Thameslink evening peak restrictions - off peak tickets outside Thameslink area

[itfcfan]

Hi all,

I've invited my brother to go to Canterbury tomorrow to see some cricket. He lives in Harlington (Beds), so he'll be travelling from there on Thameslink to St Pancras, then on to Canterbury West via HS1. I live in London, so I'll just be going to HS1 leg from St Pancras to Canterbury West.

He'll take the 09:24 from Harlington (first "off peak" train of the day from there), giving a bit of time to find me at St Pancras before taking the 10:08 to Canterbury.

On the way back he needs to be back in Harlington before 19:00, so we'll take the 16:25 from Cantebury West to St Pancras (arriving 17:23) then the 17:48 from St Pancras to Harlington.

All seems simple, but then I remembered the evening peak restrictions on Thameslink. Journey planned shows me that the off peak day return (CDR) priced £45.10 is valid on the return journey at this time. This led me to believe that Thameslink evening peak restrictions don't apply to tickets going further than London. However, going through other ticket options, when I selected the off peak return (SVR - valid for a month) priced £45.70 I see the journeys that involve taking a train from St Pancras during the evening peak are no longer available, so the situation seems a bit less clear-cut.

For the absence of doubt, these are the two tickets I'm citing:
http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=HLN&dest=CBW&grpd=0428&ldn=1&tkt=CDR
http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=HLN&dest=CBW&grpd=0428&ldn=1&tkt=SVR

I understand these restrictions - the CDR ticket seems to be clear, but I'd hate for my brother to be in a situation with someone at the ticket gate or on the train telling him he's using an invalid ticket.

Does anyone have experience with how Thameslink staff usually treat tickets with origins/destinations outside the Thameslink area? Do they generally recognise that Off Peak tickets in these areas are valid on these trains?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

John

 

[Hadders]

The Off Peak Day Return is indisputably valid between St Pancras and Harlington in the evening peak.

Rail staff should be aware of this but unfortunately some staff are poorly trained and like to make up their own rules. Should your brother be challenged I would advise him to pay up and I'm sure members of this forum would be happy to assist in making sure a satisfactory outcome was reached.

 

[bkhtele]

Usually having a printout from national rail or the rail company's own web site showing the specific journey planned with the ticket being used shown as valid convinces 99% of staff. Most of the time you are not challenged so he would be unluckily to have serious problems!

 

[yorkie]

I understand these restrictions - the CDR ticket seems to be clear. For myself I'd be happy to get this ticket. However, my brother isn't so confident travelling by train and I'd hate for him to be in a situation with someone at the ticket gate or on the train telling him he's using an invalid ticket.

It is very clear and any reasonably trained revenue protection officer/inspector could see that. However if they incorrectly deem the ticket invalid, and refuse to look it up, then the charge would be £7.80 (£52.90-£45.10) for a change of ticket type excess fare.

A letter to the Train Company (Govia Thameslink Railway) should get not just a refund but further compensation and assurances that training will be improved, I would expect.

 

[AM9]

For the record, the Saver ticket has restriction 4F which in itself prohibits travel before 09:30 (or whatever local time corresponds to that rule) on weekdays. The evening problem is the secondary 9J restriction that is mentioned in the 4F restriction which has the explicit 16:30 to 19:00 from London Terminals exclusion.

 

[lightbulb]

Slightly off-topic, but the times you mention in the original post are incorrect. The 0924 from Harlington arrives St Pancras 1009, so you won't have time to catch the 1008 you mention to Canterbury West. You'll have plenty of time for the 1112, arriving at 1208, though!

 

[itfcfan]

Thanks everyone - I appreciate the feedback. It's reinforced what I understood.

I want to avoid any hassle/embarrassment for my brother so I'm going to suggest he gets an anytime day return for £56.70 (£11.60 extra compared to the CDR) to avoid this altogether:
http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=HLN&dest=CBW&grpd=0428&ldn=1&tkt=SDR

Slightly off-topic, but the times you mention in the original post are incorrect. The 0924 from Harlington arrives St Pancras 1009, so you won't have time to catch the 1008 you mention to Canterbury West. You'll have plenty of time for the 1112, arriving at 1208, though!

Thanks lightbulb. When I was reviewing the times to write the post, I put the wrong departure time from St Pancras - we'd planned to catch the 10:37, changing at Ashford to get to Canterbury at 11:48.

Because we'll purchase an anytime day return now, my brother will probably take advantage of the fact he won't have a morning peak restriction either and catch the 09:08 from Harlington to connect with the 10:08.

 

[yorkie]

I want to avoid any hassle/embarrassment ....

There should be no hassle, and definitely no embarrassment.

I can understand someone not wanting to argue, in the unlikely event of being incorrectly charged, but if so he can simply pay it and get a refund later.

Have you, or your brother, been mistreated by revenue staff in the past? If so either make a thread for it or contact me directly for advice.

There really is no need to overpay by £7.80 to avoid a potential incorrect charge of a £7.80 excess fare.