prepared for it).

 

[yorkie]

I entirely agree (and to be clear I would also have the argument) but I think we should be honest with people about what will likely happen. I know many people would not want the confrontation (including me if I wasn't prepared for it).

If people don't want a confrontation, then pay the excess and claim it back from customer services.

It's easier to claim back an incorrect excess charge than to bill them for up to 3 hours of your time.

 

[takethat12]

I regularly use a long distance ticket like yours during 'peak' from Paddington to Reading and to make my life easier I just board the first train that leaves from either platform 1 or 8/9 which have no ticket barriers. I've never had an issue with on-board checks, it's only Paddington gatelines that I avoid because I don't have the fight in me anymore.

 

[blimmo]

If people don't want a confrontation, then pay the excess and claim it back from customer services.

Fair enough although the excess in question here would be I think almost £100 which I would be hesitant to hand over without being fairly confident of my ability to get it back. Anyway I have edited my post to remove the suggested actions since I think the other posts in this thread cover them better.

 

[Redcake]

Thank you all for your replies. I'm feeling more confident now.

 

[furlong]

If the ORR had been doing its job properly this would have been resolved years ago - it ought to have been giving deadlines to GWR years ago to sort out these issues under threat of prosecution using the powers granted to it. They also deny boarding by hiding some advertised stops for certain trains from the display screens at the station. You might have a valid ticket and reservation then find the train you are supposed to be on is not advertised at the station as stopping at Reading! This makes it even harder to get through the barrier with your super off-peak itinerary as they point to the screen and say the train isn't stopping at Reading. (You can usually counter this by pointing at the display on the side of the train that will normally still confirm that it does in fact stop at Reading.)

 

[Kite159]

The main issue is the gateline staff get caught in silo thinking of 'all super offpeak tickets are barred' when it's only some tickets which are barred.

Reminds me of a thread earlier this year (?) when someone was prevented boarding a train to somewhere on the southern end of the Chiltern network with a ticket from Scarborough due to the poorly trained gateline staff's Silo thinking.