Ticket advice please following argument at Marylebone

[WestCoastTravel]

Hi Guys

Need some advice please. Last Friday I travelled back to Preston using an off peak (SVR) return from London Marylebone. Wanting to know whether it was valid on the 16.30, I enquired at the ticket office. This is where my problems started.

They looked at the ticket and stated that travelling back to Preston from Marylebone was NOT a reasonable route and therefore it was NOT valid. I challenged this stating it was valid as I was going north toward Birmingham then changing (I had previously looked up the route on the NRG). Again they disagreed stating not a reasonable route and that it did not say London Marylebone on the ticket. I stated this was rubbish as it does not say London Euston on the ticket but you can still travel from that station.

They then pointed me to the Chiltern Trains website and put in the route enquiry which of course showed Euston (being the most direct route). I then challenged to them to enter London Marylebone to preston via Banbury and sure enough it came up as a valid route!

What came next was unbelieveable! Even with this information they still stated the ticket was not valid!! :roll::roll: So I asked them was their own website wrong? They declined to comment!

At this point the ticket office supervisor got involved. He took one look at the ticket and stated it was valid straight away. At last some progress. He could not see any reason why it was not valid as it stated any permitted route on the ticket (although he still refferred to it as reasonable route).

Eventually managed to board the 16.30 without any further problems, but it took me over 20 minutes to confirm the ticket was valid, did not get checked until the barriers at Birmingham Moor Street!

Apart from having a bit of rant, can anyone confirm that the Preston - London ticket is valid into the following london terminals stations:

- St Pancras International
- Marylebone
- Euston
- Paddington

And it is valid out of Marylebone at anytime on the return leg. The reason for asking is that my version of the NFM (08) states except any WSMR timetabled to leave between 1500 and 1830. I thought that with the 1630 being loco hauled (ex WSMR service) it may not be valid.

I also note that if you want to beat the peak restriction at Euston (which is harsh) set at 1500, london paddington is shown as 1640 (before peak services kick in) which seems much more reasonable to me.

Regards,

WestCoastTravel.

 

[Lampshade]

Certainly valid into Euston and St Pancras as I've done both. NFM08 and National Rail Enquiries suggest Marylebone is perfectly valid as well.

Quite why you'd go Preston - Paddington is anyone's guess hock:

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Could it just be a relic of the old Paddington XC service to Manchester? Were there ever direct XC services between Paddington and Preston?

 

[First class]

It is valid.

Marylebone - Valid
you'd go Preston-Birmingham-Marylebone
Euston - obviously valid Preston-Stafford/Birmingham-Euston
Paddington - Valid Preston-Birmingham-Reading-Paddington (possibly even via Oxford)

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I've got a London Terminals-Cherry Tree [between Blackburn and Preston] Anytime Day Single before and got through the gates at Marylebone without any problems. (I went up to Moor St, then New St-Preston.)

 

[yorkie]

They looked at the ticket and stated that travelling back to Preston from Marylebone was NOT a reasonable route and therefore it was NOT valid.

No such thing as "reasonable" any more.

Ask them to read what the National Rail Conditions of Carriage says about "the route you may take"!

...At this point the ticket office supervisor got involved. He took one look at the ticket and stated it was valid straight away. At last some progress. He could not see any reason why it was not valid as it stated any permitted route on the ticket (although he still refferred to it as reasonable route).

Good. I'd have asked for a supervisor too. Sounds like he's been in the job a long time and has not read that "reasonable" changed to "permitted" in the late 1990s!

Eventually managed to board the 16.30 without any further problems, but it took me over 20 minutes to confirm the ticket was valid, did not get checked until the barriers at Birmingham Moor Street!

Even if the supervisor had said it wasn't valid, I'd have boarded anyway. I doubt a ticket inspector would have queried it, and if they did, they'd need to look it up.

Apart from having a bit of rant, can anyone confirm that the Preston - London ticket is valid into the following london terminals stations:

- St Pancras International
- Marylebone
- Euston
- Paddington

Without checking, yes to all, I'm pretty confident! You'd need to check the Routeing Guide to be sure on St Pancras, but as it's a recognised traditional valid route to Manchester & beyond, it certainly should be.

And it is valid out of Marylebone at anytime on the return leg. The reason for asking is that my version of the NFM (08) states except any WSMR timetabled to leave between 1500 and 1830. I thought that with the 1630 being loco hauled (ex WSMR service) it may not be valid.

WSMR do not exist so there is no restriction on any train out of Marylebone. This is reflected in NFM09:

DEPART: LONDON MARYLEBONE
At any time.

I also note that if you want to beat the peak restriction at Euston (which is harsh) set at 1500, london paddington is shown as 1640 (before peak services kick in) which seems much more reasonable to me.

Yes, but these days Marylebone would be quicker.

If you do not feel the supervisor gave suitable advice to the ticket clerk, I think a complaint to Chiltern is in order. You may want to add to your complaint that you are particularly disappointed in the poor advice, given that a friend informs you that some of the staff at Marylebone are particularly knowledgeable and helpful - and it's a shame that some staff fall so far short of that.

I've asked two other members who both had a very bad experiences (independently, on separate occasions) at Euston with LM to say the same thing in their complaints.

It is surprising how certain locations can have such a huge range, from staff being extremely good, to being extremely acknowledgeable and unhelpful.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Quite why you'd go Preston - Paddington is anyone's guess hock:

If you had family/friends in Reading or Oxford? A reason wouldn't have to be given. It's valid. But there are all sorts of possible reasons.

 

[MikeWh]

Routeing Guide says it's valid by maps BS+GC.

BS: Preston to Birmingham (either direct or via Manchester)
GC: Birmingham to either Paddington or Marylebone

Let's hope the supervisor provided some ad-hoc training to the clerk once you'd left.

 

[bb21]

- St Pancras International

Valid on map combination MM+PS.

- Marylebone

Valid on maps CS, CS+NW and GC+BS.

- Euston

Valid on LM.

- Paddington

Valid on CS, CS+NW and GC+BS.

Maps here.

 

[clagmonster]

Could it just be a relic of the old Paddington XC service to Manchester? Were there ever direct XC services between Paddington and Preston?

Yes, I believe there were direct Glasgow/Edinburgh-Padd services runnign via the WCML. Just picking a timetable at random, in Winter 2000-2001, there was just one on weekdays, 1S87 14:18 Padd-Glasgow via Wigan.

I agree with the posts about routeing. It is perfectly valid out of Marylebone and I would disagree with the clerk about it not being a reasonable route anyway.

 

[swt_passenger]

Too late now, but to counter his claim that tickets needed to have 'Marylebone' printed on them to be valid, you should have just asked what was the origin on all the tickets he was selling at his window...